My mollies died of ich...

[kungpaoturkey]

Sadly, 3 of my adult mollies died of ich. How would i go about cleaning the tank? Do i need to get any kind of chemicals to clean the ich off the tank? I am planning on re-cycling the tank after i dump it and clean it.

[Sharkman]

I would not dump and clean the tank. Are there still fish left? I would properly cycle the tank without any fish in there if there are none left. There are medications you can use to treat ich however I do not have any experience in that area, but I hope you haven't dumped the tank out yet.

[Gemstone]

There is no need to dump the tank. Medication will pretty much get it under control...also...do water changes..*approx 30%* every week...this tends to keep ammonia etc etc levels down...but it also helps in keeping any illness at bay...you could also up the temp a degree or so for the time period involved.

When any illness affects my fish...I do two water changes a week..but this is me.

[f.lanzarone]

I agree, dont dump the tank.. just do water changes and add a treatment called Lifeguard, this basically treats everything. I have gotten good feedback from this treatment also, but make sure you use the whole treatment which is about five days, do a water change every day you use the treatment, and make sure to take out the carbon filters. Not using the whole treatment could result in a resistant strain of bacteria, which no one wants. After treatment put the carbon back in, wait a week, and get a new fish or two to see if the ich is still in the tank. You wouldnt want to buy all new fish and have them get ich again, so only buy a few.

[kungpaoturkey]

I only had 3 mollies in the tank and they all died which is why i wanted to dump the tank. Is there any medication that wont stain my tank? I used Quick Cure but it stained my tank. I haven't dumped it yet, just a thought because i dont want another ich outbreak in my tank

[Mvjnz]

If there are no fish in the tank, all you have to do is leave it fishless for about a week and the parasite will be gone. It goes through its life cycle in about 48 hours (at 25 degrees), and needs a host to survive, so a week with no fish will be heaps.

Most tanks contain the parasite anyway, it's just when bad water or stress lowers the fish immune system the become more vulnerable to it, and so you'll see an outbreak. But it's highly unlikely you'll ever be able to eradicate the latent parasite, and so there's point cleaning out the tank.

[Lady Hobbs]

Check all fish closely when you purchase them. About the only time you should ever have ick is when buying new fish. Those you've had for awhile and taken care of properly should never have it. ICK must be treated immediately or the result will be death. The white specks you see is the shell of the ick and the rest of the ick parasite has burrowed into the fish. They can not be killed when on the fish in this manner and only killed when they fall to the bottom to reproduce again.

As the above poster mentioned, leave your tank empty for a week and the ick should die. You may have the problem again when you go out and buy new ones again, however. You need to be prepared to treat immediately.

Your tank will lose it's cycle it if sits here a week with no ammonia from the fish, however. If you have some PURE ammonia around the house, a few drops each day will keep your bacteria alive.