About a week ago I purchased 5 swordtails (black male, neon female, pineapple female, painted male, painted female) and put them in a 10 gallon cycled quarantine tank. After a few days all of the fish seemed healthy. The pineapple and neon females were very fat and pregnant, so I put them in a separate 10 gallon with tons of hiding places for the fry when they are born. There is also a pregnant platy in this tank.
Last night I noticed a few small white spots on the black male swordtail, and this morning his fins were clamped and there are a couple more spots, but probably not more than 10 spots total. All of the spots are on the back half of his body and on his tail. So I bought something called "Cure-Ick" by a company called "Aquarium Products" and treated the quarantine tank. The label says the active ingredients are Malachite Green and Formalin. It says to add a capful to the tank once every 24 hours for 3 days, then do a 25% water change and treat again if the ick is still present. The temperature of the tank was about 73*F, and I am trying to slowly raise it to about 80* because I read on the internet that increasing the temperature can help with ick. I also read to add a teaspoon of salt per gallon of water, so I added 10 teaspoons of aquarium salt.
Tonight it looks like this same fish might be getting mouth fungus. It is hard to tell because his fins, mouth, and belly are white anyway because of his color, but it looks like there might be a redish fuzzy dot on his mouth.
The two females in the separate tank and the pair of painted swords in the quarantine tank with him still seem perfectly healthy.
Here are my questions:
So far, am I treating the tank correctly? Has anyone ever used "Cure-Ick" before, or heard if it works? Did I add the right amount of salt? Am I raising the temperature correctly? Should I remove the 2 painted swords from the tank, or are they most likely already infected? Also, should I do anything with the tank with the pregnant swords and platy, or do you think they might not be infected since I removed them from the quarantine tank 2 days ago? Also, what should I do for the mouth fungus on the black sword? I can't add a second kind of medicine to the tank now, can I? Sorry for so many questions, but I have never dealt with ick before. Thanks for your help!
Last night I noticed a few small white spots on the black male swordtail, and this morning his fins were clamped and there are a couple more spots, but probably not more than 10 spots total. All of the spots are on the back half of his body and on his tail. So I bought something called "Cure-Ick" by a company called "Aquarium Products" and treated the quarantine tank. The label says the active ingredients are Malachite Green and Formalin. It says to add a capful to the tank once every 24 hours for 3 days, then do a 25% water change and treat again if the ick is still present. The temperature of the tank was about 73*F, and I am trying to slowly raise it to about 80* because I read on the internet that increasing the temperature can help with ick. I also read to add a teaspoon of salt per gallon of water, so I added 10 teaspoons of aquarium salt.
Tonight it looks like this same fish might be getting mouth fungus. It is hard to tell because his fins, mouth, and belly are white anyway because of his color, but it looks like there might be a redish fuzzy dot on his mouth.
The two females in the separate tank and the pair of painted swords in the quarantine tank with him still seem perfectly healthy.
Here are my questions:
So far, am I treating the tank correctly? Has anyone ever used "Cure-Ick" before, or heard if it works? Did I add the right amount of salt? Am I raising the temperature correctly? Should I remove the 2 painted swords from the tank, or are they most likely already infected? Also, should I do anything with the tank with the pregnant swords and platy, or do you think they might not be infected since I removed them from the quarantine tank 2 days ago? Also, what should I do for the mouth fungus on the black sword? I can't add a second kind of medicine to the tank now, can I? Sorry for so many questions, but I have never dealt with ick before. Thanks for your help!
