my fish are dieing

Question
I have a 30 gallon tank for at least 6 mo. now and all was fine with it till the last two weeks.  Its a community tank and all the fish were doing fine,   now there dieing 3-4 at a time at least once a day.  the pH and ammonia are all good but the fish have a white dusting on them iam treating them for ich with "quick cure" for the last 2 days.  But the specks are not clearing up iam very worried about the wellness of my fish and would like to save them considering i enjoy them so and not to mention the money invested in them...  i did a 50% water change when this all started but there still dieing please respond ASAP i need to act now to save what i have left
                                         thank you

Answer
Hi Mike;

Poor guys. They should start to improve on the third day. It is normal to see more spots for the first couple of days. Unfortunately, sometimes fish still die the first 3 days or so too. The parasites embed themselves in the skin where they are protected and don't show as spots yet for a couple of days. The ick parasite can't be killed while still on the fish. It has to develop to the next stage and "burst" out into the water as "tomites" where the ick medicine can then kill it. The spots will begin to fade away as the tomites come out and most die in the medicated water.

There are a few other things you can do too;

Keep using the medicine but also add aquarium salt to the tank. Add 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of tank water. Dissolve it in a container of tank water and slowly add it to the tank. Ick hates salt and it also adds electrolytes that the fish have lost during the stress of being attacked by the little nasties.

Also add more movement to the water by using an airstone hooked to an airpump. It will help keep the new tomites from attaching to the fish but also raises the oxygen level. Many fish die from suffocation in an ick attack because they often infect the gills.

Raise the water temperature slowly to 82 or 83 degrees by turning up the heater. Ich hates heat too. It will speed up the life cycle of the parasites so they are weaker and more easily killed by the Quick Cure.

I hope things look better tomorrow....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins