I think my swordtail has ick and need help!

[fishlover25]

While looking at my fish today, i noticed one of my sowrdtail has a white spit in the back fin. I am thinking its comming from some sort of shock because weather in my house is now hot and for me to cool the tank i freeze the tank water and then float the bottle in the tank till the ice melts. The bottle was kind of big. More than a gallon big.

So now i have treated ick before but i dont remember how i did it. I dont have another tank set up right now but i do have empty tanks. Since normally there has to be the bacteria in a tank you to set up........I dont know what to do. How can i cure this fish? If i remember right i think ick is contagous and i dont want my other fish to die. SO what do i do?????!!!!!


Also what is the best medicin to treat ick?

 

[dss2004]

Don't bother setting up another tank. If the tank you have is already infested with ich then you will need to treat the entire tank. I don't really understand your method of cooling the tank, or how that would really effect an outbreak. Stress usually causes an outbreak but the gradual fall in your temp shouldn't have done so. Have you added any new fish lately?

Anyway ich is very contagious and if you do a search here you should find a ton of info. There are two basic methods with varying degrees of usage and popularity.

#1 heat and salt method
#2 use of medicine

I would look at both and see what suits your needs best. If you have any questions about eithers application just re-post and I am sure many will be able to help.

 

[fishlover25]

my method to cool my tank is i take a big bottle, anything that is clean like for example a bottle of water. I fillt the bottle with tank water and freeze it. Then i put the bottle into the tank and let the ice melt. is it clear now?

I havent added any new fish. My temp was at 80F and it did go down to about 74-76 so thats why i think it was the temp.

Other than that i have no idea where else it would come from. My fish have never had any diseases

 

[Lotus]

80F isn't reallly something to worry about in the tank. Cooling it down 6 degrees in a short space of time will stress your fish, and probably caused the ich outbreak. If you really feel you need to cool the tank, use smaller bottles so you don't drop the temperature too fast.

 

[fishlover25]

since thats the only fish that seems to have the ich since this morning, how about i just separate it and treat that one unless if i see another fish with ich also? So how would i go to settping up a tank right now?

 

[Lotus]

With ich, you have to treat the whole tank.

This article will help you understand and treat it: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

 

[fishlover25]

ok my temp is already at the requirment and i will be adding 3tablespoons for each 5g. But do i add this everyday? or how often? Also i do have one cory in my tank. So how much salt should i be putting in?