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Hi @ll
It's official, I am officially cursed when it comes to fish. I have been a fishkeeper for 2/3 months now and I have lost 2 betta's (Achilles & Bauer), 1 dwarf gourami (opal) and finally 3 cardinal tetra's. At the moment I own a 26 gallon tank with a fluval 303 canister filter, air pump and a rene 100W heater. I do a 25-30% water change once a week.
All the fish above died of ICH (seperate cases) and I am on fighting it again (since Wednesday). The fish I own are as follows -
1 Male betta (Gengas)
3 Clown Loaches (Krusty, Charlie and Ronald)
4 White cloud Minnows
1 Whiptail catfish (Stig)
The loaches have got it bad, and yesterday my betta got it :#(. I am using rid-ich twice daily and a water change before the first daily dose. The water parameters are -

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 7-10 (25% water chage every day for last 2 days)
ph 7.4
temp 82f

Please, any suggestiions:%)

Achilles

UK Betta seller -
www.bramsbettas.com

id lower your ph abit so its around 6.7

The cardinals needs to be kept in a school of above 6 as do the white clouds.

The clown loaches need a very large tank around 120 gallons.

I cant say why you keep getting ick but i just thought id point out some problems with your stocking

Alex

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Clown Loaches are notoriously susceptible to Ich. As for your overall loss rate on fish, it doesn't strike me as wildly excessive -- Cardinals are moderately delicate, and Dwarf Gouramis a lot more so. If I had to name one thing you're doing wrong, it would be -- as the above post says -- that your water is somewhat too alkaline for the kinds of fish you're keeping. Stick some peat moss in the filter -- and keep using Rid-Ich (although the dose should be cut in half for Tetras).

well...i have to disagree abt the pH being too alkaline...thats just fine. it could be u had a bad batch of fish...or theres a stress factor involved in ur tank. do u treat ur tap water before adding?? the water u add...r u sure that its close to the tank temp??

You are not necessarily cursed, sometimes we all go through problems with our tanks, you just seem to be having the troubles straight from the beginning...

Now let me make sure I fully understand what is going on in the tank right now. The tank is a 26 gallon that has been running for about a month...and in the past month you have lost some fish...

Currently you have these fish in the 26 gallon with the fluval as the filtration; I'm listing the temperature ranges that they would really prefer to be in:
1 Male betta (75*-86*)
3 Clown Loaches (77*-84*)
4 White cloud Minnows (46*-72*)
1 Whiptail catfish (75*-79*)

The first thing that I am seeing is that you really shouldn't have the 3 clown loaches in a tank that small, they are going to get really big and will outgrow that tank, but I will congratulate you for not having only one or two of them, as they do like being in groups

Looking at the water parameters is showing that everyone in the tank, is probably very much stressed. Stress is one of the leading causes of fish catching ich. Ich is a parasite that was introduced to the tank, but one or more of your fish (this isn't your fault, it happens) The ich tend to live in the substrate and are not necessarily harmful until the fish become stressed. It is when the fish are stressed that the ich causes the problems, and that is where you are now; stressed fish suffering from ich.

You will need to be sure to keep the tank at a constant temperature, and you will need to slowly drop the temp 1 degree a day to about 78/79*. This will help to ease the stress the fish are under with their bodies trying to live with the higher temps...

I'm looking at the Cure-Ick Plus, and it is copper free, thus it should be safe on your clown loaches (these are going to have to be returned once they are back to decent health, find an lfs that will give you credit). Take out any carbon that you have running on the tank, as this can sometimes work against you in treatment. According to this bottle you will use 5 drop/gallon or 1 capfull/20 gallons...so go with a little less than 1.5 capfuls or you can count your drops (150 drops:%)) When adding it, or any other medication think of this, you don't want any individually curious fish to be getting the absolute full dose of meds dumped on them...so take out some of the tank water in a cup or bowl (this will become permanent fish material) and add the meds to it, then slowly add it where your output nozzle is, or another way is take a piece of airline 1-2 ft and create a sort of drip/drain system into the tank where the output is, thus causing the meds to be mixed easily when entering the tank. Treat the tank for 3 days...Stop doing the water changes, every other day. This is also stressing the fish...once a week of 10-15% is plenty or every other week of about 20% will be fine as well. You will also need to make sure the water is the same temp when you are doing these water changes, you don't want the heavy spikes and drops

I hope some of this helps. Don't give up on the fish...The betta when feeling better would probably appreciate a 1-2 gallon tank to hisself, and then you could easily turn this to a cooler water tank, and eventually get the water temps down a bit more, but that will come when all the fishies are feeling better, best of luckheidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Achilles,

As I stated already in your [link=Last Post]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/The%20Hospital/61804.html?200507140845" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] that you made recently regarding your Ich problem, I would suggest you switch your medication to Quick Cure. What you did not say is that you lost quite a few fish to Ich over a period of time. It seems to me that your tank never got rid of the problem itself. Can that be? Just removing diseased fish will not remove the Ich itself. If you introduce new fish, or have any fish that still could carry the disease, then it will continue until you do a full term treatment of your tank with the right temperature. In case of Quick Cure, that would be 2 weeks and 82 – 84 F.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

PS: Also, as I said in your other post, the Clowns are too big for your tank.

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi @ll,
Thanks for all the replies, especially houston. Funnily enough I can't seem to find the quick cure. My lfs does not stock it, so I'm having to stick with Rid-Ich.
I checked the crowd this morning and I think I'm finally getting some results. 2 of the clowns have lost the white spot as well as my betta (the force is strong with this one).
As for the loaches being too big later - the thing was I got one of them with the tank and I just couldn't leave him alone. He was so timid. Added the two, and he came alive. I am planning to splash out at Xmas and get myself a flashy juwel tank. Hopefully they should be okay till then. They are only about 2-3" at the moment. You think??
I do add tap safe when doing the water change, and I get the temp of the new water as close to the tank water.

Thanks again,
Achilles

P.S. Houston, I'd love to have a little tank with a betta (just found a place in the UK who breeds them by the hundreds - crowntails and super deltas) but my better half is still warming to the idea of one fish tank. Give me another couple of months

Last edited by achilles at 18-Jul-2005 05:25

UK Betta seller -
www.bramsbettas.com

I had problems with my clown loaches and ICH and after 12 days of medication with Quick Cure, I think I have finally nipped it in the butt.

You should be careful and only administer a half dose if you have bettas in the tank.

I also raised the temperature and put aquarium salt in the tank.

good luck