Treat My Tank For Ich

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alien_pseudo

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Hi i've just treat my tank for Ich and put new carbon media in my filter, should i replace the normal media too?
 
I should mention the Ich has completly cleared after a number of 48 hourly 80% water changes and am 4 weeks into a fish in cycle
 
If the appearance of ich on your fish is gone, it is too soon to stop the treatments. The treatments need to continue for several days after all signs are gone. I try to give it a full week of treatment after. If you put the carbon back in right away, get it back out and finish the extra week of treatment. After that you can use carbon to remove the medication that you are using.

80% water changes, by themselves, will slightly reduce the number of obvious parasites on the fish but will not make the tank free of the parasites. They will re-infest the fish in a fairly short time. You need to actually treat the tank long enough to kill all of the free swimming parasites after they fall off the fish. That takes a few days.

If you remove your other filter media, you will destroy whatever amount of cycling that you have already accomplished, so don't do it.
 
I did continue the treatment for a week after. Was curious as to weather it my have affected the bacteria growth, as ammonia is is at between .25 and .50 ppm no no2 and 5ppm no3
 
It depends a lot on the medication that you used. Some medications say right on them that they will control bacterial infections, like the one on your filter.
 
I used king british white spot control, not sure if it's sold in the u.s. It just say's to remove carbon media and continue filtration.
 
Was just confused as i've read the treatment can kill the bacteria, but it's important to keep cycling. Does that mean forfeitting the treatment?
 
Some of the treatments use too broad a brush to control disease in general. One of those may wipe out the bacteria in your filter and make you start again. There is no king british product in the US so I have never had the chance to read their label. You cannot afford to allow ich to persist in a tank whether it is cycling or not. One of the easiest, cheapest and most effective treatments is simple salt with high temperatures. Read through the ich info article linked in my signature area. It discusses ich in some detail and gives treatment alternatives.
 
Thank you for the advice! Hope not to have Ich again, but wont rule it out. This may sound daft but could i use media from a cold water tank?
 
Cycling a freshwater tank always uses the same bacteria, so whether it is cold water or tropical, the bacteria will be the same.
 
Thank's again for your advice! The links in your sig are very informative! Considerin i knew nothing about fish keepin 4 weeks ago i've learnt loads and want to do right by my fish obviously.
 
I try to carry around links that I can refer people to when they have problems but I deal with the simple questions directly. It is the comprehensive issues that I find it is best to have a link ready. On the truly complex issues, I don't want to leave anything out and I don't trust my memory that much.
 
sound like you have a fair bit of experience under your belt! i wish the guys at lfs were a bit more forthcoming with the truth about setting up tanks properly, as i was told to let mine stand for a week before adding any fish, i now know this to be false. unfortunatly, it was too late hence the fish in cycle.

just tested my water stats 12 hours after i did an 80% water change they are as follows

P.H 7.4
ammonia 0.25 ppm
NO2 0ppm
NO3 5ppm
temp 28oC

if the ich treatmet hasnt upset the a-bac when could i possibly anticipate seeing signs of NO2? (currently have 2 platties and 4 live plants) or should the treatment destroyed what was there in the first place i understand it could take up to 2 months :/ i've currently got some gravel from a cold water tank dangling in mine and i've also borrowed a small ornament, hope things gives things a bit of a kick start.

the tank i have is 64 liters approx 15 U.S Gallons i'm led to believe
 
The additions from the cold water tank might give you a nice jump start but I have no idea on the king british and whether it will affect the established bacterial colonies that you already had started.
 

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