Rebuilding after ick and fungus

Q&A about diseases and their cure

Moderator: Pam Chin

Post Reply
Glen
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:38 pm

Rebuilding after ick and fungus

Post by Glen »

I have a 75 gallon lake Malawi tank. I bought 8 juveniles from a local store about 3 weeks ago and within a few days had a severe ick infection and also a fungal infection that wiped out 6 of my fish. I only had 10 in the system at that time b/c it was a newer setup.

Ok, so I started treating with anti-fungal and ick meds, that really didn't do much. I picked up some Cupramine from SEACHEM on the recommendation of another local store that I have grown to trust. The ick is gone as far as I can tell. I removed all of the sand and gravel and other rocks from the tank. So I now have a bare tank with no structure in it at all and this has been for a week. The copper levels are at very safe levels as I have researched drastically before using the product. It says to keep in the system for 14 days with no filter cartridges.

How soon can I add substrate back into the system and can I use the same that I had in before or do I need to replace it? The larger rocks have been outside in the elements (freezing and warm, rain, etc. this time of year here). If I can reuse this stuff and I don;t have to replace it all, how do I properly clean it?

Please help, I have been keeping cichlids now for about a year... This has been my first-ever infection and I just don't know how to fix the remainder of the problems...

Thanks
Pam Chin
Site Admin
Posts: 1798
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2003 9:11 am
Location: California, USA
Contact:

Re: Rebuilding after ick and fungus

Post by Pam Chin »

Hi Glen,

I am so sorry to hear about your tank, that is a bummer and a bit of a set back.

Just to be safe you should probably soak your rocks and any deco's in some water with bleach. Like a one cup of bleach to a 3/4 full 5 gal bucket, for a few days, then hose them off well and see if you can get them to dry out and they should be fine.

If you think everything is stable then add it back in.

Cichlid Power!
Pam
Cichlid Power!
Pam

Cichlid Room Companion
Best Cichlid Site Ever
http://www.cichlidae.com
Post Reply