Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis (ich)

I have recently added a Gold german ram cichlid and an Amano shrimp to my 10 gallon tank with other fish in it. After about a week, white spots appeared on my fish. First my Gold ram, then my Neons, and are just beginning to appear on my Siamese flying fox.
I believe that it is the Ich.
I raised the temperature of the tank to 82 degrees F /28 degrees C (I don't want to raise it higher because of my amano shrimp). And I am planning to "flush" out my tank soon (water change of entire tank).
I read that you can add some salt to the tank and there are medications for treating the Ich. However, I don't want to rush to medications just yet and I am worried that the salt will harm my shrimp and neons. Will my current method work or would I need to apply medication to the fish (in a separate tank)?

Tank:
10 gal
1 Gold german ram cichlid - Is the most affected; white spots on body and fins
5 Neon Tetras - Just the fins are covered in dots
1 Siamese flying fox - So far, saw 1 dot on the dorsal fin
1 Amano shrimp (Haven't seen ever since it moved in. Is this normal?)
2 Big striped snails
2+ Small snails

Pictures: Put black background to try to help see the dots better, sorry about the quality of the s.

 

My friend, you are overstocked and 10 gallon is not appropriate for the algae eater and probably the ram too.

But yes, this is ich. And before you go there, no, you should not be treating with heat and salt. 82 degrees will do exactly nothing to that ich. And no, ich is very deadly if left untreated so you should be treating asap. And yes, you will need medication. And yup yup yup, you'll need to either treat the whole tank, or take the fish out, treat in a separate tank, then not return them to the main tank for like a month.

Kordon Ich Attack should be invert safe from what I remember (kinda), but I would google to be sure. Or just take them out.



In order to prevent this in the future, I would QT new fish and also I would upgrade the tank. Hope this helps!

 

You can treat ich with just heat and water changes, but it takes a lot of water changes! I gravel vacuumed twice daily for three weeks the one time I had it in my community tank about seven years ago, brought on by (ironically) a failed heater. Did not use salt. There are other methods that are faster and require less physical work, but I have kuhlis and didn't want to take chances on meds.

 

Around 82 degrees is the temperature that a ram needs anyway, so I am concerned that you were keeping the temperature too low in your tank. As to adding the salt, you should be fine as long as you don't dump in way too much. The natural habitat of amano shrimp is actually more salty than where most of your aquatic pets come from, though the salinity isn't at full brackish in most places. Go on with the salt treatment, do lots of water changes, and if you have no success, move onto a medication without copper (copper will kill invertebrates)
However, your overstocking problem is almost as urgent as the ich. Not one of the fish from your tank is suitable for a 10 gallon, and have incompatible water parameters. If you would like me to go more in depth about your stocking issues, just ask.

 

Thank you,
I’ll try the heat method for now and try to look for some medications just in case.
Also, would a 20gal tank be enough to fix the overstock problem or would a 30gal be better?

 

A 30 gallon would be better, as siamese flying fox prefer groups and grow large. They need at least 30 gallons. I would try to separate the neons, as they prefer cooler temperatures than the ram.

 

Should I keep the neons in the 10gal and move the other fish to a 30gal then? And should I add 1-2 Siamese flying foxes to the 30gal?