ick/fungus

Question
hello. i recently set up a 36gallon fish tank, it was second hand, it came with a drift wood, gravel filter ect. we're not experienced with fish tanks so we came into this with no knowledge of it. but the guy we bought it from said to run the filter because of the bacteria. the second day after we set it up we went and purchased 6 fishes, the water was good after we tested it. couple days after that we purchased 3 more fish. so its been 6 days now and half the fish are dead, they had ick and theres fungus all over the tank. we tried curing the tank with (ick clear by tank buddies) nothing has changed. I would like to know How to get rid of all the parasites? and what we did wrong from the beginning? and how can we prevent this from happening again? thank you!

Answer
Hi Naomi,

I retrieved your question out of the question pool.

You really need to disinfect everything, your tank and filter.  You can do this with a dip.  19 parts water to 1 part Clorox (a 5% solution).  I would throw out the decos and gravel and buy new.  Rinse the tank in water thouroughly.  I would re-home or return your remaining fish or if they are that badly diseased, euthanize them.

Your biggest problem is that you didn't cycle your tank first, and you added too many fish too soon.  The water would have looked and tested great a few days after you set it up because it hadn't started the nitrogen cycling process yet.  Did you test it when your fish were dying?  Today?  You would have seen the horrific ammonia and nitrite spikes.  Unfortunately your fish were burned and suffocated from the inside out from the build up of ammonia in the tank.

After disinfecting, cycle your tank BEFORE you add any fish.  This process takes 8-12 weeks but if you do not do this your fish will die from the nitrogen cycling process that takes place in all new tanks and the fish that may survive can be permanently damaged.  Pet stores will actually suggest that you 'cycle' a tank with fish because some are hardy and some can survive plus they hope they die so they can profit from selling you more.  To me, it's cruel and plain not necessary and if all of your fish die, which usually does happen, you have to start all over!  Plus, cycling with fish is a LOT MORE WORK!  

If you cycle with fish you have to change 25% of the water every single day and double dose Seachem's Prime.  This slows down the cycling process and the fish may still not live.  Medication for illness rarely if ever works in a cycling tank.  Too much other stuff going on and sick fish are already weak from the ammonia build up and sometimes harsh anti-biotics finish them off rather than helping them.

The only chemical you need for a tank, ever, is a water conditioner, which should always be added to any new water placed in the tank, before the water is put in the tank.  Make sure you have one that removes chlorine and chloramines.

The best way to fishlessly cycle is to have access to a well established, healthy tank.  You can scoop out a handful or large netful of gravel, tie it in new, clean pantyhose (DO NOT RINSE IT OFF IN TAP WATER as this will kill the good bacteria you need) and keep it wet in the water from the healthy tank until you place it in yours.  You can bury it in your gravel.  Once the tank is cycled you can pluck out the packet and throw it away.  You can also use filter floss or ceramic media from another tank and place it in your filter.  You can feed the tank a pinch of food each day for an ammonia source.  This is the fatest way and you can cut your cycling time down to about 2 weeks, from the original 8-12.

The other method, if you don't have access to another established tank, is to wrap a piece of raw jumbo cocktail shrimp in clean, new pantyhose and place it in your running tank.  Make sure your tank has the gravel and plants in it, filled with water, with the filter and heater running as you would if you were adding fish.  The shrimp will rot and the bioload will build up and this will also cycle your tank, probably also in about 4-6 weeks.

During the fishless cycling time, DO NO WATER CHANGES.  Buy a liquid drop test kit and every other day or every few days test your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.  During the cycling process you will see your ammonia spike and lower, then your nitrite spike and lower and finally your nitrates will register.  A fully cycled tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5 - 20 ppm nitrate.  Once this is complete, you can do a 25% water change and then add a couple of new fish, only 2-3, let them adjust to the new surroundings, let the bioload adjust to the new fish.  If all is well in a week or two, add 2-3 more.  I can't really tell you if you were overstocked because I don't know what kinds of fish you were adding.

Good luck : ) April M.