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I Have Had A jellybean parrot and a placostomas for about 1 year and also 2 jack dempseys for about 8 months, this is my first tank and I've been through a few fish. I later purchased another jellybean and I, not knowing very much about fish threw in some tetras and well everyone was getting along fine and I decided to get more fish (29gallon tank) well I got a molly and a swordtail not realizing that that was a bad idea and my poor fish got ick. I got rid of all the fish in the tank except the 2 jack dempseys the 2 jellybeans and the placostomas, but they seem to be getting worse. I try to keep the temp about 80-84 degrees and I've put in ick meds also freshwater salt then after 24 hours no real improvement so I did a water change and repeated the process but they are not getting any better also my newer jellybean is sterting to get black blotches all over it's face and they look close to dying please help!!!

Well, first of all for all those fish you need at least a 55 gal tank, but a 75 would be the best. To get rid of the ick do a 20% water change then add 1tsb of aquarium salt for every 10 gal. Don't do a water change right after doing this. Give it about 5-7 days and you should see a big improvement. Keep the temperature at 80-82 and stable. IMHO the cause is coming from the fish being stressed in such a small tank.

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Aquatics Unlimited

I'd even suggest a bigger water change up to 50%, and you should also vacuum the gravel, because the parasites fall from the fish when fully developed and build cysts, then they multiply and search for new hosts.

You will already have a lot of them in the gravel, so you can reduce their number by cleaning it. After that put in the salt. A higher temp without salt or medication would only worsen it.

I guess your med contains at least malachite green which is effective against the ick parasites in many cases. You won't see a result immediately though, because it only kills the parasites in their free swimming stage, that means when they are searching for new hosts. Those sitting on the fish will not be affected, you have to wait till they are fully developed and fall off, which may take a few days.

So if you'd like to go on with the med, you need to treat for several days. I hope this is mentioned on the package. It would also be better to leave the lights off cause malachite green is sensible to light and loses its effectiveness.

When you're through with it, try to give them more room to reduce the stress.

Good luck, hope they will get well again! The chances are somewhat smaller if the gills are infected.

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cu,
Gisela
moppel@gismo.owl.de

I am in total agreement, follow the advice that has been given. If the Ich is more advanced I would go with a ratio of 1 tbs:5 gallons. This will be more effective at killing the parasites. Good luck, and definately look at getting a new fish tank to spread those guys out, a 29 is no where near big enough to house all those fish, and is probably a bigger factor in your case of Ich then the new fish were.

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Adam

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