Hello,

First post here. Hoping I can get some good advice from everyone. Here is what I have -

Freshwater 29Gal Community Tank - live plants, Aquaclear Filter, normally keep the temp around 78-79 degrees.

About a week and a half ago I bought 6 neon tetras from a local pet store. This was the first time I have added any new fish to the tank in 8 months. The tank has been great, no major issues in the past 4 years I have had it. Everything was fine until about four days ago I noticed a few of my Cardinal tetras were full of ick. It seemed like it happened overnight - very quickly.

I have a bottle of Quick Cure, and have been using that at the recommended dosage for the past four days (1 drop per 2 gal of water because I have tetras). I have also turned up the heat in the tank to 84 degrees.
Since then I have lost 12 fish. All of my cardinal tetras are dead now, and a couple of other fish. The neon tetras I bought from the store - still alive and no signs of ick - which I think is very odd - are they immune to this strain of ick?

Here is what I have left -

-All live plants are still alive
-1 Angelfish
-3 Lemon Tetras (two have small amounts of ick)
-6 Neon Tetras
-4 Cherry Barbs (All four have ick)
-2 Siamese Algae Eaters (Both have ick)
-1 Yoyo Loach (showing signs of ick)
-1 Corey Catfish (showing signs of ick)

I am extremely frustrated. Any suggestions? Should I keep up with the Quick Cure and heat? Is so, for how much longer?
I have never had a problem with ick like this before. :(

84 is a bit high I would back it down to 80 and also remove any carbon from your filter.

Follow the directions on the meds 100%

Okay. I'll start backing it down a little. Carbon has been removed since I started treatment.

No no no no .... ich becomes unable to reproduce at higher temps. Keep it as high as your fish will tolerate for 3-4 days the fish will be fine! also add aquarium salt to the tank.

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Aquarium salt works wonders.

__________________
16g-2 guppies, 1 bolivian ram, 3 neon tetras,2 khulis
55g-1 red tail shark, 1 rubberlip plecos, 2 banjo cats,
2 silver dollars, 6 white clouds,

Regarding Aquarium Salt - How much salt? Is it safe to use with the fish I have listed in my first post?

use 1/2 teaspoon per 10 gallons

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Hmm I have always heard that it speeds up the life cycle of ich
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this is the directions off of the meds I use for ich and it works 100% of the time for me.
it is api super ICK cure

One of the first things i learned after joining her was to kill ich up the temp and add salt. And it works.

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Learn something new every day.

I cured a recent ich problem in my tank with API aquarium salt @ 1 tbsp/5 gallons and temperature of 82-83F for 10 days or so. I'm still using salt, but have lowered the temperature to 78F. No signs of the disease and no medications used. Good luck!

who says you can't teach a old dog new tricks.
I am so use to using some kind of med to treat ICH but next time I will try temp and salt.

Everyone - Thank you so much for your input.
Unfortunately I am out of town for a couple of days. Bad timing I guess. We'll see what happens when I get back. I left the tank temp around 85F.

Will try salt when I get back home if they don't seem to be doing better.

For Ick, I've also very successfully treated it with salt. I've isolated infected individuals and bathed them in a 3tsp/gal concentration of aquarium salt for 5 days, with daily water changes. This has cured every fish that has had it, but I've always caught it very early, at the 1-3 spots stage.

I'm just adding my hear hear, for using salt and heat. They do work well without medicating the tank.

Chessie

Salt and heat seems to have cured the tank. No signs of ick the past two days. Since I lost so many fish, I am anxious to replenish my tank. When do you think it would be a good time to do so? I am thinking I should wait a couple of weeks to monitor the tank.

I have noticed just now, literally, that some of my fish might have ick. Some of my barbs and catfish occassionaly scrap themselves upself against the gravel, and there does appear to be what looks like specs of salt on there body. Will an immediate 50% water change help?

Well up till recently I have been using super ick cure but I have been told here that adding salt and increasing the temp in the tank to 85F will do the trick.

I have a submersible water heater that came with my sisters 55 gallon starter kit but it has no temperature scale on it. So I figire I'm gonna set the marker to the beginning of the arrow so it doesn't heat to much

Since the heater does not have a scale on it. I would put it in your tank unplugged
for ten minutes with it set to its lowest setting. then plug it in and turn up the control slowly unit it comes on.

that will be slightly higher than what your tank is at without the heater.

you do have a thermometer?

then slightly adjust the heater higher and wait an hour and take the temp and just keep doing that until you get to the desired temp.

Ok so I turned the nob right until the light turned on. No I do not have a thermometer, but the room temp is always at 70 degrees F. It is a 200w heter for my 75 gallon tank. I can get a thermometer tomorrow at 10am.