please help a beginner

[adrienne]

Hi there-
I'm new to this, I have a 30 gallon tank with 2 parrot fish and 1 painted tetra in it, that I've had set up since christmas. There were 3 tetras, but two have since died. I though my parrot fish had a case of ick, but I've been treating the tankwith Wardley's ick away for 2 weeks and after an inital improvement, I haven't seen any results. One fish is more sick than the other, he has large white spots on his body and is hiding in corners. He really doesn't swim around very much, although he will eat. I did a 25% water change last night and my test results are as follows:

NH3/ NH4 .25 ppm
NO3 40 ppm
NO2 .5 ppm
hardness 150
pH between 6.8 and 7.2
temp. 78 F

Should I perform another water change to get my nitrite levels down or will this even be effective? Perhaps my fish don't have ick but something else? Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help,
Adrienne

 

[Cian McLiam]

Hi Adrienne,

It does sound like Ich, but the toxins in the water are just as big a worry as neither of these types of fish are particularly hardy when it comes to ammonia/nitrite.

I would recommend changing 20% of the water daily and pushing the temperature up to 84-86F, pre-heating the replacement water to above 80F with boiling water and add a good conditioner like Aquasafe or Stress Coat.

Only use half dose of the Ich cure during the cycle process (please read the article in the beginners forum on cycling), the high temps should kill the whitespot within a week if you are lucky, but adding meds to the toxic soup is a double edged sword.

Keep us posted

Ken