titusxander

okay so i have a 10 gallon and a 20 gallon that are hooked up to a single air pump that runs the undergravel filter in the 10 gallon and the bubble wand in the 20 gallon. My 10 gallon is infested with ICH. I ca see it on my pleco and my neon tetras. (i believe i may have gotten it from the fish i purchased from PetSmart) Would Ich look like tiny white spots/bubbles floating all around the tank? Would the dual air pump have spread the ich from the 10 gallon to the 20 gallon? please help! The 20 gallon has no fish in it because i'm about to start cycling it, something which i made the mistake of not doing with the 10 gallon. What do i do? help!!!

aquarist48

Hello titusxander. For your 10g tank with the ICH...raise your temperature to 85 degrees and leave it there for two weeks. Do some gravel vacuums several times during this period to remove ICH spores that fall off the fish and into the substrate/gravel. You may want to increase the air supply as warmer water needs more oxygen. Ich on a fish looks like a salt sprinkle. You cannot see ICH floating in your tank. The air pump could not spread the ICH unless you had a back up of water in the air supply line or something. The other tank would have to be contaminated by water or fish not by air.
If you have more questions by all means ask. Best of luck.
Ken

MizRamzi

Great advise Aquarist! Ditto on it

titusxander

thanks! i leave the fish in there while i turn up the temperature, right? Would it affect the fish i have? i have neon tetras, emerald cory cats, and a pleco. how could i have gotten the ich?

aquarist48

Hello titusxander. Yes, leave the fish in the tank while you increase the temperature. Do it gradually over the day and follow the instructions in post #2. If one fish in the tank is showing signs of ICH the entire tank and all fish in the tank have to be treated.
ICH is usually caused by stress, sudden temperature fluctuations, adding new fish that are already infected into the established tank, water transfers.
Below is a link concerning ICH just in case you may not have seen it.
http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/CuringIch.htm
Good luck,
Ken

titusxander

thanks for all the help! would getting fish from petco or adding water that is just any temperature have done it? plus the fish are stressed because i didn't cycle the 10 gallon before i put them in there (i know shame on me!) so now i have to cycle the tank with them in it. also the tank was really overstocked too. at first i had 6 guppies, 5 neon tetras, 2 plecos, 2 cory cats, 2 wagtail sunset platies, and 3 mickey mouse platies. All the fish have died off except for the 2 cory cats, 1 pleco, and the 5 neons. i know beginner mistakes.

joy1125

since your tank isn't cycled yet, you'll need to do at least 50 percent water changes, twice a day to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down. Do one in the morning, and one in the evening, no more than 12 hours apart. Make sure the new replacement water is very very close to the same temperature in the tank, (you can buy a thermometer at the fish store, it will take the guess work out of it, and they're cheap, only a couple dollars.) There's a good dechlorinator called Prime, which also detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for 12 hours, that will help greatly until your done cycling.

Make sure to gravel vac with the water changes, it'll keep the ich under control, plus it'll help keep the ammonia down by removing fish waste and uneaten food.

also, just be sure to keep the air pump on, as the raised temperature in the tank needs aeration for oxygen !

Good luck !