Sick Baby Pleco! Help!

[sapphiresea]

So, I was somehow talked into ordering a fish online, a small clown pleco. I have been keeping an eye out for this fish for quite sometime and have been unable to locate one from a LFS, so I made the plunge of ordering a fish without seeing it. The clown pleco arrived with a bad case of fin rot and what looked to be Ich. There were also tufts of a white cottony fungus (at least, i think it is a fungus). After beginning fungus treatment, the small white bumps went away, so I was hoping that they were beginning stages of fungus, not Ich. When he arrived (at almost two inches long), he also had bloody red streaks emanating from his fins and covering his belly. I also increased the oxygen, added aquarium salt and a treatment of antibiotics to help with the fin and tail rot and the bloody streaks. I was very worried about overmedicating, but I was unsure of what else to do. The bloody streaks went away, the tail looks better and the fungus is almost gone, but now it is quite apparent that the fish has Ich as well. I still have 2 days before completing the course of antibiotics and 1 more dose of the fungus medication left and I am unsure of what to do now. I have been warned that if I perform a water change, I may create a more resistant strain of Ich. Is this true? Will it kill or injure my fish if I use Ich medication, fungus medication, AND antibiotics? I have also been told to continue using antibiotics when treating for ich. Is this good advice? Gram positive or gram negative? Any advice is welcome! Thanks all!

Tank size: 10 gallon quarantine tank gone hospital tank
pH: 7.2
ammonia: .25
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
kH: 120
gH: 150
tank temp: 78 degrees headed towards 82

No tank additions or tankmates, although he was with a Siamese Algae Eater (same online order) which has been moved to a separate quarantine tank. The SAE has yet to show any signs of any type of affliction, so I am keeping my fingers crossed! Thanks again!

 

[WILDER]

Need to get that ammonia reading down as the fish as all ready had septicemia, to be honest he sounds in a bad way.
As long as you add the correct amount of the med back to the water removed there no problem in dong a water change.

 

[sapphiresea]

Need to get that ammonia reading down as the fish as all ready had septicemia, to be honest he sounds in a bad way.
As long as you add the correct amount of the med back to the water removed there no problem in dong a water change.

Thanks for the advice! I have been wanting to perform a water change but wanted to be sure that it would not create a more resistant strain. I have read that this level is safe, but considering how sick this fish was/is, I don't think any amount of ammonia is safe. Thought it might be septicemia, but was afraid to misdiagnose. Maracyn Two cleared it up, so I am fairly convinced it was septicemia. Thanks again!

 

[WILDER]

Ammonia is a killer of fish and if there not healthy and hardy it soon can finsih them off, and that quite high for a plec, so a water change, good luck, and fingers crossed.