Guppygirl Posted April 13, 2007 Report Share Posted April 13, 2007 :cry: Help. My tetras have ich. A new batch of neons and black phantoms. They are in their home, I know bad idea, but it can also be quarintine. The tank is six gallon and the temp is 74'F. That part is fine. The other problem is that this is a fairly new tank so it is cycling. Ammonia spikes and all. Yikes it has been quite awhile since I have had a tank fully cycle. Now the tetras have ich. What should I do, I have added super ich cure 1/2 dose to the tank- yesterday was the second treatment. Came home today to all the black phantoms totally covered with ich, they were okay until yesterday, neons remained the same semi covered with ich. My ammonia test kit is also showing an ammonia increase. Now my questions and/or options-- 1) Remove the medication and do water changes until ammonia is 0 again, and keep the water super clean. Hoping that the ich will go way? Praying that the ich was the result of stress and tank cycling(which it was) 2) Keep medicating? and hope that they all survive the medication and the resulting ammonia spike- as if you keep medicating water changes are out, unless you want to keep treating for a long time. As the medicine gets diluted- then the problem of med-strength comes into play. 3) Do a huge water change sucking the gravel, increase temperature, add medication and pray? 4) Is it possible to treat tetras with full strength of medication without killing them??? 5) Any other options?- As I have never treated tetras before for ich- guppies yes, tetras no. Any input would be greatly and hugely welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitsukuni Posted April 13, 2007 Report Share Posted April 13, 2007 First thing I would do is crank the temp!!! IMHO, 74* is a bit cool for them anyways, but you want to speed up the ich life cycle, so I'd get it above 80*, praps 82-83*. Knowing what happens to o2 as temp goes up, add another airstone to increase surface agitation. In the meantime, lots of water changes to dilute the Ammo, and match the makeup water to the tank water using a thermometer. You can also throw some ammo chips in your filter, or use ammo-lock to render the ammo less harmful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New to Alberta Posted April 14, 2007 Report Share Posted April 14, 2007 Hi, I have 4 years experience working in a quaranteen facility in a fish store and have dealt successfully with ich many times. You should absolutely do daily partial water changes - 30%. Follow the previous advise on getting an ammo remover also. This will help with that problem but you still have to worry about a Nitrite spike next so keep up with the water changes until your tank is properly cycled. Note - you have a large bio load for such a small tank which may still cause future health issues. Back to the problem at hand though - Get a Ich remedy that you dose every day so that after you water change you can treat the ich also (Ex; Clout)- then after treating the meds it's lights off as I've heard that ich is light sensitive and the meds will be more effective in darker conditions. Stop feeding - this will also cut back on you waste issue and improve water quality which is much more crucial than feeding fish that really don't require it every day. I suggest a very small amount only every 3 days for the next couple of weeks. The tetras can withstand the meds and even if they are a sensitive you have to get the ich cured or it will over come the fish anyways. Follow the prevoius advise on turning up the temp also and be very careful to use the same temp water or slightly warmer when doing water changes as fish are very sensitive to a slightly cooler temp shock. Hmmmm I think I've covered everything - oh yes - if you don't have any live plants you can do a 1tsp to 5 gal aquarium salt ratio added to the tank. Aquarium salt in combo with all the above mentioned will give you a very strong chance in killing off the ich and if used short term will not effect the tetras. All the best to you and your fish! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted April 14, 2007 Report Share Posted April 14, 2007 Absolutely , WCs, raise temp, use salt, add circulation. What I would add is, can you use that tank as a QT and start a new tank cycling? In my experience the meds mess up the bateria and the cycling may not happen in that tank, so you'll be doing WC after WC just to keep up with the bio load / amonia/nitrites. Once you've cured the ick the fish will need to go into a cycled tank. I fear at this rate you'll cure the ick and kill them anyway with the cycling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New to Alberta Posted April 14, 2007 Report Share Posted April 14, 2007 Absolutely , WCs, raise temp, use salt, add circulation. What I would add is, can you use that tank as a QT and start a new tank cycling? In my experience the meds mess up the bateria and the cycling may not happen in that tank, so you'll be doing WC after WC just to keep up with the bio load / amonia/nitrites. Once you've cured the ick the fish will need to go into a cycled tank. I fear at this rate you'll cure the ick and kill them anyway with the cycling. There shouldn't be a concern in the meds affecting the cycling of the tank too much. Parasite meds won't kill the growth of beneficial bacteria but may slow it down a bit. I dd note though once the ick is clear there is still the concern of the tank finishing it's cycling so that the partial water changes, Ammonia,Nitrite and Nitrate monitering, and sparce feeding ahould continue. Also, I feel 6 gallons may be too small a tank for the fish being kept. You have to take in account the full adult size of each fish in the one inch of fish per gallon ratio. I don't know how many fish are in the tank right now so I'll only worry about the problem at hand until I know more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New to Alberta Posted April 14, 2007 Report Share Posted April 14, 2007 Oh yeah! Here is another useful fact. Salt helps to detoxify the effects of Nitrite poisoning in fish. Yah aquarium salt - good for almost anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New to Alberta Posted April 17, 2007 Report Share Posted April 17, 2007 How are you making out? All the best to you and your fishies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppygirl Posted April 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2007 :cry: To say that they all didn't make it. This was the worst case of ich I have ever encountered, the meds, and temp didn't have any affect and in the black phantom's case they actually got worse. Awoke a couple of days ago to all the neons dead and only two phantoms still sadly try to swim. Humanly destroyed them to end their suffering. I think the ich reached their gills, so sad. I love black phantoms and they all died which made me mad. Mainly at myself as I stupidly added them to quickly to the tank which wasn't totally cycled :boxed:. I forgot that tetras are more delicate then my guppies which can take alot before they get sick. The only good news out of the whole problem was that they never touched any of my other tanks so those tanks remained unaffected from the ich situation. I have supplies for all my tanks, nothing is used between tanks, limiting spread of diseases like ich. I have also taken down that tank and put it away. Thinking about it, the tank wasn't in the best place, direct sunlight, lots of foot traffic. Guppies didn't mind it but the tetras probably got stressed-leading to the ich outbreak. So now I will have to be happy with three tanks- two with guppies and one with my other very healthy fat batch of neons and black phantoms. So thanks for all the help, even thou it didn't work in this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitsukuni Posted April 18, 2007 Report Share Posted April 18, 2007 That's too bad - sorry to hear it. :cry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatureNut Posted April 18, 2007 Report Share Posted April 18, 2007 Sorry to hear that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrie Lee Posted April 18, 2007 Report Share Posted April 18, 2007 Aww, I had that happen when I first started keeping fish. I lost every fish in the tank. Sorry for your loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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