Good afternoon, all. I've got a real mess on my hands and am not sure what to do. I had a little 3 gal tank with one happy & healthy basic goldfish (undergravel filter/ no chem, just water changes). A week ago a relative shows up with a 10 gallon tank & setup from nnnnnn and 4 tiny fantails.

I couldn't put the fish in the old tank, so I set up the new one. I put in some of the gravel from the old tank hoping to jumpstart the cycle with some old bacteria.
The only thing I've added were stress coat and a dechlorinator. Day one, one of the little guys looked a little tired & was showing a little fin rot and by day 3, he had a few ich spots.

Now I've got a tank full of ich and am on day 7 of cycling. I've ordered a master test kit, but it has not arrived yet. So far 2 fish have died one is covered in ich spots and one is resting at the bottom (i'm afraid she'll be covered by tomorrow morning).

What do I do? I know that the fish are stressed due to cycling. Will treating do any good at this point? Will it kill off the bacteria bed forming? If the fish die, do I have to start over by sterilizing everything, or do I still medicate the tank and start over with one hearty looking fish?

One last monkey wrench thrown in the mix is that my car broke down and getting anything right away will pose difficult. I can only order off websites and hope shipping is quick.

Please help, I absolutely hate to see these little ones suffer. I've had several fish and various size tanks over the years, and never any problems like this.

Thanks so much!!!

Hmm, well I am not an expert (hopefully one will show up haahaa).

But how much water are you changing each day? While cycling depending on your ammonia/nitrite level, I change at least 30% of the water once a day. If needed I do two water changes. This helps keep the levels down and the fish less stressed. It really does not prolong the cycle.

Secondly, I'd add salt. I'd do a water change and then add some aquarium or coarse salt. (I wouldn't use table salt unless you are sure that it does not contain anti-caking agents, because that will kill your fish).

I would add, since you have a 10 gallon, 2 tablespoons. In 12 hours I'd add another 2 tablespoons, and in another 12 hours 2 more tablespoons.

Now this can get tricky.

Salt does not evaporate from the water, nor is it removed by filtration.

The tricky part is, you'll be doing water changes. So you need to keep track of how much water you've removed, so you'll know how much salt you've taken out, so you can add it back in with the new water.

Salt will help if you have nitrites. It lessens their toxicity. Salt will also cure ich, help with finrot and reduce stress.

This is just my opinion. I hope someone else comments. I do feel though, that adding a med into a tank that is not cycled, will probably do more harm than good on already stressed and sick fishies.

Good luck!


Jessica

Thanks so much for your reply, Jessica.

Do you (or anyone else) know if epsom salt will do? I thought I saw that somewhere on the board. I was able to send someone out to get "Quick Cure" for the ich. Should I do the salt at the same time?

Thanks a million.