Fish got Ich and died, now what?

[Chickengooch]

All of our fish died within a day. We have already thrown away the rocks, plants and accessories that were in the tank. We had a 10 gal with a biowheel 30. Do we need to replace the biowheel wheel thing. I know we will need to replace the filter to start cycling again. Anything else you can tell me would be nice! We had the tank for about 2.5-3 months. If you can link me up to the fishless cycling that would be great! And what test kits do ya'll recommend, we ran out of test strips the same day the fish died, what coincidence. Thanks...

a sad mama who lost her fish

 

[dirtydogg]

I'm sorry to hear about that. It's happened to most of us.
Fishless Cycling.
Pretty much any of the liquid drops tests work reasonably well. Also a larger aquarium is usually a little easier to keep the water conditions favorable. Only other suggestion I can think of is consider a "hospital" tank. It can help keep one sick fish, one sick fish.

 

[sylvia]

The link in my sig. is about fishless cycling...

You don't need to replace the bio-wheel but I would raise the temperature of your water to 87-90 deg F now that you don't have anything living in the tank to kill off any remaining ick (which can lie dormant for months if not killed off somehow). Keep the temperature up for at least 3 weeks to be on the safe side. Also remember that ick doesn't only affect fish - plants also need to be quarantined!
A quarantine tank can be as small as 5 gallons and you should quarantine new fish for at least 2 weeks (a month is better) before adding them to the main tank. A sponge filter or at least an airstone is vital and you'll obviously need a heater. Daily water changes to keep lethal ammonia build-up or fishless cycling the tank whenever it is not in use will be necessary. It's best to not put anything in the tank other than a little gravel (if there's no filter) and a fake plant or similar ornament/ceramic pot. Don't put in live plants or anything living cause they can harbour disease caught from previous quarantined fish. The tank will work wonders for when you need a hospital tank to treat single fish and if you ever have a surprise breeding and want to save the eggs/fry.