Very high ammonia and Ich disease?

Question

I have a 20 gallon tank. I tested my water when my poor pleco died the day after I got him. I have ammonia levels of 8.0. and I my fish have Ich disease. My two remaining tiger barbs have it really bad, but my parrot fish and kissing gourami only have a few white spots. So far i have changed the water, taken out my carbon filter, and am using API super Ich cure to treat the Ich. I'm almost done the treatment but it does not seem to be helping. I'm thinking I should treat the ammonia before I worry anymore about the Ich. Can someone please help. I've alreadly lost one tiger barb and two plecos. I really don't want to loss my other fish, especially the parrot fish.

Answer 1

high ammonia levels are very stressful for fish. stress does not help with ich. so what should you do treat the disease or the cause? i would say try to lower your NH3 levels to alleviate some of the stress on the fish. continuing to medicate your fish isnt a bad idea either. do both and cross your fingers. there is no sure answer

Answer 2

Start doing 20% water changes every day until the ammonia problem is cured,then if you have any fish left,treat the tank for ick. The high ammonia sounds like the tank never cycled,you don't say how long the tank has been running. Stop feeding,this just creates more ammonia and your fish are probably too sick too eat any way. Do not do large water changes,just 20% per day and vacuum all of the "stuff" out of the gravel a little at a time(as much as you can do without removing more than 20% of the water).
The problem with your tank is that the Nitrifying Bacteria that digest the ammonia either never grew their colonies or were killed by sudden changes in water conditions or temperatures. One common cause of this is the habit of doing a large water change and then treating the water for Chlorine after it's added to the tank. It might not kill the fish,but it will kill the bacteria that keep your fish alive. The remedy for this is to treat the water before adding it to the tank.

Answer 3

i'm sorry for your loss but you've got real problems here.
your tank is severely overstocked and has not been properly cycled.

you shouldn't have that many plecos in a twenty gallon tank, in fact you shouldn't have any, they get too big (common plecos get 24 inches long), i recommend taking them back. once your tank is ick free you could try some cory cats instead (they get 2 1/2 inches long with full bodies, and they prefer living in groups).

i'm not sure what you mean by parrot fish but if you mean this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrotfish
that's a marine fish and it should not be in a fresh water aquarium.
if you mean this (more likely):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_parrot_cichlid
that is a cichlid and should not be in a 20 gallon tropical tank.
they get 10 inches long and need at least 50 gallons, they also should not be housed with 'tropical fish'.

if you have a tropical tank you should have under 1 inch of fish per gallon, but that only applies if 1. you have a standard shaped tank with aeration, 2. they are small tropical fish, and 3. you are counting a fish's maximum adult size.

once you have your stocking problems under control your ammonia problems won't be quite so bad; but you still need to learn to properly cycle a tank. cycling a tank should be done with a few small fish, but since you've already stocked the tank you'll need some help. buy 'cycle' or a similar product (it's dormant bacteria) to jump start your cycling. you also need to do some reading on cycling:
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

high ammonia levels are part of the reason you are having trouble with ick, fish with good water rarely get sick. but here are a few other things you can do to get rid of ick:
1. raise the temperature of the aquarium (AFTER your finished the meds raise the temp to 86ºF to kill the ick. and be sure you have very good aeration so your fishes won't mind the temp!)
2. add a tiny bit of fresh water aquarium salt to the tank.
3. treat the fish with 'salt dips'.
4. read! the more you know the better equipped you are to treat your fish, asking questions here is a good start. :)
here is some ick info:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

this all might seem a little confusing at first, so please contact me with ANY questions you have!
good luck.

Answer 4

Ammonia is probably the biggest killer of aquarium fish. Even in small amounts it can be fatal and 8 is not a small amount. Chances are too much internal damage has already been done and your fish will not survive. Sorry.

You said you have changes your water. Do you mean all of it? Total water changes remove a lot of the beneficial bacteria needed to break down the ammonia into nitrite and then to nitrate. I suggest you google 'cycling' your aquarium and 'ammonia poisoning' to get more information about ammonia and to get your tank cycling properly.

Answer 5

You've done too much. When you say "changed the water" do you mean 100% or something else? Don't do any more water changes for a couple of days. Never do more than 20-25% at a time. Never do them more frequently than every 24 hours. Never do them more than 2-3 days in a row.

http://www.firsttankguide.net/

Answer 6

Wow I was going to write the same thing as the second person. This really true I had this problem and rasing the temperature helps alot. I also have to oscars. And by the way I wish there was people like that second person that respond to the question in my local petstore. I had to learn this by personal experience becaue the people at my local petstore dont know anything.