Kashim

I have a 55 gallon tank with some guppies, neon tetras, cories and cherry barbs in it. What temperature should I set my heater to? The pet store where I bought my fish just says 26C for most of the tropical fish. I had my heater set to 25C, thinking that 26C or higher would cause an algae bloom. But now it looks like my fish are starting to get ICH and I don't know if it's because of the cold water or the recent heavy cleaning I did, which caused ammonia levels to spike. I don't see any white spots on my fish, but several of them are rubbing themselves on the substrate. At first it was just one cherry barb doing it, but now I see my cories doing it too. I don't know what I should do. I started reading about ich and it seems the cure uses some serious chemicals that can stain my tank. Sorry about the two questions in one, but if anyone could advise me about the temperature or the ich, it would be greatly appreciated.

Steen16

Setting it at 26 C would be a good temperature thats what mine is at..
It could be velvet, are they breathing heavily?

Kashim

I don't see anything physically wrong with them. It was the cherry barbs who first started rubbing on the substrate, but they're not breathing heavily and there's no spots on them. The only fish I noticed any change in appearance is one of my cories. One of my spotted cories started getting really shiny (a shiny metallic color) a couple of weeks ago, but I thought this was normal. Here's a pic I found (these are not mine).

http://ogremkv.files.wordpress.com/2...mg_0155_sm.jpg

I have a spotted cory that looks like those in the pic. See how they have those shiny metallic spots? Well, I have another spotted cory that is pretty much covered in those shiny metallic spots. Do you know if this is normal? I could probably get a pic of that fish if that would help anyone identify the problem.

Anyway, about the rubbing on the gravel, it really started today. I did a 25% water change yesterday because the gravel was really dirty and I had to do a lot of vacuuming of it. I did another 25% water change today and still only finished vacuuming about 3 quarters of the gravel. Ammonia levels spiked after the water change, but went to normal after 24 hours. Did I do too much vacuuming/water changing too fast? Is it possible the "itchiness" is just from the ammonia spikes? I really hope my fish are OK.

cpk

Hi 26 is okay I run mine at 28 with tetras and an interesting community mix.I am of the opinion that this slightly higher temp will help to contain and stem any spread of ich.I have used Melafix only and have only had to deal with it once in my new tank.deal to it quick otherwise heavier chems may be neccess if it gets away on you

Steen16

Cpk is right high temp will help keep ich away but could cause future algae blooms.. I have also heard that high temps can shorten the life of fish
So i would recomend any where in between.

cpk

do you use a thermometer in your tank?dont just rely on temp setting on heater.