Ich, Tail Rot and water changes

[plat]

Hi, I'm new to the hobby. I currently have living in my 20 gallon hexagaon tank: 3 gourami, 2 zebra loaches, 2 guppies, 5 tetras, 1 snail, maybe 2 shrimp but they're hard to find.
So I have Ich in my tank and it's on everyone except the loaches. One of the guppies presented with tail rot today (yay!) I have the packets of fin and tail treatment.
The thing is: I need to do a water change and the last time I did the gravel suction to get all the poop out, I lost two guppies from the stress of it?
I'm getting Ichx in the mail tonight, so I want to do the water change SOON and get the treated tap water in. I just don't know about doing ICHx tonight (they really need it) when I just put in treated water because I read that the sulfates in the conditioner will cause the Ichx to not work.
Advice appreciated
Thanks!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Fin rot is caused by poor water quality and a dirty tank allowing bad bacteria to attack the fish and damage it. Big daily water changes usually fix the problem without the need for chemical medications.

The best treatment for white spot is to raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks. The heat kills the parasites without the need for chemicals.
Before you raise the water temperature, do a 80-90% water change and gravel clean the substrate. This will dilute the number of parasites in the water and make it easier on the fish.

When using heat treatment or chemical medications, increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels in the water.

The following link has information about white spot and different ways to treat it.

What is ICH?

This is a common question that is often asked, what is ich and how is it recognisable and what causes it? The real term is ICHTHYOPHTHIRIASIS. OR commonly known as white spot. It is an extremely comon parasite that affects aquarium fish. It is highly infectious and potentially lethal and...

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