Guppy Illness

Question
Where to start! I have a 10-gallon freshwater tank with fancy-tail guppies, white-skirt tetra, a cory cat, a ghost shrimp, and a mystery snail. I recently noticed that the guppies had developed ich and one what I think is cottonmouth (white/yellow build-up on the lower lip) and finrot. After researching quite a lot, I performed a 50% water change and added some aquarium salt, warmed the tank and cut back on the light, hoping to manage it without chemicals. The ich seems to have passed, but now a second guppy is showing signs of cottonmouth, and red/bloody gills on its left.

The tank has had a low pH and high nitrates for a while, caused by a lack of water changes (I understand that) and aside from increasing the number of water changes, I added Nitraban and a pH balancer which hasn't made much or any difference. The fish have always been healthy regardless, I suppose because they were born and raised in the tank.

I have QuICK Cure that I just bought, but I'm cautious about using strong medicine (and because of the 5 three-year old tetra). Do you think I should begin treating the tank with it? Mostly because I can't be sure that it hasn't spread. I hope this is enough information, thanks in advance.

Answer
Hi Briana:  Probably wasn't ICH was probably a fungal infection. Raise the tank temperature to about 82-86 degrees... and find a medication called general cure.  Continue with the aquarium salt and 15-20 percent water changes.  I cant really help you with the pH issue because you didn't tell me what the pH value was but I can tell you that fish can tolerate low or high pH but can not tolerate a pH that is constantly changing such as occurs when one uses pH chemicals to fix a ph issue.  I have used quick cure in the past with mixed results.   hope this helps... dave