Ichity Ich

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
dmed;1949743; said:
NO, it is not from the water changes, and it is not from the salt. These are the possibilities:

1. Biofilter suffering because of changing mechanical filter. As long as you are also using bioballs/ceramic rings or equivalent, the bacteria can double numbers in 24 hours so this should not be a persistent problem. Without a source of ammonia (fish), the bacteria in the old mechanical filter will be dead anyway, so there is no benefit in putting it back in.

2. Medication or other toxin was added to the tank which killed the biofilter. Hopefully this is not the case.

3. High temperature is affecting biofilter. What is the temp. in your tank and how reliable to you believe that your thermometer is?

4. There is a dead fish or a large amount of decaying food in the tank.

5. Your tap water contains chloramine and you are using an ammonia test that can not differentiate free ammonia and ionized ammonia. If your water contains chloramine, you must use a conditioner that detoxifies chloramine. Please tell us what water conditioner you use. Do you know if your tap water contains chloramine? If not, please tell us what city you live in and I will try to find out for you. Also, what test kit are you using?

Regardless of what the people at Petco might tell you, water changes do not cause high ammonia levels.

It's important to rectify this situation fast, because the increased temp in the tank makes the ammonia more toxic. Also, is it possible that the ammonia was elevated for a while? That could be what precipitated the ich outbreak. Luckily, you are already treating with SALT which will decrease nitrite toxicity as the ammonia is nitrified. What is the pH in your tank???

dmed
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Okay, about 1. I was running really behind in changing/cleaning my mech filter, so that might be the case (the exchange). I ahve a question regarding this. My powerfilter has spots for three forms of filtration. mech, chem, and bio. i took out the chem filtration (carbon). should I replace it with some other type of mech or bio filtration? or is it okay to leave that space empty?

2. I did not treat with any chemicals

3. I have a jager 150 watt that i got on wednesday. it was set at 86/85. I am pretty sure it is accurate, only because jager is such a reliable company. I did however, accidentally submerge the heater when i first received it on accident (beyond the "water line") -- I am not sure if this effected its effectiveness as a heater. I am not sure how accurate my thermometer is (it's one that sticks onto the side of the glass. It is located on the bottom of the tank (heat rises, right?) it reads 82-ish.

4. i have been over-feeding my fish, i believe. I thought this to be the problem earlier today. I used to only feed my fish once a day, because i was so afraid of ammonia spikes. I noticed my fish behaving aggressively during feeding times. Now, I've been feeding 3-5 times a day. (i REALLY think this is the problem) i am totally over compensating for my mistakes before, but hey, i am only a 2-month old aquarist, give me a break, right? :grinno:

5. I live in Alameda, California :) I have no idea if my water has chloramine. I do de-chlorinate my water, if that means anything.

6. I am broke college student (Go Bears!) and so I have not yet invested in a test kit. I've been getting my water checked at petco pretty often (1-2 times a week) because it is so close to my house. The man noticed today, that my pH was low (not sure exactly what it was, because i am not too familiar with what pH readings mean.). but he said it was low, and acidic. He said it was interesting because some other reading that is usually correlated with low pH was normal. I wil lget my water tested again for accuracy's sake.


One last thing. When I treated my tank with salt (several tsp). It was straight up Morton's iodized salt. Not the canning/pickling kind that the other guy earlier was mentioning about. It was after I introduced this salt that the fish (the black neon) was twirling in circles, swimming very irregularly. After a while, (after the pinches of salt) the fish swam normally. Then I added more of that horrible table salt, and it spun like a ballerina again. I couldn't stand to see them suffer more due to my inadequate equipment, so i went and bought some aquarium salt from petco. (damn petco).

So there. Those are the conditions. I really should not feed my fish so much. I say no food at all tomorrow for em.
 
I probably wouldn't feed them for a couple of days. at least not until you get the ammonia issue back under control.
 
albirdy;1949756; said:
It was saturday afternoon. It lies in a cup I have under my aquarium. It is dirty =/
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if they're still wet, they probably still contain some living bacteria. I'd place them behind the new filter pads (so the water goes through the new ones last) for a while; rinse them in aquarium water first. that would help jump start a bacteria colony in your new filter pads.
 
Yeah, I think I'll feed them once a day starting Tuesday until next Friday when I get some more fish.

What fish should I get?
considering i have 4 rummy nose, 3 black neons, 2 ottos. more of which? (I also want a school of pygmy cories :))
 
Would that be Alameda County (Fremont)?

If so, your tap water is treated with chloramine. Here is a link to your water supplier's annual water quality report. http://www.acwd.org/dms_docs/7f9b69109ab7ec8f62438431ede6e3f5.pdf

Without getting too technical, when your water has chloramine in it and you use conditioner for chloramine, then use a "standard" ammonia test kit, you will see ammonia in your water. Chloramine is chlorine + ammonia. A chlorine-only conditioner converts chlorine into chloride and leaves the ammonia behind. A chloramine conditioner breaks the bond, converts chlorine, then ionizes the ammonia to make it harmless. However, most ammonia tests (including all strips) raise the pH of the tested water to about 12 before the test is performed, so the ionized ammonia is converted back into free ammonia. Unless the pH of your tank actually is 12, it's not a very accurate way to test. The only test I know of that doesn't operate this way is the Seachem Ammonia Multi-test.

If you took your water to Petco for testing, they undoubtedly used a test strip like Mardel which can not differentiate between free ammonia and total ammonia. Your tank may have free ammonia in it, but if it is "low and acidic" that helps maintain the ammonia in the ionized (non-toxic) state.

Please check your conditioner bottle and make sure it specifically says it detoxifies chloramine. Also, consider taking all the $$$ you saved on ich medications and buying one of each test kit: ammonia, nitrite, and pH.

Your friend,
dmed
 
albirdy;1949770; said:
Yeah, I think I'll feed them once a day starting Tuesday until next Friday when I get some more fish.

What fish should I get?
considering i have 4 rummy nose, 3 black neons, 2 ottos. more of which? (I also want a school of pygmy cories :))
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I think you should wait beyond next Friday to add more fish IMHO. Secondary bacterial infections are a danger after ich. You will need to treat your whole tank as "quarantine" for a little while. We were going to get to that after you got the ich under control.
 
dmed;1949774; said:
I think you should wait beyond next Friday to add more fish IMHO. Secondary bacterial infections are a danger after ich. You will need to treat your whole tank as "quarantine" for a little while. We were going to get to that after you got the ich under control.
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Got it.
Thanks, Doc. :)
 
How are they doing? As the white spots disappear, you will need to watch them for secondary infections, like red spots on the body or white growth around the mouth and/or tail.
 
The rummy nose seem to be doing alright. definitely less stinting. I am hoping the ammonia is down, but I'll get that tested later when I go to Petco. The white spots have increased on the two black neons (the third died last night!). And this seems to be like you predicted: worst on the third day. Hopefully by tomorrow the spots will start shedding?
 
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