Question
20 gallon planted tank
I have a 20 gal live planted tank which is about 5 months established. I had 7 fish, 1 swordtail, 2 gouramis, four tetras. My plants were thriving and growing like mad. Everyone was happy. About two months later the fish starting getting ich. White spots on their bodies. Treated them with Nox-ich for three days as instructed. They all started to die one after another on the third day, about every hour or so. I lost my entire tank of fish. I read on a website to put heater up to 80 degrees and it will kill all the Ich. I did this for a week. I emptied the tank of 50 percent of the water waited two weeks and started to restock my tank. I had four mollies and 4 plateys. A week ago they started with ich "here we go again". I treated them with nox-ich for three days, did the 50 percent water change on the fourth day and lost two platys. I started to treat them with Fungus clear Tank Buddies and that was five days ago. I am getting ready to do a 20 percent water change. My levels are gh 10 kh 10 ph 7.5 no2 0 no3 20 Ammonia 0.5 The fish look ok but I am really concerned that this ich or whatever will come back. I lost alot of my foliage and what is left looks unhealthy or barely hanging on. My questions is: can I remove the fish, tear down the tank and start all over with new gravel and the few plants I have left? I know the tank will have to recycle again but my thinking is starting over is better than continually treating and losting fish. I am very discouraged at this point. I have attached a picture of what my tank looked like before all this happened.
AnswerHi Georgine,
Was the tank cycled before the fish were added? Did you add all 7 original fish at once?
It is imperative that no fish be added to a tank that hasn't completed the cycling process. Even once cycled, only 2-3 small fish at a time, let the bioload and fitration adjust, wait a week or two, then add 2-3 more. If you dump 7 fish into a cycling or even a newly cycled tank it's more than the filtration unit can handle, there isn't enough beneficial bacteria built up to deal with the new tremendous bioload, the waste backs up and the fish get ill and eventually die. This is indicative by the fact that you have ammonia present. Ammonia and nitrites should always be a flat 0, always. The same if you added all 8 new fish at a time. No filtration unit can handle that gigantic bioload and this is why they end up sick and dying. It's very hard to effectively medicate a tank when your water parameters are off.
Please do not treat them with anti-fungal unless they have fungus and nothing that I have read in your question indicates that they have fungus. Fungus is secondary to a bacterial infection and causes white hairy patches. Treating them with unnecessary or the wring anti-biotic only further stresses them out. Anti-biotics are very harsh on fish and should be used wisely. Also, try and never use the Jungle brand anti-biotics, I have never found them successful. The best treatment for ich has either: malachite green, methelyne blue, or formulin. I like Quick Cure the best. If you still think there is ich present, here is what you do:
Change 50% of the water one time and double dose the Seachem's Prime. You will use this in place of your regular water conditioner. Add 1 tsp. per 5 gallons of water of aquarium salt. Make sure the temp is 80F (don't increase or decrease a temp more than 4 degrees per 24 hours period). Do not feed the fish for 3 days. When you do feed, try a clipped piece of cucumber to the inside of the tank for a 24 hour period or a couple of flakes a piece. Remove any activated carbon from your filter. If your live plants are in a bad way I would remove them and add plastic while treating. This fish will need the security of plants and meds can be hard on live plants.
You may have to try this for a few days and see how they do. You will need to do 25% partial water changes daily while medicating to keep the water pristine and make sure the anti-biotic is effective. You should see a marked improvement unless some of them were that bad off then they will pass on.
If you see that they are all cleared up, continue to do 25% water changes every other day, double dosing the Seachem Prime in the new tank water and adding the salt until you have 0 ammonia. Set the temp to 75 F once cured because lethal ammonia is less toxic at lower temps.
Also, DO NOT destroy your gravel or your filter, even if you start over. This is harboring the only good beneficial bacteria that you have built up that fights diseases and ammonia. If you have a filter that has disposable cartridges, consider replacing your filter with a better one, like Hagen's Aqua Clear. Superior job and you'll never buy another filter. If this isn't possible at least buy the biomax cermaic media insert that Hagen makes (looks like a mesh bag with white rocks) and put this into your filter. This way, when you change cartridges you aren't throwing out all of your beneficial bacteria. To clean the ceramic media, simply rinse in a bucket full of water that came out of the tank and replace into the filter. Never rinse in tap water, this will kill all of the good bacteria.
Don't add anymore fish until you are sure that all the current fish are well and you have no ammonia present. I would wait at least a month. When you do add, only 2-3 new at a time.
Good luck : ) April M.
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