Ick Help

[KrystaK]

My molly has come down with ick I know why... I had her in a 10 gallon and she was ok - not ideal but healthy and active. The tank developed a leak (I rearranged my room and probably bumped it or something) so I panicked and moved them to a 5 gallon (I have two platy's too) My friend offered me his 40 gallon. I'm currently in the first week of a fishless cycle.
My molly has been in this little 5 gallon for two weeks now and has developed Ick.

I have the API super ick cure, but it says on the back to remove activated carbon from filter and treat, and then wait 48 hours then do another treatment and then if the fish is fine add the carbon back. Sure I can do that. except I don't know where the activated carbon is or what it looks like. I'm using a topfin power filter (I hate it and am getting a new one, it does a horrible job) but for now it's all I have.
So if someone could tell me where the activated carbon is so I could take it out of my filter and treat my poor molly (And my platy's, i figure if she has it then they'll get it soon so I'm doing preventative medicine with them.

 

[Hermithall]

The carbon is inside cartridges in your Topfin filter and the carbon itself will look like black pellets or "stones".

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

The carbon is inside cartridges in your Topfin filter and the carbon itself will look like black pellets or "stones".

Yep! Just take out the filter, and add some mesh filter for now (it looks and feels a lot like cotton and you can purchase it at any LFS) to make sure the water stays cleanish. If you have a heater in the tank, keep the temperature around ~85*F. Heat and salinity help speed up the ich life cycle. I had this problem too! Good luck!

 

[KrystaK]

Ok added it
So it is ok to leave my platys in there even though there are no visible signs on them of ick?

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

Ok added it
So it is ok to leave my platys in there even though there are no visible signs on them of ick?

I would recommend it, personally. Ick is very easily contracted to other fish. This could be a good preventative tactic. If they show ANY signs of stress, however, remove them from the tank! Platies and Mollies are very hardy fish that can handle high temperatures. I'm not recommending that you set your heater to 90 everyday, because yes, you'll end up with fish fillet! But keeping the tank on 85 for a around 5 days should do the trick. Keep the heater at that temperature for about 2 days after they appear cured, just to make sure there are no remaining parasites in your gravel

Also, as just a quick heads-up, Super Ich Cure by API will stain everything in your aquarium, so make sure you remove your decorations!

 

[KrystaK]

good thing I did that before hand the one thing I done right for ma fishies recently, and it wasnt even for them it was to save the decorations

 

[Blubble37]