I cant win with this tank help!!

Joeyb1731

Joeyb1731

Large Fish
#1
Jan 20, 2009
214
0
0
38
Oceanside NY
#1
So if youve read my other posts I have been having issues with the cycling and its been bugging me. I finally got my cycle under control, 23 days since start the tank I now have my ammonia down from 1.0 to .5 and im finally seeing nitrites, .5 of them. I was excited that I saw nitrites today, not that they are good, its just good to see something happening. Now today I notice that 2 of my fish seem to have ich, not seem, im pretty sure they do. They happen to be 2 fish that stay inside the caves all day but i walked in on them both bouncing off the gravel on the bottom of the tank. I then added melafix to my tank which was recommended by my LFS as the stuff that they put in as a preventitive. My tank is almost done cycling, Im pretty sure i have 2 infected fish, and I dont want to hurt my cycle with treatments, and/or dye my silicone and plants blue with the stupid dissolving tablets I was given. Please help, im getting so frustrated with this tank.
 

TMony

TMony

Large Fish
#2
Nov 16, 2008
400
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#2
Melafix won't work for ich.
I would raise your temp. to (86F) and dose with aquarium salt at 1 tsp per gallon (make sure it is NaCl). It will take several days to cure ich, so be patient. In fact keeping the treatment up for 3 weeks is the best way to make sure you get no repeat ich in the tank. This is the least stressful method of treatment for your fish.
 

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TMony

TMony

Large Fish
#8
Nov 16, 2008
400
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#8
Probably just stirred up the filter media, it will clear up soon. You should always remove the carbon with medications, but you don't have to remove it with the salt treatment, but it's up to you.
Good luck . . . let us know how it works out for you.
 

DesignsOnYou

DesignsOnYou

Large Fish
#11
Jun 21, 2008
493
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0
#11
Your nitrite spike is actually good news. Same thing with water changes for that, do them to keep your nitrites below 1, but otherwise you can leave it alone. Also, some people say to just do water changes from the actual water column without vacuuming during cycling to leave the bacteria in the gravel alone, and some say it doesn't matter. I personally wouldn't vacuum, but it's up to you and your research. If you're asking if you can do water changes with the temp raised for the ich treatment, then the answer is yes to that, but you should try to match the temp that's in the tank before you put the new water in. If you're using salt, you can replace it with the water change too. Not all of it, but just proportionately. For example, if you're doing 1 tsp per gallon, (I don't remember the dosage, it's just an example) and you do a 10 gallon water change, you could dissolve 10 tsp in the water that you're putting back in since you're taking the same amount out. I hope that makes sense. Also, if anyone else disagrees feel free to jump in.
 

TMony

TMony

Large Fish
#12
Nov 16, 2008
400
0
0
#12
Good advice above..
(You are on the money DesignsOnYou . . . one tsp per gallon of salt is the correct dosage.)

Glad to hear the tank is finally cycling for you. It is a good sign that the ammonia is 0 and the nitrites are raising. (ammonia turns into nitrite which then becomes nitrate)
Keep up on the water changes and in the next couple of days your nitrites will also drop to 0. Once that happens, your tank is properly cycled. After that point, just keep up on your weekly water changes (10-25%) to reduce the nitrate and clean your gravel and you will be in good shape. Let us know how the salt treatment is working for your ich problem. Good luck ; )
 

Joeyb1731

Joeyb1731

Large Fish
#13
Jan 20, 2009
214
0
0
38
Oceanside NY
#13
Thank you so much for all the help. I did the water change. And my nitrites are down to .5 my fish seem happy. I still see the ich on the loaches but they havnt been scratching or flashing so hopefully all this work will leave me with no ich and a cycled tank :) I'll give another update tomorrow
 

DesignsOnYou

DesignsOnYou

Large Fish
#14
Jun 21, 2008
493
0
0
#14
Loaches are pretty ich prone, so that's not really a surprise. Mine got over it fine with the heat/salt method (although I later heard that even salt is bad for them, so who knows) and have been fine since. Hang in there.
 

TMony

TMony

Large Fish
#15
Nov 16, 2008
400
0
0
#15
Really happy to hear things are going better!

Loaches are a little more sensitive to salt than other fish, but I think it is the best alternative. Commercial ich treatments can cause stress as well, so I think this is the lesser evil so to speak. If it becomes an ongoing problem, you may want to invest in a UV sterilizer in the future. Just a thought ; )
 

Joeyb1731

Joeyb1731

Large Fish
#16
Jan 20, 2009
214
0
0
38
Oceanside NY
#16
Just An update for today

NO MORE NITRITES :) I guess im cycled now. My fish seem happy. All the ich is off 1 of my loaches and the other one only has a few speckles on him. I think things are finally looking up for me. Im not getting ahead of myself but I think everything is ok now.


Thanks so much for all of your help. I cant even tell you how many times I wanted to give up with the cycle all of your advice helped me out a ton


Ill let you all know when the ich is gone
 

Joeyb1731

Joeyb1731

Large Fish
#20
Jan 20, 2009
214
0
0
38
Oceanside NY
#20
The ich cleared up about 2 days ago, well visibly cleared, im still treating the water, im gonna do a water change in a day or 2 and hopefully I should be good. But everything is very very good with the tank

Thanks for the follow up Tmony
 

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