Ich Tank.

[severina]

So working 50 hours a week has distracted me from my fishtank for the past 3 weeks, and I didn't notice when my entire tank got ich (for the second time) until one day I went to go feed them and all of my tiger barbs were dead except one, who was completely covered in spots, and soon died.

I feel really awful, but I need to take care of the other fish in the tank now (and ones I'm going to add later). I've got 2 misc. minnows and a plec (oh...and a spawn of snails) which the ich has not affected at all. Since I know Ich can sort of hibernate in a tank, what can I do to ensure I don't get another outbreak? Is there something that can kill the ich in its dormant state? Can the unaffected fish be carriers?

Should I just cycle my 25 gallon and transfer the fish over while I break down this tank?

 

[WILDER]

Treat the whole tank, don't move the fish to another tank will just be moving the whitespot to that tank.
Remove the snails they can't tolerate whitespot meds.
Turn temp up to 30.
Increase aeration as the high temp and med will reduce 02 in the water.
Remove black carbon if you use it.
Read the instructions carefully on the med box as some fish can't tolerate the full dose.
http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

 

[severina]

The thing is...none of the fish in the tank now were affected by the ich...and so I'm pretty sure that ich is not in its free swimming stage...but in its dormant stage or just being carried by them so how could they be affected by the medication? And yeah..

 

[andywg]

Can I just point out that there is no dormant stage of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis.

It can be in a low level infection, but it is still going through the life cycle, just in reduced numbers, this is why treating the tank for longer is more necessary.