Ich killed my stock

Hello all!
I ended up with an ich infestation in my 37g community tank that's been cycled since thanksgiving. I attempted the heat and salt method in that tank as I read it was the best method. I started the temp raising a few days at a time to 90 from 76 degrees f. It took a week to get up to that temp since I'd only go up a little at a time to not stress the fish, but the tank on 2 thermometers on opposite sides of the tank pretty much confirm it as one is at 88 and the other 94. The 94 thermometer is on the top right and the 88 is bottom left so I feel it reads accurately. I vacuumed 25% of the water out sifting through the sand daily during all this time.
I woke up yesterday and fish started dying. I'm thinking the infection was really bad and since I'm kind of new I didn't catch it well enough, nor did I know about quarantine tanks which probably would have helped me treat the fish better and I learned is essential to have for any new stock. I have one now. A 5 gallon food grade bucket with a sponge filter heater and plexiglass lid.
So now I have an almost stockless 37gallon. It's only residents are 2 mystery snails a blue and albino a nerite snail 8 ghost shrimp and my plants. I dont want to use meds on this tank. And I figure since I have a quarantine tank set up as of this morning since I learned all this a few days ago even if i bought a few fish today they would be in the quarantine tank a minimum of 3 weeks.
So can I keep this 37g tank med free? Keep the heat up and do 25% vacuum changes for the 2 weeks? The meds will probably kill my shrimps and snails? My girlfriend went out last night and surprised me with some meds since I've been bummed out since I found the little dots. She brought back API general cure, tetra ick guard, and ich-x so I do have some meds if I must treat the tank and for future illnesses which I hope their wont be. So keep heat up and vacuum for 2 weeks daily or use meds? Also is any of the meds I have prophylactic? If not can I be advised of some prophylactic procedures? I'd hate to go through this again.
I have api quickstart and tetra cleaning bacteria as well to jumpstart anything but mainly for the quarantine tank.
I just did a water test before I started this.
Ammonia- 0.125 or less. It's not really green but not yellow either
Nitrite- 0.0 its blue
Nitrate- 2 at the most? Its between 0-5.


I use api master freshwater test kit and I shake each chemical bottle 20 seconds before I add to vial and then the vial get shook 20 more seconds. I wait 20 minute to get my reading.

 

20 min is too long, the instructions state 5 minutes
Nitrates are even a bit more involved.
Add 10 drops bottle1, shake vial. Shake bottle2 vigorously for at least 30 sec.
After adding 10 drops to the vial, shake vigorously for 60 sec.
I made the mistake at the beginning, wondering why Nitrates never changed.

 

90 is way too warm. That alone may have caused some of the deaths. I think most do 88 tops, and this is if you have more heat tolerant fish. I would vacuum like you said and maybe turn the heat down a touch. I would do 86 myself. That is also what I have seen recommended most.

I have heard of good results with Ich X for snails and shrimp if you want a failsafe for next time.

 

Ok I redid my tests and thanks for correcting me.
Ammonia - .125
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate 30ppm
I added a half cap of saechem flourish yesterday morning for my plants dont know if that's why it's high?

 

The temperature may have killed them. As stated 90 was way to high. Also once ich gets to their gills then it’s a lot harder to save the fish

 

Ok I redid my tests and thanks for correcting me.
Ammonia - .125
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate 30ppm
I added a half cap of saechem flourish yesterday morning for my plants dont know if that's why it's high?

I can't see the ammonia on top of the colors. It looks 0 from what I can see. If you can keep the water in that yellow to orange on that Nitrate chart you are good, (unless you have really finicky high demand fish). If you ever see dark orange or red do a immediate water change to get it back down.

 

The test results look ok. I didn’t see where you mentioned the species of fish but most can handle those temps temporarily provided that there is plenty of aeration. My guess is that the Ich killed them and that the week that you took to raise the temp was a factor. That gave the Ich lots of time to overwhelm your fish. You need to act fast with Ich. You can raise the temp over a period of 12-24 hrs. Ich doesn’t stop reproducing until you hit 86F, sometimes a bit higher with heat resistant strains.

If there are no fish left in the tank you don’t need to keep the temp that high. Any remaining Ich will die off without a host. Give it a week or 2 weeks to be doubly sure. Keep adding a little fish food to support your bacteria colony.

 

I have snails and ghost shrimp in tank atm. Had neon tetras and panda corydora and some gourami but the gourami where aggressive so I returned them.
Also I just did a thorough cleaning and 50% water change just to be satisfied.

 

I have snails and ghost shrimp in tank atm. Had neon tetras and panda corydora and some gourami but the gourami where aggressive so I returned them.

You could add a dose of meds if you wish. Just read the directions first, most are safe with inverts as long as they are not copper based.