Ich- What To Do Next Time

[Victarion]

Hey, not an emergency per se as it is too late, but some rough advice on what to do next time would be appreciated!
 
Tank- 90l tropical cycled, levels fine.
Fish- 3 Small Bristlenose Plecos (2 inch), 1 Amano Shrimp, 4 Guppies, 5 Neon Tetras
 
We had the tank with all the above inhabitants bar the tetras, which was completely fine for a while  We added some tetras, and approximately 2 weeks after they were added, we spotted one of them had the early signs of ich. We then added white spot medication, halved and for twice the duration, as advised with respect of the shrimp.
 
Within 2 days the first tetra expired, and by the end of two days further, all the guppies and the rest of the tetras died. We were wondering, what is the best thing to do if there is a next time? It seemed quite strange that it took effect so fast, and decimated the population from being fine to dead in 4 days. The Bristlenoses look fine a week in, we have raised the temperature a touch, and are confident about their prognosis. We were leery about adding salt as loaches don't tolerate it apparently.
 
I tried googling advice, but that was a waste of an hour!

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Victarion,
 
Sorry to hear about the losses.
Ich/whitespot is terrible for any setup. You dont think think it will affect but you realise how devestating it can be when it does.
It happened to my established setup recently when i bought some new fish. Eventually more than half my tank was wiped out.
 
Read up about Ich so you understand its life cycle and how to treat it should it happen again.
There are various treatment methods but went with meds this this. Once you can see the spots its pretty much curtains for most of them as it has more than likely got to the gills of the fish that have the spots as well as those that dont.
I also then used an anti internal bacterial med after the white spot treatment as Ich is parasitic and gets under the fish slime coat and leaves a wound i believe when it eventially leaves the fish.
During the white spot med phase i raised the temp 1-2c and ensured the water was oxygenated more.
 
Prevention:
 
- the basic point is not to do large volume changes of water at varying temperatures. This causes the fish to stress and i think stress can be a factor.
- use a quarentine tank for new fish (i dont have one).
- UV steriliser. This is the route i will be going down. From my own experience, the fish i bought from the particular shop i dont believe use UV. The other shop i use do have UV connected to their tanks and their fish have been more robust over the years.
 
 
My sig at the bottom is totally different now due to the losses