Possible Ich/ Tss Fish In Cycle

Hello all. So for those that haven't read my other posts I have been noticing my fish occasionally flash against sand or my plants in the aquarium ever since day 2 of having the fish in the aquarium. They usually do it two or three times back to back when I see them do this. At first I thought it may have been ammonia because I am doing a fish in cycle with TSS+. Day 4 the flashing seemed more frequent. Today is day 10 and the flashing seems to happen much less frequently but I now notice a few white specks on one of my fish. I definitely do not want my fish to die and read that raising the temperature helps kill off ich but I also read that it can kill the bacteria from TSS+. What should I do? I have a python arriving tomorrow but till then I don't have a way to change the water besides my bucket.

Quick info:

My tank is a 29 gallon
I have it stocked with 3 female cherry barbs (hoping to put 3 more in soon because I heard it was bad to keep so few of them)
I did an API water test today and my results were

• Ph of 8
• Ammonia = looks to be in between 0 and .25
• Nitrites = 0
• Nitrates = 10

I apologize for the poor quality picture but you can see one of the specks on the fishes top fin. It has several other small specks on its back fin.

 

Definitely could be ich, but they also seem to have clamped fins so I would definitely think they are sick. This tends to happen to most fish-in cycling. You’re bed to treat the whole tank and raising the temp will help. The bacteria should be fine.

Just a suggestion. I use white cloud minnows for fish-in cycle. They always seem to live through and they’re dirt cheap. I’ve never had one die or get sick during a cycle.

 

Definitely could be ich, but they also seem to have clamped fins so I would definitely think they are sick. This tends to happen to most fish-in cycling. You’re bed to treat the whole tank and raising the temp will help. The bacteria should be fine.

Just a suggestion. I use white cloud minnows for fish-in cycle. They always seem to live through and they’re dirt cheap. I’ve never had one die or get sick during a cycle.

Alright I will try raising the temp to 86 and see how it goes.

 

Alright I will try raising the temp to 86 and see how it goes.

Is that what the instructions say on the medication bottle?

 

Is that what the instructions say on the medication bottle?

I don't have any ich medication. I was referring to the sticky on this site where the heat method is discussed. The sticky mentions that the heat method is preferred over the medications if fish haven't died yet.

 

I don't have any ich medication. I was referring to the sticky on this site where the heat method is discussed. The sticky mentions that the heat method is preferred over the medications if fish haven't died yet.

86F just seems high. Usually when my fish have ich I treat them in a sick tank and raise the temp to 82F and use medication. I haven't read the sticky though. Maybe someone else will chip in.

 

I actually have a spare 10 gallon that I bought from the Petco sale but it's empty and not cycled and I'm hoping to not do a fish in cycle again after how this one went.

 

I actually have a spare 10 gallon that I bought from the Petco sale but it's empty and not cycled and I'm hoping to not do a fish in cycle again after how this one went.

Yea, the positive about having a lot of tanks is when you set up another one you always have old filter media to get the ball rolling. I’ve had fish with ich and it healed on its own with medication or temp changes. It’s very curable. And every fish keeper makes mistakes. Good luck and hopefully you’re fish will be fine.

 

Update so I began the heating up of the water on Thursday and it's been at 86 degrees since Friday. I did a water change on Sunday and I will be doing my best one tomorrow (when the python arrives in the mail). The fish seem the same with the occasional flashing. I also added some plants that had finally arrived.