"Rodney M" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 17:34:18 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

"Rodney M" wrote in message
. ..

I've got a 29 gallon tank that has been cycled for over a month now.
I used two albino tiger barbs to cycle the tank. 10 days ago, I
picked up 6 bleeding heart tetra's and 3 young false juli catfish. I
know that's alot of fish to add at once but I've been watching my
levels and everything looks good. I acclimated all the of the fish
before putting them in my tank. Everybody seemed to be doing great.
The tiger barbs were a little freaked out the first day since they
had
been the only fish in the tank for two months but were fine the next
day. On the second day, one of my catfish died. The next day, a
second one died and the third was missing. I moved all the
decorations and couldn't find him anywhere. I figured he jumped out
of the tank and one of my cats got him since there is a small opening
near the filter. 2 days later I find him floating at the top of the
tank. I brought the two back to the store (the fifth one didn't
surface until before the guarantee period) and they exchanged them.
All they had were full size false juli catfish so I got those. Come
to find out after talking with the LFS, those young juli's I got
bought just arrived the morning of the day I bought them. All the
stress of going from two tanks in one day is probably what killed
them. I was upset that the LFS didn't tell me when I bought them
that
they were new or I would have held off.

After seven days of adding the new fish to my tank, I notice my
bleeding heart tetras have white spots all over there body and fins.
From what I can tell it looks like Ick. I've tried to get a picture
of the fish but I can't seem to get one that is clear enought. I
went
down to the LFS and they recommend I pickup some Aquarisol
(http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113521).
The instructions say to up the temperature in the tank to 85 degrees
and add 12 drops per 10 gallons daily until the Ich is gone. I
removed the filter cartridge and put in one that didn't have carbon
in
it. I have a Marineland Visi-Therm Stealth 100 heater and I moved
the
dial to 86 degrees but the temperature of the tank will not go above
82 degrees, even after several days. I even tried moving the dial to
88 degrees but still no change. I've been treating the tank with the
Aquarisol for the past three days. I did a 25% water change the
second day and added the Aquarisol after that. Over the past 5 days,
the tank has been cloudy too. I'm thinking that might be a bacteria
bloom because I added alot of fish at once.

I've already had 2 of the bleeding hearts die, one yesterday and
another one this morning. The barbs and the catfish are not showing
any white spots on there body or fins, just the bleeding hearts. I
would move the other fish to a different tank, but the only other
tank
I have is an unheated 5 gallon.

Does this sound like Ick?

Would need a picture. Ich is small white dots. Probably is, as it's
the
most common ailment fish catch.

Am I doing everything properly to clear it
up and hopefully save my fish?

Quarantine is what is (was) needed to keep your fish well. The store
fish are more at risk as they are less hardy due to the transit and
water
shock. Their weakness may allow any diseases to grow stronger, putting
your fish at greater risk.

I guess I'm gonna have to invest in a 10 gallon quarantine tank and
put any new fish in that. I would really hate to put my other fish at
risk again.

Aquarisol is not particularly strong, and I've generally avoided it
because I don't like copper-based medications. Having said that,
follow
the directions, keep the water clean and you'll probably be fine. Ich
is
really not hard to cure, unless there are other underlying problems
(check your ammonia, nitrite levels). Weak fish might sucumb to it.

After using the Aquarisol for about 6 days and after reading/listening
to the advice of others, I tried using Quick Cure for 3 days. That
didn't seem to help either. I ended up losing all 6 of my bleeding
heart tetras by the third day of using it. Every morning I would wake
up and find 1 floating until they were all dead.

The weird thing is, my two catfish and two albino tiger barbs are
showing no signs of Ich and seem healthy. I quit using any kind of
treatment. I put a new filter in with carbon (wanted the carbon back
since my water was really cloudy and that helped clear it up). I'm
going to wait a couple of weeks before adding any new fish to my tank.

I still have the temperature running at about 83 degrees. I'm going
to gradually bring this back to 76 starting today. I wonder if I
should

Thanks for your help.

Rodney

That's the trouble with many of these meds, if the fish are too far gone,
it can push them over the edge (and tetras don't have a lot of stamina to
start with). Letting the tank cool back to 76F and stabilize sounds like
a good idea. If after a month, you don't see any sign of Ich, then you
are probably clear. The bugs need hosts to survive, and that's usually
sick stressed fish.
--
www.NetMax.tk