Ich Issue

[shortymet55]

I got my fish 2 weeks ago. I had one die fairly quickly, then replace him. Then i had one fish slowly loss its tail. I assumed it was because another fish bit it off (it was chased and bitten alot, so seemed like a reasonable reason.) Well, next thing i know i wake up one day and it has no tail, and huge white spot and floating lifeless. So i take him out and I notice small white spots which i thought looked like Ich, but what happened to the other? He never got little white spots.

Number 2, now, i treated my Ich with quick cure. I put in 6 drops into my 10gallon tank, because for tetras it says only put in 1 drop for 2 gallons. But, i only have some tetras so i compromised. Now, im done 4 doses, and the main fish i noticed had Ich no longer has any spots, but two fish that i hadnt noticed before has one spot on thier fins. Ones a swordtail, and the other is a cardinal tetra. Im not sure if these are just part of the fish or Ich, because i never really looked to closely at them, cuz i payed attention to the really bad one. So, it says cures in 2 doses, I have put in 4 half doses. Im not sure if, i should keep going or stop. It also said take the carbon out, when curing, so my tank is getting really cloudy, plus its been two weeks, so it ready for a partial water change. Should i put the filter back, change the water, then restart treatment, or maybe after 4 doses the spots could only be just part of the fish.

I dont know where else to post this. I guess this is right. The only other place is emergencies, and I dont think this is quite and emergency.

 

[littlest]

I'm not too good with the fish disease/treatment so I won't advise on that but it will help other people to know exactly what you have in your tank (species and numbers), whether the tank was cycled before you added the fish and what your water stats are (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH).
It's a ten gallon right?

 

[shortymet55]

Its 10 gallons. 3 swordtails (one has spot), 4 Copper Rasboras, 1 algae-eater, 5 cardinal tetras. The ammonia might be alittle high, because i used a ammonia test my aunt had for years, and it said around 4ppm. Temperature is now around 80 (quick cure recommended turning it up to work faster). everything i dont know. The tank is only 2 weeks. I set up the tank and the next day i added 2 swordtails and the rasboras. A few days later I added 2 more swordtail (one died, replaced it then that one died too), then last weekend i added the cardinal tetras and algae eater. I think this might be alittle overfilled, but there all very young and small (rasboras and tetras are like 3/4 in), so when they get too big then ill get a new tank or something.

 

[littlest]

OK, well first off, I'm afraid that 4ppm is not a little high, it is very high and it is toxic to your fish. It may be the case that the test kit is faulty as it is old, but considering you added a lot of fish very quickly to an uncycled new tank, it is very likely that your ammonia is very high regardless of the accuracy of that test.

Ich (whitespot) as I understnad (more experienced people correct me if I am wrong) is often present in an aquarium but it is when the fish gets stressed that it attacks the fish and becomes a problem. Your fish are stressed (and their immune systen is impaired) because you have high levels of ammonia. You need to do a lot of water changes (with dechlorinated water, are you using dechlorinater?) to lower the ammonia level. Basically you need your ammonia to be 0.25 or below. At the moment you might have eight times that much. So do a 50 per cent water chnage, wait two hours and do another, wait two hours and do another. Keep going until you ammonia is 0.25.
Treating the ich is all well and good but you need to get your water quality good before the fish stand much chance of survival.

You also need to buy new test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Get liquid tests rather than strips. They are much more accurate. API Master Test kit is a good buy.

I will leave the advice on treating the ich to someone more experienced.

In the meantime read up on cycling [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099[/URL]

 

[shortymet55]

When i first added water i did use a dechlorination product. Then to top it off, I just use water that i let sit, so the chlorine evaporates out. Now, when i first noticed the high ammonia, I added more dechlorinating stuff (it says on the label also gets rid of ammonia, the products called aquasafe), and it didnt seem to change anything, when i tested the next day. Im doing a water change tomorrow, hopefully that will help my fish

 

[Chrispixx]

You should have done a water change tonight.
And do two or three more tomorrow 2 hours apart like littlest said.
With your high levels of ammonia waiting to tomorrow may not be soon enough. You may have some dead fish by then, i hope you don't, hopefully you will be alright.

To treat the ick you should have used mardel coppersafe, as long as you don't have snails or or plan on keeping snails.
mardel products are safe for the bio-filter ( the bacteria that eats ammonia)
Quick Cure has malachite green and formalin, which i believe may kill off any bacteria you may have already acquired causing further problems.

Mardel Coppersafe

 

[shortymet55]

well, I went out and bought a product called Ammo Lock. It says int instantly kills ammonia in the water. I also did a few gallon water change. But i bought the Ammo Lock, because I dont have buckets big enough to do a 50% water change and have another 5 gallons just adjusting temperature. So, i figured if i put this in it would buy me time to let some water adjust to room temperature. I think its working, because my next water test came much lower (still high, but good improvement) and my fish are looking more lively. Ill keep doing water changes and adding the Ammo Lock every 2 days (I might do more, but on bottle it says 2 days, so im gonna stay around there) until im at a good ammonia level (hopefully 0).

 

[raptorrex]

well, I went out and bought a product called Ammo Lock. It says int instantly kills ammonia in the water. I also did a few gallon water change. But i bought the Ammo Lock, because I dont have buckets big enough to do a 50% water change and have another 5 gallons just adjusting temperature. So, i figured if i put this in it would buy me time to let some water adjust to room temperature. I think its working, because my next water test came much lower (still high, but good improvement) and my fish are looking more lively. Ill keep doing water changes and adding the Ammo Lock every 2 days (I might do more, but on bottle it says 2 days, so im gonna stay around there) until im at a good ammonia level (hopefully 0).

sadly you are looking for a fix/shortcut, to something that should never have come up. proper cycling of a tank is a must. but if you can get some mature filter media from a friend or trusted acquaintance, and add it to your filter, i feel you may find thing looking up. the stress your fish are under is the most likely reason for your ick.