Help! Things are out of control, now Ich

Tank
55 gallon filtered and heated at about 78
10 black skirt tetra (7 are juvenile), 3 pristella tetras, 5 danios, 8 female betta fish (currently in hospital tank)

Maintenance
I've been changing the water a few times a week every time I see ANY ammonia much less than .25ppm and skimming the vacuum over the sand.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <5
pH: 7.6

I feed mostly bug bites tropical every other day. and occasionally frozen blood worms

I've had my female bettas for a long time (atleast 10 months) but all the other fish I've had between 1 and 2 weeks. They were all heathy when I put them in and half had been quarantined. I first noticed ich spots 2 days ago, and started treatment on some fish with ich X yesterday but more are sick today.

I don't even know where to start, I had a very healthy functioning 55 gallons sorority tank. Then there was an accident where I lost all of my dither fish. (And I also destroyed my cycle. It's not completely destroyed but my ammonia is unpredictable.) Leaving 8 female bettas alone to fight with each other. I started quarantining other fish, but my girls were going downhill so fast (laying on the aquarium unable to swim, being bullied relentlessly) I knew I had to put new fish in the tank. That saved my girls, but now I have ich! I already separated my girls and began treatment yesterday. They got sick first because there's still not enough dither fish. But now my skirt tetras have it and I know it's only a matter of time before they all get it. I don't have any more room for hospital tanks. Should I just treat the whole tank with ich X? Is it worth the risk of killing my plants and stressing the fish that MIGHT not get sick? I'm also worried for my cycle that's fighting for it's life. Please give me advice I really don't know what to do

 

Yikes that's a mess. How many spare tanks do you have?

 

Yikes that's a mess. How many spare tanks do you have?

I only have a 5.5 gallon thats not being used. I have a cycled 20g with only an African Dwarf Frog but I'm trying to protect him from this whole mess

 

I only have a 5.5 gallon thats not being used. I have a cycled 20g with only an African Dwarf Frog but I'm trying to protect him from this whole mess

Oye. Ok. When you say you already separated the bettas... do you mean in their own containers? Or separate from the rest but still all together? Basically... where are all of the fish currently? I would say you need to get your bettas separated as much as you can or else you will continue to make the situation worse with stress. Can you put the sick new fish in the 5.5 and then get some partitions up in the main tank or breeder boxes or something? Idk how you could get them arranged to avoid treating the whole tank. If you get all the current sick fish out and still end up with new ones breaking out in spots, you probably need to treat the main anyway.

 

Do you think you could move the frog into the 5.5gal (temporarily) so you have space in the 20 gal? Then again, idk how big the frog is. It might be too big for the 5gal.

 

That is a stressful nightmare...sorry you have to go through this.
Ich is highly contagious, and as the new fish are already together in your big tank there is a good chance they are already infected, just did not develop the cysts yet. I would leave them in there and start treatment. Many members just increase the heat, others prefer the medication route with ich-x.
If the Betta sorority is still healthy, I would leave them separated. If space is a problem you could get a big plastic tub, toss a whole bunch of decoration and plants in there to break up line of sight, may even need some plastic separators to keep aggression at a minimum. Sponge filter and heater, change water daily to keep Ammonia under control.
You may have some loss, but you should get through this as you discovered it in time and took the necessary first steps.

 

Oye. Ok. When you say you already separated the bettas... do you mean in their own containers? Or separate from the rest but still all together? Basically... where are all of the fish currently? I would say you need to get your bettas separated as much as you can or else you will continue to make the situation worse with stress. Can you put the sick new fish in the 5.5 and then get some partitions up in the main tank or breeder boxes or something? Idk how you could get them arranged to avoid treating the whole tank. If you get all the current sick fish out and still end up with new ones breaking out in spots, you probably need to treat the main anyway.

They are in their own little containers inside a 10 gallon with th same water supply. They don't seem overly stressed by the situation. I think I'm going to put them back in the big aquarium tho since I'm treating it

 

Ah! Now I have fin rot! And they just look kinda milky? What is that?