Kissing Gourami with Ich

Question
I have a 10 gallon tank, only one fish, a pink kissing gourami.  I had added 2 clown loaches and I think they brought the ich.  Anyway, the loaches are now gone and I want to save my gourami, he's been here from the start.  I am using Rid Ich, I've been treating for 3 days now, I don't really see much improvement.  I have the water temp. at about 80, I did a water test, all the levels are good except the nitrate and nitrite are high.  I've been doing water changes with each dose of Rid Ich but the filter is out because the directions said it would filter the medicine out of the water.  I'm worried I may lose him now due to the high nitrate and nitrite levels, regardless if I can get rid of the ich or not.  Any suggestions?

Answer
Hi Diana,
You are on the right track.

You just need to give more time to the treatment period. I prefer treating ich for minimum 12-14 days due to ich's complicated lifecycle and the short time in its lifecycle that it is actually vulnerable to medication.

Continue to change large amounts (50-75%) of the tank water everyday and re dose with the Rid-ich. Keep the temp warm as you have done. Also, you can run the filter for oxygenation of the water just remove any carbon that is present inside because carbon's porous surface will absorb medication.

Sounds like your tank is going through a 'bio-filter' crash which means that the 'good' bacteria are being wiped out by the medication. A normal occurrence whenever you treat your tank with meds... Getting through it simply means large daily water changes until your fish get better and then stopping the medication and continue with the water changes until you are sure the levels are stable and your fish are safe.

Best of luck and I hope this helps!
Karen~