I Finally Bought A Quarantine Tank!

[RMP]

I was able to get a 5 gallon tank to use as a hospital tank. I know 10 would be better, but I can't afford that. I have 3 chocolate gouramis with ich, the 4th one seems to be doing just fine and has had the same one spot on his fin for the past 3 weeks now. His coloring is excellent, the other 3 not so good. They are eating though.

I cut half of a bacterial sponge i got from the store which I used to start my 40 gallon into the 5 gallon hospital. I did not add gravel, just some live plants and a piece of driftwood so the chocolates feel somewhat at home.

My question is I have the 3 sick gouramis in there. Should I change a gallon of the water once a day so toxins do not build up?

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[slimeneo]

Yes, you should still change the water, just to be safe

 

[BerryAttack]

here is a site that you can use to help your fish.

one:

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

make sure you treat it quick and when you are treating it. do a water change before hand then start the treatment.. if you don't treat the fish they can die.

also since all of your fish have ich then treat them all together. moving them might cause more stress and you don't want that for the fish right now.

 

[aquariumart22]

I may be wrong, but you should treat the whole tank even if no signs are present on the other fish. If you did get rid of it in the 5 gallon, then reintroduced into the main tank they will just get it again.

 

[RMP]

2 questions:

If none of the fish in the main tank show ich for several weeks, does that mean it is gone?


The main tank has a chocolate gourami and 3 cherry shrimp. So I can't use meds with the shrimp there. Would adding salt and raising the heat to treat the ich kill the chocolate gourami or the shrimp?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[aquariumart22]

I would say you should do large water changes, maybe 50 percent everyday or every other day and vaccum the gravel for two weeks in the main tank if there are no signs just to be safe. When I first started fishkeeping and my 30 gallon had ich, I would stop with daily water changes as soon as I stopped seeing signs and maybe a week or two later I would see ich again. I didn't use medication the first time, just turned the temperature up and added salt along with daily water changes. The second time I used medication which got rid of it a lot faster. Sometimes temperature and salt work and sometimes they don't.

 

[Blubble37]

i'd say to treat the lot, because the ich might be in its gravel life cycle in the main tank, better safe than spotty :') keep changing the water, and i usually treat for a while after the spots are gone as the medication can only work when the ich parasite is in its waterborne life cycle

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If you diagnose Ich, you should be treating the main tank with all fish occupants kept in it at the time of spotting the outbreak, exceptions being any fish or critters that might be sensitive to the Ich medication you use.

So in the OP's case, you should be removing the shrimp to the QT, as I believe they are sensitive to Waterlife Protozin (only Ich meds I have used to date).

Now we are getting into an area I have no experience of, but I suggest you do some research... As far as I'm aware, the shrimp will not harbour the Ich parasite. However, if you use some of the filter sponge from the Ich infested tank to kep the shrimp safe in the QT, it is reasonable to assume you will move some Ich over to that QT as well. You need to find out how warm you can keep the QT water at while not endangering the shrimp, so that any Ich will move more rapidly to the free swimming form, which I believe must find a fish host within 24 hours (otherwise they die). Failure to do this properly risks the possibility of you treating Ich in the main tank, but then re-introducing it when you move the shrimp back, after you have made sure the Ich meds has been thoroughly removed by a massive water change (or two) and then using a fresh batch of activated carbon to adsorb any remaining meds for several days (then remove the carbon).

 

[Blubble37]

+1For someone in an area of "little experiance" you got it right first time :')

 

[RMP]

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