Ich outbreak that is not going away

[mperkins21]

I have a 37g that has been up and going for 5 months now since I moved it had 10 rummynose tetras 7 cardinal tetras, 5 kuhli loaches and a german blue ram it was running well and all the fish were flourishing i wanted to try to get more german blue rams and a small pleco and went to my lfs and she recommended i get a few germans/gold rams and i got a clown pleco. I got home and everything was going good and everyone ate fine (last tuesday)

wednesday i noticed a few spots of ich on the new fish so i started medicating and raising temp to 86 as that’s what i did a few years ago with my other tank and it worked well (as well as remove carbon from filter) so then on thursday it seemed to multiply a bit as expected on only the new fish I was planing on leaving for christmas thursday night-sunday so since it was going well i did a water change and dosed the medication as directed,

I came back saturday to check on them and medicate them when i arrived i saw all of my cardinals dead and covered in like white fuzz which i imagine was from decaying as well as one of the rummynose, the rest of the rummynose seemed to have ich as well and the ones who had it previously seemed to have cleared up for the most part It all was insane as the cardinals were doing so well and didn’t notice any suspicious things with them i removed the dead and did a water change (25%) as directed on the bottle and medicated them again i came back sunday night and most of the rummynose seemed sick and not doing the best i did another 25% water change and medicated and today when i got back from work 3 rummynose were dead and it still is seeming not to be doing well except the ones that brought it in in the first they are acting completely fine now

In the 3 and a half years of fish keeping i have never had any kind of thing happen and yes it is my fault for not quarantining the fish i didn’t have another to do so and yes that’s the reason for this but i’m just now trying to save the rest of my fish from dying I really need some ideas for treatment or any other things i could do do?
a picture of one of the rummynose left 3 others look like this

 

[Idkitsathrowaway]

It may not be ich, I've never seen it kill.it may be another fungus fill out the emergency template and we may be able to gelp

 

[mperkins21]

It may not be ich, I've never seen it kill.it may be another fungus fill out the emergency template and we may be able to gelp

I know it can kill them i had a death from ich in the past and it was like a few days and that was after showing signs of it the rest survived but this has been a lot different and progressed a lot faster then my past dealings with ich and the ones that had to to begin with are now fine but all of the tetras left have white spots all over them like ich its like the ich like isn’t responding to meds but i can fill out the template for it thank you!

 

[Frank the Fish guy]

You have to break the life cycle of the parasite. Assuming it is Ich.

The best way to break the parasite life cycle is to remove ALL the fish to a bucket or temporary tank with good aeration.

Now you can treat the main tank with this (or similar) at double dose to kill the parasites in the tank. Amazon.com : Copper Power Green, Freshwater Copper Treatment, 4 oz : Pet Supplies

Meanwhile, treat the fish in the bucket with the same medicine at the regular dose for fish.

You change 100% of the water in the main tank after the treatment. Maybe do this twice for a tough case.

Keep changing water in the hospital tank or bucket until you have fish with no white spots visible. Remember that with fish in a bucket, there is no bio-filter, so they need a daily supply of 100% new pre aerated water.

It can be difficult to treat the fish and tank together if you have a lot of the parasite in your system. Only takes a few to survive to keep the whole party going. Removing fish is key to breaking the parasites' life cycle which is about 3-6 days. So you need to keep the fish and take separate for 3-6 days while you treat the tank.

 

[mperkins21]

You have to break the life cycle of the parasite. Assuming it is Ich.

The best way to break the parasite life cycle is to remove ALL the fish to a bucket or temporary tank with good aeration.

Now you can treat the main tank with this (or similar) at double dose to kill the parasites in the tank. Amazon.com : Copper Power Green, Freshwater Copper Treatment, 4 oz : Pet Supplies

Meanwhile, treat the fish in the bucket with the same medicine at the regular dose for fish.

You change 100% of the water in the main tank after the treatment. Maybe do this twice for a tough case.

Keep changing water in the hospital tank or bucket until you have fish with no white spots visible. Remember that with fish in a bucket, there is no bio-filter, so they need a daily supply of 100% new pre aerated water.

It can be difficult to treat the fish and tank together if you have a lot of the parasite in your system. Only takes a few to survive to keep the whole party going. Removing fish is key to breaking the parasites' life cycle which is about 3-6 days. So you need to keep the fish and take separate for 3-6 days while you treat the tank.

Would doing that ruin my media in my filter since it wont have the ammonia from the fish? I just would be scared the move of it all would kill them all as they are already stressed from this or they would be fine?

 

[Motherlovebetta]

Are you sure it’s ich and not epistylis? From what I’ve read they look similar but turning the temp up in your tank causes this condition to kill quickly. What are you medicating with?

 

[mperkins21]

Are you sure it’s ich and not epistylis? From what I’ve read they look similar but turning the temp up in your tank causes this condition to kill quickly. What are you medicating with?

Api super ich cure last time dealing with this i used ich-x and liked it but it’s the holidays and for stuff to ship to me would’ve taken awhile and api is what my petsmart had i’ve been also using stress coat with it as well to help idk if it is doing much i turned the heat down a bit maybe they got to stressed from it all i also have an air stone in there as well at this point i’m just hoping some live

 

[Frank the Fish guy]

Would doing that ruin my media in my filter since it wont have the ammonia from the fish? I just would be scared the move of it all would kill them all as they are already stressed from this or they would be fine?

Negative. The lack of fish for 6 days will not kill off your bio filter. It will be fine. There is plenty of gunk in your tank to keep the party going for months and months actually. The fish are only a small contributor compared to the build up of waste in the tank. The nitrogen cycle will remain in equilibrium.

And the copper based treatment will not harm your established bio-filter either.