Hi
New to fish keeping and despite my best efforts and a lot of time I have lost 2 platys in 2 days and my black mollies have a second dose of ich . I've had the tank going for 3 weeks (30 litres - approx 6.5 UK gallons).
Fish are 4 beacon tetras, 4 platys, 1 clown plec, 2 black mollies and 2 apple snails -probably too many I think.
One platy seemed to lose its tail and the other looked enormously bloated but no sign of scales sticking out. I'm treating the tank for ich using Protozin, keeping the light off and raised the temp a bit as well - seems to be working! (fingers crossed). I do have 3 molly fry which are going well so far and I spotted a platy fry today , but only the one - sand substrate so hard to see them.
I wondered if my water readings were anything to do with it - my PH seems to be dropping, having gone from 7 when the tank first started down to 6 today. I did a 33% water change and cleaned the filter etc the other day before I started the ich treatment.
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 10 - big drop from 40, 3 days ago
Am I on the right track or is there something else I'm missing? How often should I do water changes as I was told its the worst thing to do for ich.
This is a 10 page essay - sorry guys - but I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can, especially now I've become a mummy to wee baby fishies. Any advice would be fab!
New to fish keeping and despite my best efforts and a lot of time I have lost 2 platys in 2 days and my black mollies have a second dose of ich . I've had the tank going for 3 weeks (30 litres - approx 6.5 UK gallons).
Fish are 4 beacon tetras, 4 platys, 1 clown plec, 2 black mollies and 2 apple snails -probably too many I think.
One platy seemed to lose its tail and the other looked enormously bloated but no sign of scales sticking out. I'm treating the tank for ich using Protozin, keeping the light off and raised the temp a bit as well - seems to be working! (fingers crossed). I do have 3 molly fry which are going well so far and I spotted a platy fry today , but only the one - sand substrate so hard to see them.
I wondered if my water readings were anything to do with it - my PH seems to be dropping, having gone from 7 when the tank first started down to 6 today. I did a 33% water change and cleaned the filter etc the other day before I started the ich treatment.
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 10 - big drop from 40, 3 days ago
Am I on the right track or is there something else I'm missing? How often should I do water changes as I was told its the worst thing to do for ich.
This is a 10 page essay - sorry guys - but I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can, especially now I've become a mummy to wee baby fishies. Any advice would be fab!