Ich Outbreak In New Tank

[RMP]

Hi everyone
I have a 3 week old 40 gallon tank which had an ich outbreak 2 weeks ago. I have had the temperature at least 87F since day 1 and on Wed. put in a half dose of API Super Ick Liquid cure. Thursday I put the rest of the medication in. By Saturday evening I should have done a water change (two full days had passed with the full dose in the tank) but I noticed there is one spot left on my chocolate gourami, on his fin (it started with him). It had spread to other fish but it now off of all of them. The chocolate at most had 4 spots at the beginning of the week.

So, at this point what do I do? Do I do the 25% water change the API product said to do and then redose the tank? And if I redose it, how much, the full dose, or just on the amount of new water I add back to the tank?

I thought about using salt, but not sure how the fickle chocolate gourami would handle that.

Let me add, water parameters are all ok, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. I used a filter from an already established tank about a week after I introduced the fish to help it cycle so I don't know if that is what is keeping the bad levels in check.

Thanks,

Ryan

PS--never would have expected it, but my black neon tetras laid tons of eggs this morning, all this while I am medicating the new tank!

 

[glolite]

Hi Ryan

Firstly, congratulations on your black neons, fab!

Can I ask you what do you mean by bad levels in check? I thought you should add the established filter first, then the fish?

Hi everyone
I have a 3 week old 40 gallon tank which had an ich outbreak 2 weeks ago. I have had the temperature at least 87F since day 1 and on Wed. put in a half dose of API Super Ick Liquid cure. Thursday I put the rest of the medication in. By Saturday evening I should have done a water change (two full days had passed with the full dose in the tank) but I noticed there is one spot left on my chocolate gourami, on his fin (it started with him). It had spread to other fish but it now off of all of them. The chocolate at most had 4 spots at the beginning of the week.

So, at this point what do I do? Do I do the 25% water change the API product said to do and then redose the tank? And if I redose it, how much, the full dose, or just on the amount of new water I add back to the tank?

I thought about using salt, but not sure how the fickle chocolate gourami would handle that.

Let me add, water parameters are all ok, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. I used a filter from an already established tank about a week after I introduced the fish to help it cycle so I don't know if that is what is keeping the bad levels in check.

Thanks,

Ryan

PS--never would have expected it, but my black neon tetras laid tons of eggs this morning, all this while I am medicating the new tank!

 

[RMP]

Hi! Thanks.

What I mean to say is that I have tested the water ammonia, nitrates and nitrate and all are 0 (API liquid test kit).


As far as the fish, I originally bought black neon tetras and white cloud minnows to cycle the tank (as per recommendation at the fish store). 40 gallon tank, I started with 4 neons and 6 minnows. I also bought from a different store the chocolate. After research, I began to realize the chocolate would probably die with the first ammonia spike during cycling. So then I thought about getting media from an established tank, and the fish store sold me a sponge from one of their filters. So that is why the order is backwards.

Since I set the tank up, I've done 2 10% water changes, but no water changes since medicating (weds).

 

[RMP]

What is strange is I have had the heat in the tank at least 86 since I first saw the ick about 2 weeks ago. Shouldn't it all be dead by now?

 

[Crossfire]

Heat alone doesn't kill ich. It only speeds up the life cycle, allowing medicine to work faster in killing the free swimming larvae.
If you have no invertebrates or scaleless fish (loaches, cories, etc) then I recommend using QuickCure. If you do, API Super Ich Cure should work. Also, each day before redosing, do a big water change to remove and free swimming ich larvae and clean the bottom well to suck up any popped off cysts.

Good luck!