Potential Cure For Ick? Loach On Last Breath... :(

[lr.lyons91]

   Hi! So I am relatively new to the aquarium world. I have had a 10 gallon tank for nearly 6 months without any issue that had two clown loaches, a dojo loach, two khuli loaches and a couple mollies. About two weeks ago, after doing a lot of research into loaches, I decided to buy a much larger tank, 36 gallons, and move my kiddos over. We cycled the tank for 48 hours before the transfer and once in the tank, everyone seemed really happy. About a week ago, my boyfriend bought me a new clown loach from a local store that I have advised him against getting fish from because of poor care, but he did it to make my bad day better. He didnt quarantine the fish at all and just put it in the tank with my old fish. That one died two days ago, and now one of my clowns has Ick really bad. I have purchased Jungle Ich II treatment and have now done the dose twice (once dose every 24 hours) but he isnt getting better. He is now lying on the floor of the tank struggling to breath or move. I am really scared that it is too late for him. Is there any advice I can get to save him, and if not him, at least my other fish? I have read up on heating the water and stuff, but my other fish cant handle that hot of water. And while I still have my 10 gallon tank, it is not infected with it and has 10 baby mollies in it that I am trying to keep alive. I dont want to put infected fish over there and risk killing of of them. Please, any help would be greatly appreciated! I get really attached to my animals and really dont want to lose even one of my kiddos.

 

[attibones]

Well, first of all, you need a much larger tank, around 100 gallons for all those fish. If you "cycled" for two days, you likely didn't cycle at all. You'll need to do a major water change of about 100%, check the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, current temp), tell us who all lives in the tank, then we will be able to help you more.

One of the best methods for ich treatment I've heard (I've never had an ich outbreak--knock on wood) is salt, which can be tricky with loaches, combined with heat and thorough gravel vacuuming. The heat quickens the ich life cycle so that it moves to the substrate phase, where you can suck out all the parasites.

New fish often bring in diseases. If you've got a nicely matured tank, these diseases don't always affect the other fish. However, because this tank is new and I believe you haven't gotten it cycled, you'll have to deal with a fish-in cycle and ich at the same time. Continue with the medicine. You'll probably lose more fish, but that's what is expected when fighting these odds.