I bought two fish and a alage eater friday from a pet store. The fish was fine but the alage eater was covered in ick. So I took out the filter, turned up the temp to 80 degrees and treated them with ick. Today, i got home and one of the fish i had in the tank died. I checked the nitrate level and it was DANGEROUSLY high(5.0mg/l). I put a filter back in and put the recommended amount of stress zyme in the tank to add bacteria in the tank. I dont have anything here to put in the tank to get the levels down and i live 20+ miles from the nearest store. This is the 5th day to treat for ick and the alage eater looks really good. He only has about half a dozen of white dots on him and the other fish are fine, with no infection. Did i do the right steps? I dont want anymore fish to die. Can i still treat them with the ick with the filter in? Should i add stress coat also? What should i do? HELP!?
HIGH NITRATE AND ICK!
- Thread starter 71sbeetle
- Start date
If it's a new tank, did you cycle your tank before you put your fish in? As a newbie, we made this mistake and our plec died and the others got ich. It was recommended to us to treat the ich with medication and raise the temp to about 82 and do a 20-30 percent water change every day until the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were zero. It took about 2 weeks. Oh, during that two weeks we lost one other fish but the other ones made it through.
You might want to check the pinned topic on here about setting up a new aquarium and cycling it. You will probably get more replies on what to do but that is what we had to do.
You might want to check the pinned topic on here about setting up a new aquarium and cycling it. You will probably get more replies on what to do but that is what we had to do.
I can tell you this......since friday when i started treating ick, the fish either sat at the bottom of the tank or at the top. Teh didnt move much at all. Since i add the filter and added the stress zyme an hour ago, the fish are swimming around and acting normal before i started treating them with ick. Turning the temp to 85, will that harm the fish? It is already 80 degrees/82degrees now.
I think we had ours set around 82-85. I hear that ick can't survive over 80 degrees. With most ick meds you will need to take any carbon out of the filter. On ours, the carbon and floss are one piece so we had to take the whole thing out. If you leave the carbon in, the meds won't work.
When we treated for ick, the healthy fish stayed normal. Sounds like the ick med is affecting the healthy fish in your tank? I'm not sure about the high nitrates. Hopefully someone more knowledgable than I will answer your question soon. I know what your going through! I'll be watching for more replies because I'm wondering now too 
I read that the meds are taking out the bateria in the tank, the good bateria to keep a balance tank. It says that nitrate is caused by overfeeding, fish waste, inadequate biological filtration. That is why i put in the filter. Also the dead fish in the tank didnt help the BALANCE in the tank 
Ick med is working good because the other fish arent affect and the algae eater looks really good. He was covered from fin to mouth.
Ick med is working good because the other fish arent affect and the algae eater looks really good. He was covered from fin to mouth.If you didn't have a filter in your tank before, that will probably explain the high nitrates. And you're right, most meds will take out the good bacteria. I would suggest you start doing water changes everyday until the ick is gone and continue with regular water changes weekly or bi-weekly to keep your nitrate levels low.
You should not take the whole filter out of the tank, as it contains the majority of your biofilter. If you have a filter that uses a cartrige, like a Penguin or AquaClear, just cut a slit in the top of the bag and get all of the carbon out thru that. Then put the empty cartrige back in. Removing the biofilter probably created a ammonia spike in there, since there were no bacteria to eat it. Which will severely stress and/or kill your fish. Also the carbon is depleted beyond useable after I think they say 8 days, so since you now have a hole in the top of your filter bag, you can replace the carbon without wiping out the whole bacteria colony.
But, I would still be curious if the aquarium will cycle again, since taking the water flow away from the filter probably killed most of the bacteria in it.
I am just curious if this fish had visible ich when you bought it? And if it did, why buy it?
But, I would still be curious if the aquarium will cycle again, since taking the water flow away from the filter probably killed most of the bacteria in it.
I am just curious if this fish had visible ich when you bought it? And if it did, why buy it?
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