Balloon Kissing Gourami Help

[Ethereal]

I have a pair of Balloon Kissing Gouramies. Both have signs of Ich, so I've gotten medicine for them.

Im worried about their level of stress, as I've mentioned on [Only Registered Users Can See Links.], a dalmation molly often tries to chase one of the balloons.

I need suggestions on what to do, if you guys need more information, please ask

[Drumachine09]

Dose the meds 1-2 times per day, and raise the temp to 82-84.

Welcome to the A.C.!

[Ethereal]

Will they recover well enough even with that molly chasing them around? I thought ich was mostly caused because of high stress

[Drumachine09]

High stress, yes. Your water quality is probobly sub-par, causing the fish more stress then the molly. In EVERY tank there is ALWAYS Ick. When a fish is stressed, then they are suseptible to the protazoan.

[Ethereal]

Well, it had some ich before I got it. I wasnt sure at first, I never really saw a balloon kissing gourami, so it had spots. Only today did it start worrying me

Do you know ideal water conditions? PH.. Salt.. etc?

[Drumachine09]

Well, what are your parameters?

[Ethereal]

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

That's the tank, I plan on getting a larger one (once my parents allow me)

[Severus]

If you dont have a test kit i suggest you buy one immediatly
Your water parameters should be:
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrates below 40
Ph (around) 7 for a community tank

[Chrona]

What else do you have in the tank besides those fish? If you don't have any cories or catfish or scaleless fish (may be forgetting a few here so don't do yet), then you can add 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per 10 gallons of water. Dose whatever ich med you get (Rid-ich works great) for at least 7 days. As drummachine said, raise the temp slowly to 82 or so.

Btw, how long has this tank been set up? Did you cycle it prior to adding fish (particularly the gourami)

[Ethereal]

I think I have three cat fish, one needle catfish and two.. smaller ones.

It was cycled for like 2 days

[Severus]

Do you have a test kit?

[Ethereal]

I only have a pH test kit, and the water's pH is neutral

[Chrona]

I think I have three cat fish, one needle catfish and two.. smaller ones.

It was cycled for like 2 days

I would recommend downloading the free ebook and reading up about the nitrogen cycle. It usually takes about 2 weeks to cycle a tank using ammonia, and about 3-4 to cycle it using fish, so the illnesses you see now are due to rising nitrite or ammonia levels, both of which are highly toxic to fish because the tank is still cycling.

Btw, do you have very soft water? pH of 7 usually indicates that. If so, add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda per 10 gallons of water to raise it up a little.

At this point, I would recommend you purchase a master test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. A pH test kit is good an all, but not really very useful at this stage. Also, see if you can purchase some ammonia removing chemical media such as Zeolite to add to your filter bag. Until you get that Zeolite, do a 50% water change, and 25% every other day following that. Raise the temp to 80 degrees and purchase some ich medications like rid-ich (use half dosage) and dose for 7-10 days.