Fish with ich/ick

Brad G

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I have a 20 gallon tank the has quite a few plants. I put API Super ick cure in 5 days ago. I’m starting my 2nd round of treatment because my fish still have the white spots 1 of them are actually getting worse . I took out the carbon filter but left in the ammonia filter. Should I take that off also? I just want my fish to get better as fast as possible. I have a preset heater so turning the heat up is not an option. Tank temp is at 78 degrees btw. Is there anything else you recommend? Mollies are acting normal but with spots my 1 female Platy is suffering bad and idk what else to do...
 
I'm including a link to a very helpful video on this topic. Salt in the aquarium would also help.

 
Are you sure it's white spot?

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Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these so you get a more accurate water volume.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

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You don't want ammonia removing granules in filters because they stop the beneficial filter bacteria from developing.

You don't need carbon in a filter unless you have heavy metals or chemicals in the water.

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The following link has information about white spot. Post #1 and post #16 are worth a read.
 
I took out the carbon filter but left in the ammonia filter.
What do you mean by ammonia filter?
If you mean the media where the bacteria live, yes leave that in.
But if you mean something like zeolite, that will also remove medication. Zeolite should not be used as will starve the bacteria so they don't grow.
 
What do you mean by ammonia filter?
If you mean the media where the bacteria live, yes leave that in.
But if you mean something like zeolite, that will also remove medication. Zeolite should not be used as will starve the bacteria so they don't grow.
 

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I did not have any luck with Ich-X. Try aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons of tank water. Ich hates salt. Be sure to dissolve it before adding. You may want to feed your fish some Garlic Guard too to help build their immune system. Ich also hates garlic. Do a 70% water change everyday and after your first dose of salt, only add 3/4 tablespoon for each 5 gallons. Do this for 14 days and see if it helps. Raising the heat To 86F helps to if you can get another heater.
 
The website does not say what the pads are but anything that removes ammonia will steal food from the bacteria so they won't grow. This ties you in to replacing the pads before they become full, forever. If you don't replace them in time, they'll get full and stop working. because they've starved the bacteria there are now not enough of them to deal with the ammonia made by the fish so it starts to creep up and harm the fish.
If there is ammonia in the water, the best way to deal with it is by doing water changes, and replace the ammonia pads with plain sponge.
 
Well my 2 platys died. I only have 2 mollies left and they seem fine. I did a 75% water change and just put the carbon filter back in. I will watch my Mollies but they are pretty big and healthy. I’ve lost 4 fish all together and hopefully that’s all. I need to get another female molly because I have a male and female now. I’m going to wait a couple weeks to make sure these last two fish are healthy before I add anymore fish.
 
My male molly isn’t swimming around as much as usual but I did take both the mollies out of the tank so I could get rid of some of the substrate and moved a bunch of stuff around. I’m guessing/hoping he’s just getting his bearings again
 
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Not a huge change but enough I’m sure to throw them off. Top picture what I changed, bottom is what it used to look like. You can also tell that my silicone turned blue from the ich meds.
 
The ich will be in the substrate. If you can keep the fish in something else for about 4 days, that should break the ich cycle as the ich will have no host to feed off of. Otherwise, the problem will continue.
 
best thing to do and i have had 100 percent sucess with what im going to say

you say u have 2 mollies left best thing to do is

75% water change and vaccume gravel and more than normal and get eveything out as much as you can

and get a cup with 1/4 full of tank water and add 1 tea spoon of sea salt per gallon
disolve in cup with that lil bit of tank water and then pour in your tank

turn the heater up to 30 degrees and mollies can handle this has i have 8 mollies and ballon

leave at 30 degrees for 5 days and then turn it down 2 degrees each day till ur back at about 25 degrees

after 3 days of doing the temp vaccume gravel as most of white spots would of fallen of fish to substrate and 75% water change and add appripiate conditioners to remove harmfull toxins

also u can buy salfa tablets from pet shop use them to right dose

also u can add 1/4 of a garlic clove in there to that helps to

after this they should be ich free buddy and then get a few ghost shrimp and put in there as ghost shrimp eat parasites from gravel

with the temp that kills the parrisite so it cant spread further

good luck and this has worked for me 100 percent even without sulfa tablets
 
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