Ick and finrot and the unknown!!

[cpeckford]

(I also have this posted in the "say hello" but was afarid it would get mised..)

About my fish (this is a long story..sorry).....

I was given 2 comets and 1 shubunkin to start off with. I went out and bought my 10 gallon (canadian I think not sure what the diff is lol) tank and set it up as your suppose to. When I put these 3 fish in the tank, I found out how dirty they were and gave away my comets and kept the shubunkin. Which had fin rot when it was given to me. I then bout 2 black moors and 1 algie eater. I know they are warm water fish but a friend has one in her tank and it's 3 - 4 years old so I decided to give it a try....1 black moor lived and the other and algie eater died in a matter of 3 days.... this is where it gets confusing to me...I then bought 1 more black moor, 1 red cap oranda and 1 red fantail... After 4 days my new black moor became full of white...flakes of skin? Thats what it looked like to me and it was even hanging off its eyes. That one got skiny and died. I treated it in a sepreat tank with jungle fungus/bacterial elimanitor and it did nothing. 1 week and it died. My oranda then after 1 week gets ick..verry verry bad. ABOSOLUTLY no other fish got it and after 3 days the oranda died. 4 days after it died my red fantail gets it and within 1 day its dead. (And what confuses me the shubunkin and the black moor that i've had for over a month are completly fine!!)(I was also treating the ick with jungle ick guard and it did nothing so I tried salt and I think it just made matters worse)...So seeing that my other 2 fish were fine (other then the shubunkin has finrot and is being treated with milifix in a different tank) I go out and buy another oranda. Had it for 2 days and now it has ick severly and is dying....

Tonight I completly emptied my tank. Cleaned it with bleach ( i know your not really suppose to but I am just totaly fustrated with this matter), then cleaned it with pure white vinegar and the washed it with dish deturgent. I then took the hair drier and dried off all the extra water and made the tank completly dry and left it alone for 2 hours. I cleaned all my tank accesories with vinegar and scalding hot water and scalded my gravel and then blow dried them too.... I don't know if this was a good idea but I just don't know what else to do..... I'm starting to regret buying the fish lol!!

Alos I use water conditioner for tap water and a little sea salt (nothing else added!!) and thats it. I currently have milifix, ick guard, clear water, and the conditioner. I am feeding flakes and algie wafers (they perfer those really!!) I am going out to buy the proper water testing kit too...

Thats the end of my story... Any advice????

Thanks!!

[mattgeezer]

gday mate welcome to 3reef!! firstly i think you really need to do some research !!! Reading here and on the net is the best..

Firstly what size tank are we talking ?, its a freshwater tank how old is it?

NEVER use detergents and/or bleach in your tank your asking for trouble.
white vinegar is the great all purpose cleaner IMO ..

dont worry we have all been there!!!!!!

[cpeckford]

I have a 10 gallon tank. I knew I was going to be hassled about the deturgents () but I red some sanatizing articales for methods of cleaning your tank and those were the 3 things that were mentioned so I used them all! One of them HAD to remove the ick...hopefully...

I hope someone can give me some advise on what is the PROPER thing to do.
I can read 50 online articale and they will ALL be different....I need some help BAD lol.

I am planning on buying 2 black moors tomorrow but I am defenitly NOT putting them in my tank. I am planning to buy a 30 gallon if I can within the next few weeks.

And also my black moor ( I've had him in the 10 gallon tank since I bought him a month and a half ago) is STILL completly ick free....

[omard]

Fresh water ick is a different animal then saltwater ick. I am not certain if treatment is the same.

Mattgezzer is right you need to do some reading up on it on web. There are litterally thousands of "ick" pages.

Originally Posted by mattgeezer

dont worry we have all been there!!!!!!

--- not me as of yet. Thanks be!!! (knock on wood!) - If it ever does show up, I don't know who will be sicker, me or the fish.

[geekdafied]

Here is all the info you need on freshwater ich.
Ichthyophthirius

[cpeckford]

I've read the recomended information and do understand the life cycle of the parasite and so on. I realize it takes time to remove it from your tank with temperature but is it posabul the cleaning I have done to the tank could have killed it off? The tank was completly dry and I cleaned everything in the tank with scalding water and pure vinegar. I know I really wasn't suppose to use the chemicals that I did but on another note could have they worked to get rid of the ick? Is there anything other then temp and fish meds that CAN kill it just by cleaning?

Thank you for all the help. I really appericate it!!

[mattgeezer]

Originally Posted by cpeckford

I have a 10 gallon tank. I knew I was going to be hassled about the deturgents ()

A friendly hassle !! dont worry thats why mistakes are made so we can all learn !!

[geekdafied]

Do you still have an ich problem after all of that?

[cpeckford]

Originally Posted by mattgeezer

A friendly hassle !! dont worry thats why mistakes are made so we can all learn !!

Thank You!! ( ) LOL

******************

I'm not sure if the ick is gone or not because the only fish in the tank is my black moor and out of the 3 ick outbreaks it hasn't had it once and is doing very good!! My oranda died a few hours ago, in a seperate tank of corse, and I have decided not to buy any more of these fish. I think i'm having bad luck with them. I am going to buy a calico fan tail and another black moor (don't worry I am buying a bigger tank ASAP) to see if the ick returns. Hopefully it doesnt!! I hate putting the little guys through the stress.

No one has answered my question tho.....Could all the cleaning I have done kill off the ick?

Thank you for all the help!! My fishie will surly love you for it hehe

Also this is my tank in the pic to the left!!

[cpeckford]

Yesterday I went out and bought 4 new fish ( 2 black moors and 2 fan tails) and an algie eater. (And I still have my origional black moor (and is still doing great!!) and its been 3 days and I have no ick as of yet.) I still have my 10 g tank but I've read that it's 1 g to 1 inch of fish and all my fish are under 2 inches so I think I'm ok with 6 fish.....right???? But if not I am upgrading my tank to a 30 g next month so not to worry they will have more room!! .....

Just wanted to let everyone know the status of my ick problem!! Hopefully I won't see any!!

Thanks again for all the advice!!