I have recently returned to the art and science of fishkeeping and am starting to run into a problem; hope you guys can help me out before I have a bad situation.
About four weeks ago I decided to set up a 46 (US) gallon bow-front aquarium. The set-up included a Penguin 300 BioWheel Filter, regular gravel substrate, two air stones, 2 100 W submerable heaters, 2-3 live plants, hood lights, cover, and some decorations. After the initial set-up, I let the tank "settle" for 7 days. Temp became stable at 78F.
I then got 5 medium-sized swordtails to begin the trials and tribulations of the cycling process (wish I had known more about fishless re-cycling now). About three days into the cycle, I noticed that two of the swordtails began to show sign of ich; it also became apparent that two of the three females were quite pregnant. Amonia levels hovered between .25ppm and .50ppm and I conducted 25% water changes when it went any higher. On the 5th day, the two males died suddenly- no outward signs of ich, but did stay just beflow the surface before passing. Really had no major amonia spike (.50 ppm) but I did perform routine 25% water changes prefering to delay the cycle in favor of helping the fish. When the nittires began to show, after about a week I noticed that two of the females began to hide near the bottom. On Mother's Day (US) they both gave birth to about 20 fry and both females died almost immediately. Amonia and nitrites remained at .25 ppm and .75 ppm respectively with 25% water changes if they went higher. The last male died the following day, again with no outward signs of stress or ich.
I now have a tank with no adult fish and about 20 fry, that appear quite content, but at 1 week of age four fry are showing signs of ich- each with only one or two spots but, of course the 1mm spots look huge on their little 8-10mm bodies. I desperately want to save them all but not sure what course of treatment is safe for the fry, especially in a tank that is in the (potentially stressful) cycling process. I am willing to crash the bio-filter to help them, but need advice on what to do.
Currently the parameters are: ph 7.2 (stable), alkalinity 80 (stable), hardness 50 (stable), amonia 0, nitirites .5 (falling), nitrates 5 (rising slowly). I am slowly raising water temp so it is currently 82F, and I am adding salt to replacement wate at the rate of 2/3 T per 5 US gallons. All fry are cute as buttons and appear happy; even the ones iwth the ich spots.
Should I get a UV filter to kill the ich? The cost is not a problem- I want to help them, but really don't know if it would help or even if UV is safe for fry. Any recs for preferred temp and/or salt treatment levels? Should I go with a medication and/or are there any meds safe to use with swordtail fry?
Sorry for the long post - wanted to explain why I have a newly cycling tank with 20 swordtail fry with ich
. I am willing to do anything to help them regardless of cost and/or biofilter crash. If you can provide any help I would appreciate it.
About four weeks ago I decided to set up a 46 (US) gallon bow-front aquarium. The set-up included a Penguin 300 BioWheel Filter, regular gravel substrate, two air stones, 2 100 W submerable heaters, 2-3 live plants, hood lights, cover, and some decorations. After the initial set-up, I let the tank "settle" for 7 days. Temp became stable at 78F.
I then got 5 medium-sized swordtails to begin the trials and tribulations of the cycling process (wish I had known more about fishless re-cycling now). About three days into the cycle, I noticed that two of the swordtails began to show sign of ich; it also became apparent that two of the three females were quite pregnant. Amonia levels hovered between .25ppm and .50ppm and I conducted 25% water changes when it went any higher. On the 5th day, the two males died suddenly- no outward signs of ich, but did stay just beflow the surface before passing. Really had no major amonia spike (.50 ppm) but I did perform routine 25% water changes prefering to delay the cycle in favor of helping the fish. When the nittires began to show, after about a week I noticed that two of the females began to hide near the bottom. On Mother's Day (US) they both gave birth to about 20 fry and both females died almost immediately. Amonia and nitrites remained at .25 ppm and .75 ppm respectively with 25% water changes if they went higher. The last male died the following day, again with no outward signs of stress or ich.
I now have a tank with no adult fish and about 20 fry, that appear quite content, but at 1 week of age four fry are showing signs of ich- each with only one or two spots but, of course the 1mm spots look huge on their little 8-10mm bodies. I desperately want to save them all but not sure what course of treatment is safe for the fry, especially in a tank that is in the (potentially stressful) cycling process. I am willing to crash the bio-filter to help them, but need advice on what to do.
Currently the parameters are: ph 7.2 (stable), alkalinity 80 (stable), hardness 50 (stable), amonia 0, nitirites .5 (falling), nitrates 5 (rising slowly). I am slowly raising water temp so it is currently 82F, and I am adding salt to replacement wate at the rate of 2/3 T per 5 US gallons. All fry are cute as buttons and appear happy; even the ones iwth the ich spots.
Should I get a UV filter to kill the ich? The cost is not a problem- I want to help them, but really don't know if it would help or even if UV is safe for fry. Any recs for preferred temp and/or salt treatment levels? Should I go with a medication and/or are there any meds safe to use with swordtail fry?
Sorry for the long post - wanted to explain why I have a newly cycling tank with 20 swordtail fry with ich
. I am willing to do anything to help them regardless of cost and/or biofilter crash. If you can provide any help I would appreciate it.
I'll keep you posted; hopefully under a "non-emergency" topic heading.
