I Added 1 Gallon Of Chlorine

[joshrm115]

I have had ich for the first and last time it was 2 weeks ago when I first got it, and I wont look at it any more. I had a total of 10 fish in my 75 gallon tank, and they where all still alive and eating but four of them hand it so bad it literally looked like I took them out dipped it in super glue and then in salt. So I flushed em. The other 7 had little to no ich so I separated them in to 2 ten gallon tanks and 1 one gallon tank 3 fish each in one ten gallon and the other one who had it the worst of the 7 in a small one gallon. So I will continue treatment on the remaining 7 over the nest few days, BUT MY BIG QUESTION IS how long will the ich last in my fish empty tank do note that I pored 1 gallon of chlorine in to the 75g tank.
With this in mind what is my next step.(I know your probably thinking what a dummy) Please HELP!!!!!!

 

[Declan]

I have had ich for the first and last time it was 2 weeks ago when I first got it, and I wont look at it any more. I had a total of 10 fish in my 75 gallon tank, and they where all still alive and eating but four of them hand it so bad it literally looked like I took them out dipped it in super glue and then in salt. So I flushed em. The other 7 had little to no ich so I separated them in to 2 ten gallon tanks and 1 one gallon tank 3 fish each in one ten gallon and the other one who had it the worst of the 7 in a small one gallon. So I will continue treatment on the remaining 7 over the nest few days, BUT MY BIG QUESTION IS how long will the ich last in my fish empty tank do note that I pored 1 gallon of chlorine in to the 75g tank.
With this in mind what is my next step.(I know your probably thinking what a dummy) Please HELP!!!!!!

You just flushed them?! Were they alive beforehand? Did you kill them before flushing them?

A couple of water stats would help to diagnose it a bit better, what are you Ammonia, NitrIte and NitrAte stats?

What meds are you treating with? What conditions are you leaving them in whilst treating? For example, lights on or off? Feeding, Once a day, every other day?

D.

 

[jonnyf84]

I'm struggling to believe this is for real but if it is then you need some help ASAP. If your not pulling our legs then please forgive me and read on:



ok mate, first off i'm sorry to hear about your crisis. But really you shouldn't ever flush fish down the toilet, if they are beyond help and dont stand a chance then please please make sure you kill them as quick and painless as possible, from taking them out the tank to them been dead shouldn't take more than 5 seconds.

I am going to need to know some info before we can try and sort this out:

It sounds like you have moved your fish into tanks that are not cycled (nitrogen cycle), is this correct? do you know what a cycled tank is? If not please read this link before you get anymore fish: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861 - THIS MUST BE DONE BEFORE YOU ADD FISH TO A TANK.

Is the tank cycled?

Are these coldwater fish or tropicals?

What Temp is your tank at?

Do you have a airstone?

What fish do you have?

What medicine have you been treating with?

Why oh why did you add 1 gallon of CHLORINE to your tank?

 

[Nick16]

tbh if you just flushed them down the loo thats disgraceful.

1) check fish in the shop, check the fish you want to buy, plus ALL others in that tank and neighbouring tanks. as often there is a diseased fish

2) i recommend a quarantine tank tbh and dont quarantine for a week, its not long enough, i quarantine for around 3-4 weeks.

3) read up on cycling

4) get yourself some meds if this does happen again (primafix and melafix)

5) what is the tank temp at?

 

[joshrm115]

No the tanks are not cycled, and yes I killed them before hand. they are all tropical fish and the new tanks that they in are well equipped with heaters bubbles and good water I added some salt to help with stress and i plan on feeding every other day, as well as 20%water chang every day to help with water chem ... I added to gallon of chlorine to my main tank to kill any extra ich that might be lingering around so my main question is how long do you think it willbe befor its all dead in my main tank?"

 

[Nick16]

well if your main tank is empty i would raise the tank temp up to about 30C. that will help in killing it, replace some NOT ALL your filter media and then do water tests and changes regularly. if you want to save some leccie, put hot water back in the tank so your heater isnt on so much, specially at 30!

 

[JustKia]

replace some NOT ALL your filter media and then do water tests and changes regularly.

Surely if he's put chlorine into the tank the filter media is useless anyway as it's going to have killed off any beneficial bacteria that he may have had?

 

[rocknurworld2006]

replace some NOT ALL your filter media and then do water tests and changes regularly.

Surely if he's put chlorine into the tank the filter media is useless anyway as it's going to have killed off any beneficial bacteria that he may have had?

yes chlorine will kill off bacteria.

and what do u mean u put in a gallon of chlorine how?

 

[Honeythorn]

Chlorine is NOT a treatment for ich! What on earth were you thinking?A specific Ich medication would have been fine. You should also raise the temperature to speed up it's life cycle which helps get rid of it quicker.

By adding chlorine you have killed the good bacteria in your filter. NEVER add chlorine ever again.

You need to go into the new to the hobby section of the website and read the stickied topic on fishless cycling VERY thoroughly.

It doesn't much matter how long it will be before the ich in your empty tank is gone because you should not add any fish to the tank at all until the filter has cycled, which will take 1 month at least.

 

[jonnyf84]

No the tanks are not cycled, and yes I killed them before hand. they are all tropical fish and the new tanks that they in are well equipped with heaters bubbles and good water I added some salt to help with stress and i plan on feeding every other day, as well as 20%water chang every day to help with water chem ... I added to gallon of chlorine to my main tank to kill any extra ich that might be lingering around so my main question is how long do you think it willbe befor its all dead in my main tank?"

considering you've added a gallon of chlorine there shouldn't be any living bacteria left in it, the tank in question should be considered useless ok - strip it, clean it and start again, please please cycle your tank before you add fish mate, otherwise these diseases will keep happening.

I've read your other posts and the selection of fish you'v got is insane, impressive but insane - and to put them in a un-cycled tank is just asking for trouble. I really don't know where to start to resolve this problem, i am almost positive your fish will be beyond help but whilst they are still alive then we should try and do everything to help them.

1, do not put your fish in the tank that you tipped the chlorine into.
2, if you have carbon in your filter then take it out immediately as this will render your medication useless.
3, if you know anybody that has a cycled tank or two please beg them for a mature filter or at least some filter media or gravel, put this in the tank with your fish straight away.
4, i read that you raised your temp to 85F - this will indeed speed up the life cycle of ich but you must increase aeration as high temps means less oxygen.
5, buy a ammonia and nitrite test kit and test your water, post the results to us straight away. Also buy de-chlorinator - you add this to tap water to get rid of chlorine and chloramines that are in tap water - all fish shops stock this - IT IS ESSENTIAL.
6, now you have no choice but to do a fish in cycle and with ich this will be tricky, keep your ammonia below 1mg/l by testing regularly and changing water when it get passed that amount - always remember to dose your medicine enough to get it up to the stated amount after a water change.
7, do not stop dosing your medicine until you have seen no white spots for at least 4 days, reading the link on the life cycle of ich given to you on your other post will help understand why you need to do this.
8, once the ich has gone focus solely on getting your tank cycled, there are many members on here that are much wiser than me regarding fish-in-cycles and i'm sure they will be more than glad to help you.

iF POSSIBLE The best thing for the fish right now is for you to try and find a friend or aquaintence that has a cycled quarantine tank and put the fish in there and then continue with the meds - this will give your fish a much much better chance of survival.

I have to ask you this question - you said you kept marine fish for a year yes, this means you must have had a decent knowledge about fish and the nitrogen cycle. Why did you buy these beautiful, expensive fish and put them in a un-cycled tank?

 

[joshrm115]

Ok my biggest problem is that I use 3 under gravel filters so how on earth do I cycle my tank. I dont have any friends with fish tanks I am all alone out here all I have is this forum. I do admit that adding the chlorine was a stupid move but after 2 weeks and 100 dollars+ in meds I decided to nuke this thing and get ride of all the diseases. As sick as this sounds I was so fed up with the hole thing I was willing to start over fish and all. Like you said my stocking was jacked any was. So what do i do now?

 

[jonnyf84]

your going to have to start your tank again now anyway so scrap the under gravel filters - they are out dated and out classed by modern filters.

other than that follow the steps in my last post, your fish might still be ok mate but you have got to read up on cycling and the nitrogen process as well as common diseases and stocking suggestions. fish keeping like any hobby requires a lot of practice and learning.

 

[kribensis12]

If you read my response in the Emergency Section, if you add CopperSafe to the tank, it will clear the ich in 2 days. Its always worked for me. Why did you flush the fish? You should have put them in the chlorine, if they were that bad. Faster way of killing them.

 

[Syphoniera]

Hi, joshrm115,
actually, if there were no fish remaining in the main tank, the ich organisms would have died over several days, as they can't last long without a host - there was no need to add anything, although your nitrifying bacteria would also have died off, in any event, without the nourishment supplied by the fish previously present or some similar artificial addition, i.e. ammonia, as used in fishless cycling.

There is a resistant relative of ich now, unfortunately, progressively more commonly found in aquarium fish - however it apparently simply takes longer for treatment to clear, and in any event, approximately 4 weeks of treatment are said to be required to eradicate the problem in all stages, as ich can be invisibly present in both vulnerable and non-susceptible forms long after the obvious nodules have disappeared.
If the medication you're using has not had an obvious effect in two weeks, there's a serious problem.
Even if activated carbon was unfortunately present, the standard reduction of efficiency (as the carbon rapidly exhausts) should have allowed some degree of kill-off after two weeks.
I am rather curious as to what was used, and whether carbon filtration was running at the time, if you wouldn't mind mentioning this?
And while I don't know the size and type of fish you have in the one gallon container, it'll cost a fortune emptying out meds for frequent waterchanges...

I'm sure Nick16 wasn't recommending Pimafix or Melafix as ich treatments, as the combination will help with certain fungus and other infections secondary to parasitic infestation, but obviously won't kill such parasites, (although don't we all wish they would?) but I thought perhaps I'd mention this in case of misunderstanding.
And while copper may not typically be the preferred treatment these days for ich, it certainly does work long-term and well in tanks where no valued snails, shrimp or sensitive plants are or will be present, with CopperSafe, as recommended above by kribensis12, apparently the most stable form available, safe in low PH conditions and something I have used myself in a pinch, and am in fact using in one tank now for an unknown but visible parasite.
CopperSafe is actually active for a full month after addition, and is removed only by waterchanges - so it's actually relatively inexpensive as well.
I trust that the comment about putting fish in chlorine was intended as dramatic effect to make you see the cruelty of flushing live fish, although you did state that they had been killed prior, without stating the method used.
If you must put fish down - which seems excessive where a curable disease is concerned - Clove Oil, available at health food stores, is the only truly humane method of which I know, and will first gradually put your fish to sleep with a few drops mixed into the water of the separate container used, while a much larger dose added after unconsciousness will, given time and certainty of death, ensure that no unnecessary suffering or dreadful awakening occurs.
Fish are just as capable of feeling fear and pain as we are - and one big difference in being human means our not being cold blooded in either sense.

 

[Honeythorn]

You would be better off with an external cannister filter for a tank that size. Undergravels aren't very efficient.