This is long. Please bear with me, I don't want to give incomplete info...
I have three freshwater tanks. One is fully planted; two have a few plants I actually put in weeks ago from the first (fully cycled) tank to aid in jumpstarting the cycles on the two newer tanks.
My 29 gallon tank has five black (aka skirt, aka widow) tetras and five serpae tetras. It is partially planted, and it has an algae outbreak I planned to take care of with an online order of fish, nerite snails, and freshwater shrimp. So far, so good.
My newest ten gallon has a couple of plants and was, I thought, fully cycled. All my readings look good on my test kit; I had jump started it with a filter from another tank, plus bacteria in a bottle, plus water from another tank, plus the aforementioned plants. The lemon tetras in it were (and still are) healthy. So I added blue tetras, which I haven't been able to find a lot of info on, but which I found in my local fish place and I thought were really beautiful. Same day I get them home, white spots appear on two of the fish. Looks like ich to me. So for the last two days I have been slowly upping the temperature (it is now at 83) and adding salt, plus I'm doing daily 50% water changes and gravel vacuuming. I've heard it is a good combo to start with to try to get rid of the ich.
Here's where the next bit of trouble begins. My other ten gallon, fully planted, is inhabited by 9 black neon tetras and 2 lemon tetras that I planned to eventually shift to the previously mentioned tank. When I discovered the ich in the other tank, I immediately ran to the tank I had seeded it with, this 10 gallon. I was suddenly convinced that I saw spots here, too. So I started upping the water temp and adding salt.
So last week I had ordered online plants and algae eaters for the first and third tanks. (Wasn't going to risk shrimp in tank 2 yet.) When I discovered the Ich, I immediately sent a message asking them to hold my order for a week. Unfortunately, they apparently did not receive the message (I have had problems with that with this online source before, but I like the products well enough that I have put up with it.) So tonight I receive the notification that my plants, shrimp, and new fish will arrive tomorrow morning.
I don't know what to do. I have one tank, which was supposed to eventually become my quarantine tank, that has two fish obviously with ich and so I'm sure the whole tank is infected. The tank I planned to add the most stuff to is now iffy - I don't know if it has ich, or if I'm just being paranoid and imagining a tiny white spot here and there - but I've increased the temp and added salt so I'm not sure I should try to add anyone else right now. My 29 gallon could probably house everyone I've ordered for a little while, but I am now afraid of adding new infectious diseases to my only almost certainly healthy tank. And my black tetras and serpae tetras are a little nippy, which is how they ended up in their own tank to begin with.
What are my options here? I'm not opposed to running out first thing in the morning and grabbing a new quarantine tank, but there is no way I could have it cycled by noon and shrimp are notoriously sensitive. I'm trying not to panic, but I'm feeling seriously overwhelmed right now. Help?
I have three freshwater tanks. One is fully planted; two have a few plants I actually put in weeks ago from the first (fully cycled) tank to aid in jumpstarting the cycles on the two newer tanks.
My 29 gallon tank has five black (aka skirt, aka widow) tetras and five serpae tetras. It is partially planted, and it has an algae outbreak I planned to take care of with an online order of fish, nerite snails, and freshwater shrimp. So far, so good.
My newest ten gallon has a couple of plants and was, I thought, fully cycled. All my readings look good on my test kit; I had jump started it with a filter from another tank, plus bacteria in a bottle, plus water from another tank, plus the aforementioned plants. The lemon tetras in it were (and still are) healthy. So I added blue tetras, which I haven't been able to find a lot of info on, but which I found in my local fish place and I thought were really beautiful. Same day I get them home, white spots appear on two of the fish. Looks like ich to me. So for the last two days I have been slowly upping the temperature (it is now at 83) and adding salt, plus I'm doing daily 50% water changes and gravel vacuuming. I've heard it is a good combo to start with to try to get rid of the ich.
Here's where the next bit of trouble begins. My other ten gallon, fully planted, is inhabited by 9 black neon tetras and 2 lemon tetras that I planned to eventually shift to the previously mentioned tank. When I discovered the ich in the other tank, I immediately ran to the tank I had seeded it with, this 10 gallon. I was suddenly convinced that I saw spots here, too. So I started upping the water temp and adding salt.
So last week I had ordered online plants and algae eaters for the first and third tanks. (Wasn't going to risk shrimp in tank 2 yet.) When I discovered the Ich, I immediately sent a message asking them to hold my order for a week. Unfortunately, they apparently did not receive the message (I have had problems with that with this online source before, but I like the products well enough that I have put up with it.) So tonight I receive the notification that my plants, shrimp, and new fish will arrive tomorrow morning.
I don't know what to do. I have one tank, which was supposed to eventually become my quarantine tank, that has two fish obviously with ich and so I'm sure the whole tank is infected. The tank I planned to add the most stuff to is now iffy - I don't know if it has ich, or if I'm just being paranoid and imagining a tiny white spot here and there - but I've increased the temp and added salt so I'm not sure I should try to add anyone else right now. My 29 gallon could probably house everyone I've ordered for a little while, but I am now afraid of adding new infectious diseases to my only almost certainly healthy tank. And my black tetras and serpae tetras are a little nippy, which is how they ended up in their own tank to begin with.
What are my options here? I'm not opposed to running out first thing in the morning and grabbing a new quarantine tank, but there is no way I could have it cycled by noon and shrimp are notoriously sensitive. I'm trying not to panic, but I'm feeling seriously overwhelmed right now. Help?