Ick in new Aquarium

Question
Hi, first of all, I would like to thank all of you for putting time into other peoples problems, this is the best site I have found for the upkeep of tanks and fish. My question is this.. I have a new 55 gallon aquarium which is now on its 16th day of cycling. Like a lot of beginners, I thought I could fill it up and throw in some fish, I learned the hard way a lost a couple of fish. Right now in my tank I have two blue gouramis, one ropefish, two frogs, then my buddy brought a parrot fish for me to keep. I already had twice as many fish as i am supposed to as I later learned. But since I have them already I am trying to keep them to the best of my ability. Yesterday I found the parrot fish had ick, I was wondering if I could use the brand (QUIK CURE) for ick and other parasites since my tank is still new, if so, how should I go about doing it, as the directions say? One more thing, how much longer do you think for my tank to cycle, I am beginning to get some nitrate readings in the past couple days. Sorry so long. Thanks a bunch for your time!!  

Answer
Hi Greg
Oh don't apologize, that's not long.  I sometimes feel like I'm typing a novel lol.  And thank you for the thanks, I don't mind doing this at all.  If I can save someone the aggravation I went through when I started, it's definitely worth it!!

I'm glad you're familiar with the cycling process!!  That in itself is rather confusing.  If you're showing nitrates, it shouldn't be much longer.  The nitrite levels should be dropping.  

Don't use any ich meds with frogs in the tank.  In fact, I think they'll need to be removed for any ich treatment.    I prefer to use the salt and heat method to treat, (frogs don't handle salt to well either)raise the temperature in the tank to at least 82 F, and add some aquarium salt 1 teaspoon per gallon, dissolve first in a bucket of water, don't dump salt into the tank.  Also, remember that salt doesn't evaporate.  It's only removed from the tank when you do a water change.  Here's a site with good info on ich and has several treatment options including the salt/heat one.  Do this for at least 14 days.  The salt will be good for the fish too if there's still nitrites present in the water. You'll need to copy/paste to your browser:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyophthirius

And, about the frogs, what kind are they?  There's 2 that are usually sold for aquariums, the African dwarf frog and the African clawed frog.  The dwarf frogs stay small & are peaceful.  The clawed frogs will eat smaller fish, and get quite large.  If you have the dwarf kind, I'd recommend getting a small 5 gallon tank for them.  They don't see very well, and a lot of times they die from starvation because they can't compete with the fish for the food.  And, the rope fish might end up chowing down on them as well.  Just something to think about...But definitely remove them before treating the tank for ich.

And also, I don't think your tank sounds overstocked, a little bit of an odd combo with the gouramis,parrot, ropefish, and frogs :)  I wouldn't add very much more to the tank, but doesn't sound bad to me.

Hope that helps, and good luck!!  Any more questions or problems, please ask!!

Christy