Breakout of ich

Yesterday I visited my friend to give her some indian almond leaves for her betta since I had extras. She was doing the horses and told me just to go inside and she'd be right in. I went into her room to say hI to her fish and when I saw them my mouth dropped open! All her fish were laying in the corner, most of them dead. She wasn't home the day before since she was at her mom's so she hasn't seen her fish for about 48 hours. Her 2 creamsicle mollies, 1 black molly, 1 dalmation mollies, 1 mickey mouse platy, 1 rainbow shark, and 1 pleco were all dead. Her other platy and her 2 silver mollies didn't look too good and were covered in grain like white spots and were laying at the bottom of the tank. The black molly male had ich on him but was still swimming around. Her dalmation molly female looked the best with no signs of ich even though she is in the same tank.

We found out the ich came from her new silver mollies she got 2 days ago who had whit spots on them but she thought it was just part of their fins.

We went to pet depot and bought some coppersafe. We went back to her house and did a 100% water change, scrubbed the tank, and boiled the decorations and gravel which took about 2 hours. We put the tank back together and made sure the temperature was the same and put the fish in and added 5 teaspoons of coppersafe. (1 teaspoon for every 4 gallons) We also bumped the temperature up very slowly to 86F. I went and checked on the fish this morning and the black molly has made some progress and looks a little better, still free swimming. The 2 silver mollies are okay... They swim a little bit more but still kinda chill at the bottom. The platy looks terrible and I don't think it will make it. It just sits at the bottom and is completely covered in ich!! The dalmation molly is doing amazing and still shows no signs of illness. We fed them this morning and the dalmation molly, black molly, and one of the silver mollies ate. Which is huge because yesterday only the dalmation molly would eat!

Is there anything else we should do for them?

 

If you don't have an airstone, I would add it, also try to soak their food in garlic juice to boost their immunity.

There is also a natural way in curing Ich instead of meds....

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/curing-ich-naturally.105665/

 

Ooo thanks! I'll tell her to soak the food in garlic and I don't think she has an air stone. We already started treating with meds but if that doesn't work we can try treating it naturally but it was so severe we wanted to start treating ASAP so she didn't loose any more fish! She lost 7 fish

 

The warmer the water the less oxygen it holds and you can loose fish that way too. You will notice when all the fish are up near the surface grasping for air.

 

5 teaspoons of coppersafe. (1 teaspoon for every 4 gallons)

Please let your friend know that we're very sorry for her loss. But when she's ready to restock (I would wait a while), please also let her know that this tank was severely overstocked. That may have contributed to the illness spreading so quickly. Her fish would've been highly stressed cramped into this tank and, as a result, would have fallen prey to any disease very quickly.

 

Yea she knew it was over stocked but I don't think she knows what her "range" is. She defiantly wants all kinds of mollies and a zebra pleco but I may be able to convince her to get some other sort of algae eater. What you guys suggest for restocking her tank? She likes unusual looking fish and L.O.V.E.S plecos! She really has her heart set on a zebra pleco. Luckily she got out of her freshwater shark stage and doesn't want another one. But how many mollies can she get and what other fish would you suggest? So I can give her an idea of what would be appropriate for that tank size.

Also, how long should she wait before restocking?

 

I would wait 14 days since the last physical signs of Ich.

 

Okay! so what fish would you suggest?

 

what current fish are in the tank and how many?

 

Small tanks = small fish

She won't really have as much of a choice as if she had, let's say, a 30 gallon, which seems to suit her better.

I'd recommend corys, snails, RCS, otos, endlers livebearers, ember tetras, and the like. No plecos!

 

She now only has 1 dalmatian molly female and 1 black molly male the platy died last night and the 2 silver mollies died this morning. She really, really wants a zebra pleco she said if she can find one for under $20 she is defiantly getting it. She doesn't like snails or small schooling fish her taste is different from mine. She likes strange looking fish and algae eaters. I think she is going to end up getting a pleco though no matter what she has her mind set. I promised her I'd take her fish shopping after her birthday so I need to know what to urge her to get. I'm hoping she decides the plecos are too expensive but if she gets a lot of birthday money I need something to say that would change her mind. I have a sailfin pleco in my 10 so that is a horrible example but I can't really help it right now. Since she already had a pleco in her 20 she already has algae waffers so that is just one more thing that is leading her to plecos.

 

She now only has 1 dalmatian molly female and 1 black molly male the platy died last night and the 2 silver mollies died this morning. She really, really wants a zebra pleco she said if she can find one for under $20 she is defiantly getting it. She doesn't like snails or small schooling fish her taste is different from mine. She likes strange looking fish and algae eaters. I think she is going to end up getting a pleco though no matter what she has her mind set. I promised her I'd take her fish shopping after her birthday so I need to know what to urge her to get. I'm hoping she decides the plecos are too expensive but if she gets a lot of birthday money I need something to say that would change her mind. I have a sailfin pleco in my 10 so that is a horrible example but I can't really help it right now. Since she already had a pleco in her 20 she already has algae waffers so that is just one more thing that is leading her to plecos.

If she doesn't like smaller fish, then if I were you, I wouldn't suggest any fish at the moment, but instead suggest that she should buy a larger tank so she can have the fish she wants.

I would print out a profile of the pleco she wants and show it to her, get a ruler and make a physical representation of the fish and ask her if its fair to put that size fish in her tank.

You can also put in the perspective of Horse keeping as well.....

 

She is aware of how big the pleco gets and that's why she wants it. She is hoping it gets like 1ft. Unless it has any threat to her mollies she is determined to get it.

Unless it has any threat to her mollies she is determined to get it.

Ahh! I just had a great idea! She is planning on breeding her mollies and I could say something like "the pleco will make a huge mess and pollute her water which would cause her fry to be not as healthy, hardy, and possibly slightly deformed." She can't have any weak fry because she is exchanging them for in store credit at Creature Comfort and the healthier they are the more in store credit they will give her. Also she doesn't want anything to happen to her babies! She loves her dalmatian mollies.

EDIT: she has an extra fry tank though.. :/ (it's a 10 gallon) could the babies still have problems if the mother is kept in messy water while she is pregnant before they are born?