Rob A.

Hi Everyone,

New to fishlore, first post. We introduced 5 new fish to our 55 gl tank without using a quarantine tank. Not smart...all new fish and the 4 fish that we have had for five years now have passed, due to ICH. So now time to start over. Would like to know how to clean the tank and the deco effectively to avoid another Ich outbreak.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore !!

sorry about your losses....if you have the tank still running, leave it that way with the temps up to 86 or so (if no fish in the tank) and feed it small amounts of fish food to keep the bacteria in the cycle going.....ich without a host, will die ....vacuum a lil bit extra as ich spores die into the subtrate....find out what your readings are as far as ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates and go from there...

agabr123

welcome to fishlore!

shawnie has you covered on advice, the only other thing i'd recommend is to leave the temperature at 86 (you can go higher if you want since there are no fish) for at least two weeks and when you're ready to get new fish, do a thorough gravel vacuum and 50% water change the day before or day of

Shawnie

higher temps, even the 86, will burst an algae frenzy....the 86 was pushing it imo LOL

Jonah

Everyone has got you covered on the advice...

Just saying Hi and Welcome to Fishlore



Be prepared for a rapid onset of MultipleTankSyndrome

Rob A.

Thanks everyone, we appreciate the help. One more thing. Should I leave the filters and the sponges in place during this whole time(killing off the Ich)? If so should I replace them before getting new fish and let the tank cycle?

agabr123

you can leave them in if you continue to add a source of ammonia

Dozey

I’d also like to welcome you,

All good advice but just wanted to add that in the future should you have an ich outbreak you can raise the temperature in your tank to 83°F / 84°F for two weeks to kill off ich naturally. Fish will tolerate this temperature for short periods and you won’t have to treat the fish with medications. Many medications will kill the nitrogen cycle which can quickly kill off fish.

OldMan

Leave the filters in place, that is what you are trying to keep alive with the bit of fish food for ammonia. The filter contains beneficial bacteria that your fish need to survive. The bacterial colony is hard to establish and you are better saving the bacteria that you have. The ich parasites will only live about 3 or 4 days without a host so once you have at least a week of run time on the tank after the last death, there will be no live ich parasites in the tank or the filter. You do not ever replace filter media that is not falling apart. If the media starts to fall apart, you can replace 1/3 at a time over a few weeks and the bacterial colony will recover between those changes.

mr. Clown Loach

i just turned up the temprature and put a little bit of stresscoat in the tank and it was gone in 3 days

Shawnie

it may be gone off the fish, but it still hangs out ...the lifecycle of ich, needs the 2 weeks of warmer temps and extra gravel vacs to make sure there arent any harboring spores or a re infestation of the tank

agabr123

also the majority of the spores aren't on the body, but inside their gills, so even if you don't see any spots they may still be infected