Tell Me If Iam Doing All I Can

[TonysFish]

ok well i have a 40 gallon tank. with about 20 fish...5 fancy tail guppys, 2 bleeding hearts, 2 Black phantoms, 2 rashboras, 2 rainbows, 2 perstellas, 2 emproers
and 2 black neons. All were doing well...til 2 days ago i noticed 1 of the phantoms had white spots...i knew it was ich....i raised temp to 82-85 right away and heading to petco to pick up some rid-ich. Before i started treatment i did a 25% water change, condtioned and added the disgusting rid ich which turned my walls a greenish blue...anywayz yesterday monring i woke up and saw one of my empoeres had popeye.and died few hours later..i was like dam.....did another water change this time i did 50% percent and added half dose of rid-ich...so i just got back home about a hour ago....and noticed that most of the white spots on my phantom are gone...but i did noticed some on my bleeding heart...what should i do should i do another water change tommrow or let the meds cycle...please i spent tons of money on my fish and really dont want any more dieing...iam was planning on working a 10 gallon for my sick bay...but trying to save up some money for that.....i soon wanna upgrade to a 75 and have them all schooled 5-6 in the long run...thanx for your help guys


if iam doing something wroung or right please let me know i have anxienty dissorder and worry all day about this..

 

[black angel]

keep tank lights off during treatment and follow the course on the bottle..make sure theres no charcoal in your filter and on the days (if any) that you dont medicate do a 50% water change with a gravel vac to try to rid the gravel of any ich.... a lot of fish will get secondary infections so just have to ride it out im afraid..make sure theres plenty of aeration as well.
and dont buy fish if you cant quarantine for at least two weeks first.

 

[TonysFish]

thanx for the info the lights have been off all day....iam currently setting up a sick tank just picked up one second hand...so hopefully it be up in a few days...one more thing can i feed my fish while the meds are in the water?

 

[black angel]

yes feed your fish but some may not be hungry so just add a little

 

[TonysFish]

*UPDATE* woke up this morning and noticed all the ich is off my fish...temp is till hovering around 83-86 degrees....when should i lower temp and drop in the carbons...a few of my fish are stressed ..could this be cause of the temp change...the fish that had the ick is doing great alot more active was always hideing now is swiming with the others. To get down to it when can i go back to my reg maintence as far as filter ph adjustment etc....cause the ick looks like it gone but i heard to keep up with the treament for a few more days...but iam just worried about the temp..thanx for you help.

 

[rdd1952]

Ich has a life cycle. While attached to the fish, medications have no effect on them. When the pods fall off the fish, they are susceptible to medications and are searching for something in the tank to attach to for the next stage. Once they settle, they are once again not bothered by the mdication until they release the "babies" back into the water where the medication can once again act. Each phase takes a few days so you need to continue to treat for at least another week or 2 after there is no sign on the fish in order to make sure everything is clear.

 

[TonysFish]

Ich has a life cycle. While attached to the fish, medications have no effect on them. When the pods fall off the fish, they are susceptible to medications and are searching for something in the tank to attach to for the next stage. Once they settle, they are once again not bothered by the mdication until they release the "babies" back into the water where the medication can once again act. Each phase takes a few days so you need to continue to treat for at least another week or 2 after there is no sign on the fish in order to make sure everything is clear.

ok so should i do another 25% water change today or should i wait a bit? the meds say 2-3 days but u can do it every 12 hours if the temp is high enough...
took a ammonia reading and got just little bit over the yellow...the ph is sitting good at 7.2...temp still on 83-85. How do i take nitrate readings...is thier a kit or do i have to do some math...thanx for the help.