These darned angels!

[ScorpiosWife]

Alright, alright, so we got them to stop killing their tankmates. Yay! That was a plus (2 days in murder rehab now!) but last night when we got home from bowling I saw what looked like a tiny explosion of white dots in the water. Needless to say, I thought they had killed someone else so it required a closer look & a head count.

In our search, my husband noticed some little white dots on one of the angels that were not there when we left 3 hours prior. My first thought ... Ich. ACK! Never dealt with this before, but I have read the posties on it and increased the temperature to 82 (it's at 78 now & still climbing) & will increase it to 85 later today when I add salt after we do a huge water change this evening.

Now... I've read different things so I'd like some clarity & input.

Is it ok to use table salt or should I buy something at the pet store?
Should I remove the 1 angel that has the spots or just leave it in there? No one else is showing any signs.

This weekend we added the rainbow sharks and the corys, I hope it didn't come from them. We also added some PVC & a flower pot.

[aquabee]

Definitely up the temp to around 88 degrees and use aquarium salt or Epsom salt, 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. That used to be sufficient for treatment but there's been a particularly horrible strain of ich going around. If you don't have inverts or plants you care too much about, I'd dose coppersafe also. And normally I don't quarantine fish that have ich but with this new and "improved" ich, I'd quarantine and then treat both tanks with copper for 3 weeks.

[aquabee]

Oh and be sure to add an air stone or 2 if you don't already have em in there. That warmer temp will lower the concentration of dissolved oxygen.

[ScorpiosWife]

Thanks, Bee. No inverts or plants aside from plastic ones. Got a bubble bar & an airstone in there already, so I don't think the oxygen will be a problem. Will do the water change when hubby gets home, but till then I'll work on the temp. Poor little guy. Should I remove the media from the HOB till this process is done?

[sunkenmetal]

if there is chemical filtration in the hob like carbon etc take that out. leave the foam....

make sure to vacuum the tank really really good to get all the ich that is hanging out on the bottom

[ScorpiosWife]

Thanks Sunkie. They're just the store bought standard Marineland filters. Hmmm. Should I cut them open and take out the innards? I have a load of the blue fiber on hand if thats helpful.

[aquabee]

You only need to remove carbon if you're dosing a medication like copper. You can leave the carbon in if you're only doing salt. And don't forget, every time you do a water change and siphon the substrate, replace the salt in the new water you add to the tank. Just wait and see how things go... Hopefully it'll just be mild and this'll take care of it.

[sunkenmetal]

yea I forgot to mention that part about the meds in my post... Only need to remove chem filtration if your using meds lol

[ScorpiosWife]

Gosh I hope it's only mild, Bee. Thanks yall. Always so helpful. I'll leave the filtration alone, lol. Temp is only at 80 so far, guess it takes a while to heat 75g. I have that sucker cranked.

[troy tucker]

It does take time to heat a 75g tank. take your time on the heat. It will get there. Also use epsom salt. in the amont Bee said. 1 tablespoon per. 5g. I never quarantine for ick. becuase if one fish has it the tank has it. treat the tank wait 48 hours and do it all over again. water change heat and salt. if its not clearing up use copper safe.

Sorry to hear the angels are sick...

[sunkenmetal]

Also don't take any decorations or rocks out and put them other tanks until all the ich is dead...

[ScorpiosWife]

Agreed Sunkie. That entire tank is 100% quarantined. Water temp 82.... going to lunch with hubby. Will check on it again when I get back.

[ScorpiosWife]

Thanks, Troy.

Alright, we did about a 50% water change, added FW salt, heater stops at 89 and temp strip stops at 86. It's on 86. Now I suppose it's a waiting game.

[sunkenmetal]

yep 3 weeks or more lol

[ScorpiosWife]

Well, something super bad happened & we can't figure out why. :( Water parameters were fine this weekend. Everyone was fine yesterday, last night, all day (aside from the Ich). Then the water change & the addition of salt.

About 5 minutes after I posted last, one of the sharks turned belly up. Didn't die, but something was definitely wrong. We rushed her to the quarantine tank, did a little fishy CPR and got her going again. Went back to the tank and the other 2 sharks were doing the same. I grabbed one, hubby grabbed the other and off we ran to the quarantine tank in my son's room. Hubby's shark jumped out of his hands, to its death, which came about half an hour later. He feels like a heel. :(

We got the non-tile floor hitting shark back swimming and upright & went back for the corys who had gotten still & had started to turn on their sides. The angels, at this point, were at the top like they were gasping for air. There's PLENTY of filtration, water movement & air in there. 18" Bubble bar, air stone, 2 filters (1 Marineland Penguin 350 & 1 API Nexx).

We had to do something quick, so we took a 5 gallon bucket and got water out of the 180. We netted all the fish and put all of them in there with an airstone. They are FINE in there, aside from being crowded. No issues, whatsoever. Checked water parameters in the tank & nitrates are SKY high. How did this happen?? Water change, upping the temp & adding FW aquarium salt??? We've done water changes numerous times with no issues. Never added salt or raised the temp above 78, tho.

Off to PetCo I went to have them double check our test, get some Microbe-Lift Special Blend, some more water conditioner & new filters. I threw the old filters out & hubby put in the Special Blend. Gonna let the guys hang out in the bucket for tonight & test again in the morning. If everything is ok, I will try adding 1 fish tomorrow and watch it closely. Not gonna risk anything else tonight.

So... stressed & confused.