I think I have ich, what do I do?

[FroggyFox]

I'm not sure why you're disinfecting and going through all of this? The fuzz is probably rotting food or an algae as everyone has previously stated. Fungus doesnt just pop up in a tank like that it has to have something to start with. You were the one who said that you may have overfed.

Someone has to point out to you that even if a diseased fish coming into your tank (because you added fish after we specifically suggested you not add any new fish to the tank until your tank is cycled) could have caused all of your fish to get sick and stressed and die....its more likely that they were stressed out already from high levels of ammonia and nitrites because your tank is still cycling then you stressed them out further by adding new fish and overstocking the tank which probably brought a disease in in addition to everything else.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but you apparantly decided not to heed any of the comments made by myself and others in your previous threads, or lotus/seleya/nobody in THIS thread and just continue going on listening to what you want to hear. It gets increasingly frustrating for all of us to read this especially when you start a thread off by saying that you're not testing your water.

 

[Shaunna]

Ok, first off froggy, I DO listen to all of you despite what you say and it makes me angry when you imply that I do not.

Secondly, yes, I AM the one that stated I overfed I don't know what the hell your jumping down my throat on that about. I never once stated that this was anyone else's fault other than my own. I thought it was just intriguing that the fish I added was the first one to die. That was my point!

Thirdly, I had already went to Walmart and bought the medication and dropped in into my tank b/4 Jnev replied to my post. I haven't done anything new since this started. Maybe you didn't read everything correctly b/c I stated to Seleya that I have not added anymore medication since the initial dose 2 days ago. I am disinfecting because I have had so many deaths in my tank and I don't know what this fungus is. I do not like fuzzies on my things. It is not food for the 50th time. I am sorry if this sounds harsh but it was intended to!

Thank you everyone for the responses. Froggy, maybe you should reread my post and look a little harder I think you missed a couple. I listen to everything you tell me, in fact, I was waiting on you to reply. Their are a lot of people who do not test their water, ok. As you have stated many times CLEAN WATER does better than anything else, and I am anal about w/c. that is why I am telling you this did not come from poor water.

And btw, fungus is already naturally ina tank as it is in everything else.

 

[FroggyFox]

yes, I AM the one that stated I overfed I don't know what the hell your jumping down my throat on that about. I never once stated that this was anyone else's fault other than my own. I thought it was just intriguing that the fish I added was the first one to die. That was my point! ... And btw, fungus is already naturally ina tank as it is in everything else.

I didn't say that it was anyone else's fault...not sure what you're talking about. I was pointing out that you said you overfed and the logical issues that come after overfeeding is excess food collecting in the substrate of the tank and rotting. I am fully aware that fungus happens naturally in a tank, but you dont SEE it unless it has something to grow on (ie extra food, dead fish bodies, decaying plant matter, sick fish).

I had already went to Walmart and bought the medication and dropped in into my tank b/4 Jnev replied to my post. I haven't done anything new since this started. Maybe you didn't read everything correctly b/c I stated to Seleya that I have not added anymore medication since the initial dose 2 days ago.

I read through all of their posts and all of your posts...Lotus pointed out that one of the best ways to tell about your tank is through testing, as well as asked if your tank is cycled...which you didn't answer. Seleya too pointed out that having toxins in the water is a bad thing and suggested that testing your water might be a good idea. I realize you read their posts and may have responded to pieces of them, but you didn't seem to note those parts that a lot of us find really important to the basics of keeping fish.

I am disinfecting because I have had so many deaths in my tank and I don't know what this fungus is. I do not like fuzzies on my things. It is not food for the 50th time. I am sorry if this sounds harsh but it was intended to!

I dont think you need to disinfect anything, but thats your call. There are many people that go through fish deaths and diseases without ripping the tank apart because they realize that poor water quality was their issue. If you do decide to disinfect make sure to use a very dilute bleach solution (like 100 to 1) then rinse well and use a lot of dechlorinator to deactivate any excess bleach.

Thank you everyone for the responses. Froggy, maybe you should reread my post and look a little harder I think you missed a couple. I listen to everything you tell me, in fact, I was waiting on you to reply. Their are a lot of people who do not test their water, ok. As you have stated many times CLEAN WATER does better than anything else, and I am anal about w/c. that is why I am telling you this did not come from poor water.

Ammonia and nitrites are not visible to your eye...ick and fungus and fish deaths are most commonly attributed at least in part to poor water quality. Having ammonia and nitrites are two things that would make your water "poor quality" and since you had an overstocked tank that has only been set up for less than a month ( http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showpost.php?p=279967&postcount=21 ) it is reasonable to assume that it is still cycling and that is why I'm telling you that this DID come from poor water quality.

I hadn't responded before this on this thread because it seems like no matter how hard I try to explain some of this stuff you've been ignoring it...and I have been very frustrated reading your posts. I realize that you're new to the hobby and maybe sometimes I dont explain things that well...but when there is a good handful of people telling you the same thing and you dont seem to notice I'm not sure what else we can do.

 

[Shaunna]

ok, thank you. You are right I did not respond to the levels b/c I already said I didn't test. I don't want to break my whole tank apart but I also don't want the fungus in the tank. Yes, I agree it probably did start on the excess food since yes I did state that I thought I had overfed, my only problem with all that was I was trying to tell you I had just done a w/c with gravel vac and had gooten the majority of the excess food out. I just don't think all the fungus growth came from what was there the night before, I didn't overfeed that much. I mean it isn't like I dumped the whole bottle in there. I do not test my water b/c htere isn't anything I can do for high ammonia besides what I already do. (w/c) My problem was that I didn't "listen" to Henry. He wasn't acting right and I should have checked into it. That was my problem that relates to being a beginner. Now, I will know. I was going to clean everything because I do not want the fungus to continue growing since everything in the tank is of pourus material. I do not want to get rid of any of my beneficial bacteria that is why I wanted to do a salt bath. It doesn't harm the good stuff does it? I do not know I am asking here. I know if I put it in chlorinated water it will kill the good bac also. Is there that much good bac on the fake plants and everything? Again, I am asking. I also wanted to know if since I am not putting the salt directly into my tank, can I use table salt? Does it still do the same thing? As long as I rinse well?

 

[FroggyFox]

Thank you.

Your good bacteria is all over every porus surface, as you said, but MOSTLY on your filter media. Chlorinated water will kill good and bad bacteria...

Um...do you still have any fish left? I've gotten confused with what you had in there and what died...

I was a little unclear whether you had taken the filter media out or not during the whole medication process...if you did take it out and it dried out then you might as well just start over and disinfect everything. Especially if you dont have any fish left. (If you still have fish you might want to take some tank water and put them in another container while you clean)

You can use table salt...but I'm not sure why you would, salt doesn't really clean anything. Killing ick usually takes awhile because it has a life cycle and you can only kill it during one portion of its life. You heat the water up to speed up the life cycle and then the salt will kill it....thats how the salt and heat treatment works for ick, but its dangerous to do while cycling because ammonia and nitrites are bad at for your fish at higher temperatures and your water has less capacity to hold oxygen in the water at higher temperatures too.

ok i'm babbling...could you answer some of that stuff so that we could get you some suggestions on what to do moving forward?

Lotus' suggestion of not adding any fish for at least two weeks is valid...and I guess if I were you I'd probably do a nice big water change (extra gravel vac to get as much of the nasties out as possible) then start treatment for ick. Oh and, of course I'd pick up some test kits so you know when your tank is cycled and you can start adding fish slowly after its cycled and planning what you really want in the tank.

 

[Shaunna]

Ok, yes, I have my ABF, 2 Blue Gouramis, 1 Dwarf Gourami, and 1 Black Skirt. I did take my carbon filter(?) out and put it in a bucket of fresh, dechlorinated water. I left the bio-wheel in the running filter. I thought that the fizzing of the salt and something in it was like a little fizz bath for everything, that is why I was going to do that. Apparently it is not, so there is no need for that. I am going to do a very big water change tonight again and clean my gravel VERY well. I only hope the stress of that doesn't put them over the edge. the only one I am worried about is Henry, he is so sensitive. Is it normal that my ABF wasn't affected by any of this? I am not planning on putting anything in the tank until probably the Friday after Thanksgiving. Is that ok? Then we will be buying Gouramis. Ok, so there are the fish I have left, that is what I am going to be doing tonight, and my future plans for my tank. Hit me....

Should I get some of that melafix? Not trying to throw meds in just wondering about a previous post. Also, will this blue in my water just go away with water changes or do I have to get it out at one time or what? I am assuming there is still meds in the water if it is still blue, right?

 

[fiugzel]

Not having a test kit is like scuba diving with no oxygen meter, IMO.

I only tested for ammonia for the longest time. Then I picked up a full test kit and the nitrates were through the roof! Because of that I was getting algae outbreaks and the fish were stressed. Of the three cycle params (ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates) nitrates is the least harmful to the fish. I did hardcore w/c's to get the nitrates down, and now everything is cozy. But my point is, I'd suggest getting a test kit. Not having one and trying to figure stuff out is like if I brought JJ to the doctor for a chest infection and she knelt down and looked into his eyes for 2 minutes, then made a diagnosis. I'd say, "WTF? Check him out, doc!"

Sorry about the fishies, Shaunna. Get this puppy fixed up for Lennon's birthday. There's still time!

 

[FroggyFox]

Water changes are less stressful for them than nitrites or ammonia in the water...I wouldn't worry about it. Just be sure that the water you're putting back into the tank has been dechlorinated and is within a couple degrees of the temperature of the tank.

I've never had an abf before...I kind thought they were brackish fish, but I could be wrong on that. SO sorry no idea on him.

With your gouramis I also can't say much as I've never had them, I'd just be sure to do your homework on them and be sure you're not designing a tank that is doomed to resemble world war 3. I dont know if your blue gouramis are real blues or powder blues (a color breed of dwarf gourami)...if they're real blues that could be bad. Like this profile says http://www.petresources.net/fish/anaban/tri_tri.html they can be very aggressive to conspecifics (fish who look like them, are from the same family etc). And dont forget that you really need to plan for the adult size of the fish in the tank, not the size they are now. All gouramis are not the same...there was this one I saw at an aquarium in Chicago that was HUGE! (I believe it was a giant gourami...but still, I know some of the tank varieties get pretty big too)

As for when you should add fish...I'm not going to say a time. Honestly Lotus said at least 14 days and I'm going to say dont put a time frame on it. Your tank has been set up for 3 weeks, so depending on if you have enough bacteria saved from the past 3 weeks or not, you could be 3 weeks into a 3 month cycling period...or completely starting over. The shortest time frame Ive ever seen a tank ready in has been 2-4 weeks, but that was with a fishless cycle. Fish in cycles take probably at least 3 or 4 times that because of the amount of water changes you need to do to keep the levels at a liveable level for your fish.

The answer for when you can add more fish is when your tank is safe to add some. You will know your tank is safe when the ammonia and nitrite levels drop to 0 in your tank (and no one is sick etc). The amount of fish you have in there right now is probably just right or a little more than I'd suggest for cycling a 29 gallon tank.

AND just in case, you might look it up and spend the extra 30 bucks or so and order some biospira. Then you could potentially speed things up quite a bit. Its not designed for a tank like yours that has already had fish in it, but it'd help. If you dont want to go for the 30, you might look for the seachem stabilize product that some people have had good results with. Its and additive that goes into your tank periodically while its cycling to help the bacteria along.

If you decide to add more fish before your tank is finished cycling then you're most likely setting your tank up for another episode similar to this one.

 

[Shaunna]

I am not planning on adding anymore fish. I ahve cosidered buying this stuff called "cycle" at walmart, ne1 have any experience witht his stuff? I am not adding it so I can add fish quicker, just adding to help smooth things out for right now.

The Gouramis I have are "real" Blue Gouramis. (Three spot) Those will be the ones we will probably go with. I have read about them and they say they can be kept with fish of similar size and temperment. We are only planning on getting a couple more, they get up to 4". We ahve considered the neon dwarf to keep Henry company. As the Blues get bigger we may have to move Henry and the Neon Dwarf.

So, I do not need to add anything else, then? Just do a water change and a vac and go from there?

Edit... I was wondering since I am going to have my water so low is there anything I can use to clean the inside of my glass? Don't have the money to purchase "special" stuff, just looking for a good ol' home remedy.
In a couple of days if everything was going ok, would it be alright to add a ghost shrimp? I liked the little clean ups they did, plus as stated b/4 they are great indicators. That was one reason I had liked knowing they were in my tank b/4. That should have been my indicator right there, was when I found my GS belly up on the bottom! Oh, well water under the bridge now. Looking towards the future of my tank. Will keep you posted.

Thanks alot everyone, really!

 

[FroggyFox]

Nope...cycle would most likely be a waste of your $$. I would try Stabilize or biospira if you're going to add anything to the tank.

Ghost shrimps are really cute but just dont get too attached. Not to mention its adding something foreign into your tank from the lfs and heaven only knows what could come with it so you're taking a risk with your tank again.

 

[Shaunna]

ok, I won't do it for a while then. I know I did get really attached to "nick, the ghost shrimp" What about the edit I added that after you posted Froggy, thanks

Won't do cycle either. Just good old water changes.

 

[FroggyFox]

I use the old fashioned paper towel or bare hand method of cleaning the inside glass Outside I use windex sprayed onto the paper towel and wiped onto the tank (so no spray goes into the tank thatd be really bad)

My first ghost shrimp's name was Norman

 

[Shaunna]

Yeah, I do the same thing for the outside of the tank. I will just give it a good swiping then. Ok, I am outta here. Gonna go and tackle my tank. Thanks for the help, I know what to do if I run into trouble.

I like Norman. I had a hefer named Norma!!

 

[Shaunna]

Ok, well I did a massive water change. I went ahead and threw out the live plants. They were dyed anyway! I took out all the decorations and rinsed them really well. That stuff really dyed my fake log, so I put it in my bathtub and put put about a half capful of bleach in with it. It didn't help. Speaking of, is there anyway to get that nasty plasticy smell outta that thing? Just a thought. My gravel was pretty dang gross!!! I will admit it. I don't know how though b/c I just did a vac. I read on here that it wasn't necessary to remove the deco everytime you do a vac but how do you get under everything in the meantime? Back in the corners where my plants are was really bad too. I soaked my airstone also and it is now blowing from all wholes. I can't believe how quickly that thing got deposits on it. It has only been in there for about a week!!! Anybody know how to control that a little better? Also, I wiped down the inside of my tanks glass and my heater. I wiped down the airhose. I had just a spot of green slimy algae on it. Will not feeding so much help control that? I don't want it to get out of hand now that I know I can't get an algea sucker yet. How else can I keep that under wraps until then? Well overall my tank looks really good. Nice and clean. I will start feeding every other day and I will watch and make sure each fish gets a couple of flakes and then be done instead of throwing some flakes in and walking away. Also, one more thing, why does the bottle say to feed small multiple meals a day?

 

[TitanWarrior]

Well thats a thing with over feeding and fish poo no mater how much you clean it you can still pump debris out of the tank.

About the algae thing is common in new tanks that havent cycled. I have some algae my self. Algae comse from having too much nitrates and phosphates are algae food

Dont know about the pastic smell.

 

[TLM4x4]

LOL dont misunderstand Shaunna but you remind me of a little kid with so MANY questions in each one of your posts...not a dig honestly, just found it amusing and refreshing for some reason...anyway I will attempt to answer your questions...yeah as you know you DONT want to medicate your WHOLE tank for one or two sick fish...seeing how it can stain everything and just generally make a bigger mess to clean up. You should get yourself a small 2 gal. or so set up to use as a hospital tank...imo I would slow WAY down on all the meds alot of ppl tend to run to in the stores before doing some research or at least getting advice on first. My motto has always been, "approch with caution" = first do no harm. BUT I DO understand why ppl do that..you freak out, panic and want to fix it NOW before any thing else goes wrong. I think that is natural especially in a beginner. If you gravel was THAT bad...after how many vac. and w/c you have done in this past week I would say you were WAY over feeding the fish. Usually they say to feed ONLY what the fish will eat in 2 min. or less. I sometimes feed mine twice a day, small mini meals but it is using your own judgement and I only do that if they are being especially aggressive toward each other..cichlids tend to calm down if their belly is full, well at least more satisfied. It sounds to me like the airstone was plugged with uneatten food as well. Is your tank set up near a sunny window? Do you have the light on 24-7? That can be a contributor to algae growth but for the time you need to let that tank cycle and stableize I dont think its going to have a major outbreak of algae, that is the least of your worries at this point. imo If anyone else has wiser input, be my guest...Slow but steady wins the race to knowledge and happy fishkeeping. Dont take everything you read as gospel..do your own research and draw your own conclusions from what you have learned.

 

[Shaunna]

No offense taken TLM. My dad is one of those that always says "there is no stupid question" and "how are you ever going to find out if you don't ask"

No the tank doesn't get alot of sunlight. We thought of that b/4 placing it. I turn my light on when I wake up and turn it off when I go to bed. I think it was just from all of the food because it was on a spot of the hose that lays behind my log and stuff. I am definitely slowing down, I forgot really that my tank has only been up for about 3 weeks really but when your only company throughout the day is an 11 month old the days tend to be rather long!! I love it though Ok, well I think I will just sit back and watch my tank do its thing for a while.

Btw, I don't see how this med doesn't kill all the fish, I just notived that it turned my clear finger nail polish blue on my right hand!!!! It didn't stain my seals though so I was glad about that. Thanks everyone!

 

[TitanWarrior]

That sounds like too much light. The tank light should only be on for 12 hours max.

I have my 5 gallon on a timer for only 12 hours a day. I picked a digital one up at Wal-Mart for like 9 bucks.

 

[Shaunna]

Well I say when I go to bed but I normally turn it off about 10. So it is on right at 12 hours maybe maybe less if I think about shutting it off early. Sometimes I don't turn it on in the mornings until after I feed Lennon. It isn't on for like 15 or 16 hours at a time if that is what you were thinking.

 

[TitanWarrior]

Yea, thats what I was thinking