I THINK I HAVE ICH PLEASE TAKE A SEC TO HELP ME!

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king_corral

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 31, 2009
21
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Indiana
ok i recently re set up my 125g it was cycled ready to go and i added 5 walmart cichlids thursday dec 6.... than saturday i picked up 4 fish from petsmart dec8....and sunday i picked up three more from petco dec9.... they all looked lively and eating good but wednesay dec12, two eureka peacocks(petco) died and lost all theyre color(i bought them they were babys black with of orange fins hints of blues) like, they turned all white. i kept them in a bag to take back... thursday dec13, i lost two more fish(one walmart one from petsmart) and finally friday dec13 i lost another(petsmart)
i know i probably added too fast maybe? but ive honestly had tanks for 2 years at least and nothings ever died on me... im wondering if i got a diseased fish from petco? the two eurekas that died were bagged together and the third fish from petco was in its own bag. the remainder of my fish look lively and healthy so far...im not gonna add anyfish for quite sometime to see what happens... im gonna change the water and see what happens... what else could i do?

the two first deaths i kept to take back and i noticed that they were like deteriorating is that any sign? also i witness the death of the one last night and he was like partially alive he would swim as if paralyzed and if hed hit the current it would just push him into stuff than he was like swimming upside down, maybe just a float upside down... like he couldnt do anything..


so i found out at walmart where i got the majority of my fish they have signs up today and most tanks are empty says not for sale treating for ich.... ive never had fish die on me before and ive never dealt with something this serious but strangely the fish that are all alive came from walmart how does that happen? i got this bottle of jungle ick guard it treats 120 gals how do i do this? should i change water take out my zeo carb from filters and pour the whole bottle in and let it cycle for a while?! i dont have reciepts for the fish cause my luck with 0 deaths so i just lost out on quite a bit of money :(

i had posted this on a another forum and it didnt get any attention...

i dont know for sure if its ich because i cant see any white spots and i just lost two more fish so ive got four and a pleco, the pleco was the very first fish in there...
the four fish i have seem very lively and i cant tell anything is wrong with them... they are all from walmart. i need help fast i dont want to lose more fish.
 
I doubt it was ick. Judging your post, I would say that your fish died of "New Tank Syndrome". As a rule of thumb you really should let a tank run for for a couple months after adding beneficial bacteria before adding fish. Even when you are ready to add fish, you shouldn't add as many as you did in such a short period of time or you can bio-shock your system. Sorry for your loss. I would recommend a 25% WC and follow that up a couple days later with another 25% WC. Don't add anymore fish for a couple months until your BB (beneficial bacteria) has had a chance to settle in nicely.
 
On another note. . . Walmart, petco, petsmart, etc aren't known for their commitment in high quality fish care. That being said, you really should have a quarantine tank (maybe a 10 or 20 gallon) under your stand just running 24-7 where your fish (one by one) are added, and carefully watched for at least a minimum of 3-4 weeks before being introduced into your main tank. Good Luck!
 
When you say your tank is all cycled, what did you do to get it all cycled?

Also, do you have a water test set? If you do, please post the level of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate please.

It takes fish a while to die from ich. And in most cases, it will show white spots all over their body.

Ironically, plecos are pretty resistant to ich, so it died first raises some questions.


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The Pleco did not die he was the first introduced to the tank and is still lively. I don't see white spots on fish but I do see little white specks floating around in my water. I waited a week and a half before adding fish. I probably waited less when I added my first fish the first time I ever had fish. Fish are hardy they didn't die from being added to fast. They died from something.


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can someone just please point me to the ich remedy? so i can treat that incase it is so i can be on a good start i dont want these last 5 to die along with the others.. im definitely not add fish for a while anymore... i also have 3 plants i dont know if that would mean anything...
 
copper safe is a decent medicine BUT again, white spots ON fish is ich...white spots floating in water is NOT. Again you have ignored my request for NH3, NO2, NO3 levels. If you don't know your level, you haven't cycled the tank.

If you just waited before adding fish, that is not cycling the tank...below is a cut and paste of what we mean by cycling the tank:

Cycling your tank is probably something that you have never heard of unless you have been paying attention to the *.aquaria news groups, you have several friends with tanks, or you are working with a fairly good pet shop. The effects of the cycling process are sometimes referred to as "New Tank Syndrome," which can be deadly.

"Cycling the tank" means that you are establishing a bacteria bed in your biological filter to remove the toxins that the fish's metabolism creates. There are right and wrong ways to do this, and several things you can do to slow this process (which you don't want to do). There are two steps to cycling, but you don't have to do anything special for either of them. First, your filter will grow a culture of bacteria that digest ammonia and turn it into Nitrite (which is more toxic than the ammonia in hard water or water with a higher pH), then your filter produces bacteria that digest Nitrite and turn it into relatively harmless Nitrate. However, Nitrate will contribute to loss of appetite and stress in your fish, as well as contributing to algae growth, so it is important to do regular small water changes to keep your tank in best condition. Read more on water changes while the tank is cycling.

How Do I Cycle MY Fish Tank?

You should cycle your fish tank with a small number of fish. They should be hearty fish and a variety of fish that you want to have in your fish tank in the long run. Do not cycle your tank with lots of feeder goldfish. Do not cycle your tank with any goldfish unless you intend to keep goldfish. Unfortunately many pet shops still suggest this. If you want to know why, you could review my no goldfish page.

What Fish Should I Use to Cycle MY Aquarium?

For a tank of small community fish, White Clouds or Zebra Danios are good cycling fish; Cherry Barbs or Tiger Barbs are good for a slightly more aggressive tank; or Pseudotropheus zebra is a good choice for an African Cichlid tank. Your local pet shop should be able to point you toward some hardy fish of the type you are looking to keep.

Purchase a small number (the number will depend on the size of your aquarium and type of fish and -to a lesser degree- the type of filter) of these fish and introduce them to your Nitrogen Cycle Diagram tank. For a ten to twenty gallon tank, two or three small schooling fish or one small cichlid would be more than sufficient. Let the tank sit for a couple of days, feeding your fish carefully to prevent excess food from decaying and fouling the water. There are several reasons that you do not want to cycle your tank with a large number of fish, here are a few:

Cycling a tank with many fish will produce a lot more waste, which will be stressful to your fish, resulting in higher die-off and greater susceptibility to disease.

Cycling with a large number of fish will increase water problems incurred during the cycling process.
Cycling with a lot of fish can contribute to a foul smell coming from the tank.

Every couple of days, do a 10%-15% water change, and after about a week, take a sample of your water to a fish store to get it tested. Most pet shops will test fresh water for a minimal fee, or even for free! If the store you got the fish from won't, check to see if there is another local store that will. At this point, your water should test with high ammonia and maybe a trace of nitrite. If it isn't, don't worry. Just give the tank time. The cycling process usually takes six to eight weeks.

After about eight weeks, your ammonia and Nitrite levels should be acceptable (about trace levels), and you can add more fish. Do not add more fish until the ammonia and Nitrite levels have both dropped. Remember to add new fish a few at a time to prevent over-stressing the filter. If you add too many at once, your tank will have to cycle again, yet if you add a few at a time, your bacteria growth rate will just increase for a short time, with minimal effect on your fish. There are other indicators that your fish tank has finished cycling.

What if I am Still Having Problems?

If, after six to eight weeks of cycling, your ammonia and nitrite levels aren't satisfactory (well, zero), you need to trouble shoot your situation.

Did you treat the water you added to the tank to remove chlorine and chloramine? If you didn't the chlorine you added to the tank may have killed the bacteria who were trying to start the filter. Or the ammonia in the chloramine could be more than your new bacteria colony can handle.
Did you do water changes regularly? This will remove excess waste before it kills the fish or the beneficial bacteria you are trying to culture.
Did you do extra water changes whenever you saw signs of ammonia stress? Excess ammonia will also slow the growth of the bacteria colony in the biological filter, making the cycling process take longer.
Did you use ammonia removers to try to get the ammonia levels down, rather than using water changes? Ammonia removers can starve the biological filter and cause the cycling process to start over.

Cycling the tank takes between two and eight weeks depending on several factors including:

Concentration of ammonia in the aquarium water for the beneficial bacteria to digest.
Availability of beneficial bacteria in the local atmosphere to colonize filter initialy.
Frequency and relative amount of water changes while the aquarium is cycling.
Reliability of source of waste to feed the developing biological filter (ammonia and nitrite).
Amount of excess decaying matter in tank (dead fish, extra food, plant leaves, etc.).
Presence of toxins/anti-bacterial agents/sanitation chemicals in the fish tank water.
Use of chemicals to remove ammonia from the water.

What about Chemicals to Cycle My Aquarium Faster?

You should not need to use any chemical to stop unwanted increases in ammonia levels. Your biological filter should take care of that for you. If you have ammonia problems or see signs of ammonia stress after the tank has cycled, then your tank is overpopulated, under-filtered or overfed. Ammonia in the tank is a sign of a problem, not something that is easily treated with a chemical. Use of a chemical to remove ammonia will very often result in starvation of your biological filter leading to more ammonia problems and meaning that you will need to cycle the tank again. Remember, if your ammonia levels are high, you need to treat the problem that is causing the high ammonia levels, not the ammonia itself, which is just a symptom.
 
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