steveangela1

I have had a guppy tank since Oct and done very well w/ raising baby fry and no problems at all. I went back to the same store being "trusting" and bought some guppies yesterday needing some adult females to go w/ my fancy tailed males, needless to say I have an ick/ich infested aquarium now. This aquarium is only one of those 6 gallon minibows, the only other occupant is a mystery snail.
In my other tank w/ the infestation possibly is my new fish I am learning about, its a 10 gallon w/ 2 skirted tetras, 1 diamond tetra, 1 pleco, 2 red platy (bought from the ick store), 1 tatooed platy (from the ick store and no I didn't realize they actually tatooed the fish until I got home and researched about it now I want to find the cruel person and slap them), 2 dwarf frogs, and, 2 platys that are speckled black and grey, and 1 mystery snail. The red platys have some white specks on them now I am wondering if it is ick?

The other tank I have is full of fry and one mystery snail and unharmed from yesterdays adventure.

I Have the following questions:

What do I need to cure the ick?
How often to I change the tank during the ick treatment? (my ciclid raising mother says once a week)
How much med per the 6 gallon guppy tank, how much per the 10 gallon tank?
and will it harm the other occupants in the 10 gallon tank like my frogs, pleco, and mystery snail?

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore.

To cure ick, you'll want to raise the temp slowly to 82-84 and keep it there for 2 weeks. You can do 25% water changes every other day if you want and clean the substrate to clear out any ick cysts in there.

Meds are really needed to clear up ick. The parasite can't survive in the warmer water and 2 weeks usually wipes them out. If you want to use a med to help the fish, I'd recommend Ich-Attack. It's an organic, herbal liquid that won't mess up your good bacteria and is safe for the fish. I wouldn't use other ich meds, just no reason to put the stress of them on the other tank occupants.

steveangela1

Okay I have another question, my husband picked up my anti ick med because my wonderful jeep was acting up today and he needs to check it up (transmission) luckily he is good w/ mechanical work... anyways its the meh. green stuff w/o zinc or metals. I have started the temp raising in both tanks. My mil told me to take the gravels out and treat them w/ salt, that she did that when she raised guppies, and when the ick was gone she put the gravels back in?

She also brought me some aquarium salt, is it safe to put in both of my tanks?
also is the meth green stuff okay for the pleco and the frogs?

susitna-flower

I think what CobettaCouple was saying here is that Meds are RARELY needed. The high temps. takes care of ICK.

The ick can be in your tank, and new fish coming in are stressed, and pick it up, from your tank, where your own fish have immunity to it in their own tank. How ever it started, keep a close eye on it, if the spots start going away with only higher temps, and the fish seem ok, then the 82-84 temp should be all you need.

If fish seem to be stressed, hiding, not eating, or laying around with clamped fins, you should medicate. Good Luck

Frogger

If you are going to use the meds to treat your fish i would suggest moving your frog friends to a temporary home. They are very sensitive to the meds. They also will not get ick so once you have treated the tank and gotten rid of the ick you will be able to put them back in after you have filter out all the meds.

COBettaCouple

I would highly recommend against that ich med. It's not really needed and hard on the tank occupants. Since you see spots on some, they are all most likely infected and you want to keep things safe to treat them all. Salt would be something I'd not use for ich. The warmer water staying at 82-84 for the 2 weeks along with water changing and cleaning clears most cases of ich.

I just mention Ich-Attack since it's safe and won't harm your tank. It's not needed, but would help some and be safe for all the occupants. You'll still want to keep the water warm for 2 weeks even if it all looks cleared away.

http://kordon.com/kordon/ich_attack/index.htm - this page has more info on Ich-Attack.

jsalemi

I had a minor outbreak of ich in my platys a week or so before XMas, and the combination of higher temps and Ich-Attack cleared it up within days. If you have to use meds, the Ich-Attack is the best way to go.