Water issues...??

[Vanessa]

Hey there! I have a 55 gallon that has been set up for 3 months. I thought it had cycled completely so I was adding fish(3 a week).... I tested everything before doing so and each time my readings were 0; however, then realized that even though my water was testing okay, it really hadn't cycled so then the nitrites and nitrates went UP UP. Amazingly enough no one died during that time (had about 10 fish in there). At last my water was perfect (0 ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and phgood)...... things were looking good until the last time I added new fish...... ICK arrived! I lost two (older) fish. One to ick and the other I think a combo of things. When I medicated the tank, I had to take the carbon cartridges out (I have an Aquatech powerfilter) and my tank did a mini recycle. I see no more visable signs of ick and the water is finally back to zero for everything, all fish are doing well, but........... (here are my questions)

The water is oder free, but I have water bubbles on the surface (read this was bad?), and the fish don't live at the top gasping for air, but they do go up quite often. I currently have an angel, mollies, guppies, sword, rainbowfish and a pleco. Could there be something in my water I can't see that is just as harmful? How do I find out? What do I do? Or is all that normal? As I said everyone is doing well, but I don't want to think all is peachy when it's not and have greater issues to deal with later.

Also...... in case of future ick problems, what is the best way to medicate for that? If I keep my old carbon cartridges (that I have to take out to medicate the tank) and put them back in after the med time, will I reinfect my tank? It was bad enough having ick, but the stress of recycling wasn't good either.

Thanks for any help! I'm obviously cluesless.

 

[semper fi]

would not use anything from the old tank that was not treated. carbon only has a life of about three weeks. after that it starts to leach back into the aquarium the toxins it has removed. so pitch it.

it is a good habit to get in to quarantine fish before adding them to the community tank. a proper time is three weeks. if the fish show no signs of disease they can be acclimated to the community tank and then added.

ich can be present in the tank with the fish showing no signs. fish will only show signs of ich when the parasite is attached to the host fish. will free swim in the tank until it needs to feed. ich is more prevelant in the winter months since tanks have a tendency to run cooler. the parasite likes cooler temps and cannot survive at high temps. that is one precaution.

semper fi

 

[Vanessa]

Thanks so much for the advice!

How do I know if Ich is still in my tank? I had read that the parasite lives on a fish and then once it's in free swimming form, then that's when the medicine needs to kill it. Two of the fish had just a couple of the parasites when I started treatment, then they were gone while I treated it and then I stopped treating and got things going again...

Soooooo........ if the ich is still in my tank with no signs of the actual parasite, how can I tell? "Wait" until it needs to feed again and shows up? Hmmm........ my water temp was 76-78; however, I've since adjusted it to 80-82.. the fish seemed much happier after I did that as well.

Ugh.... no fun.

Thanks again!

 

[Vanessa]

Welll....... I did what I should have done earlier and searched out all the info. you guys have posted in the past about Ich. Very helpful information I found, so thanks to all who was involved previously.

I hope the ich is gone, but from what I read it still could be lurking However, now I know what to do again when/if the time comes (hope I don't!).

 

[semper fi]

how long after the fish stopped showing signs of ich did you continue treatment? usually reccommended 7-10 days.

one more thing, now that you have raised the temp, hope you did it gradually, you will find your fish, more active, hungrier and in the case of cichlids more aggressive. also may be more willing to mate. higher temps mature the fish faster.

semper fi

 

[Vanessa]

I used stuff called Quick Cure. It's blue and turns your water blue (temporarily). It CLAIMS to cure Ich in 2 days??? I actually used it for 5 days, 2 in which were without the ich present on the fish.

Do you think I should remedicate for longer to be sure or would that be a bad idea?

Thank you, thank you!

Oh, and thanks for the advice (or warning? hee hee) about the higher water temps. The fish ARE more active and more hungry. Although they haven't been more agressive.... not even my Angel who is actually "boss" of my tank although he doens't bother anyone, he just tends to "supervise". In fact, I bought a kissing gourmi (HUGE MISTAKE!) who was a big bully meanie and would be picking on my other gourami's and the Angel would break it up. Very interesting to watch/witness! The kissing gourmi was donated back to the pet store! Anyway......

 

[semper fi]

not sure about the product quick cure. there are so many out there. not sure about what would happen if you treat for longer than reccommended. cannot see that the product would work after two days since the parasite cannot be killed while it is on the host. would treat for atleast a day or two more just to be sure. keep the temp up where you have raised it though. and keep an eye on the fish.

semper fi