If you can get the water mixed up 24 hours ahead of time and get the salinity and temp the same as the tank, that would be a good idea But don't forget to make up for the removed kick ich.
aaahhh - should I add kick-ich to the water I'm mixing up? or do the water change and then treat the whole tank with the medicine?
I agree with Blake, Mix up the water ahead of time and do your scheduled water changes. Just add the kick ick to the new water in the correct dosage and you should be fine. You should be over the worst part now and just wait for the medicine to work. As for the repeat treatment I would complete this cycle, do a 20gal water change, take some of your old hose and make a filter sock with activated carbon and put it in the filter where the cartridge goes for 5 days, and then remove the carbon and start over on the second treatment at the lower rate. Any questions just give me a call.
I just tested my water with my API Saltwater Master Test Kit. Ph 8.3 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 80 (yikes!) Specific Gravity 1.025 I will do a quick water change tonight with the R/O water that Norman gave me and then add the second dose of Kick Ich. I'm going to Conway Thursday. Shopping list for Pet Country/PetSmart: activated charcoal R/O water heater / thermometer for mixing my water shells for the very busy hermit crabs and I will take a sample of water to be tested again for the above along with: alkalinity calcium phosphates Anything else I need to add to my list? I'm going to Conway with my sisters to go "shopping" but their idea of shopping is more along the department store line - I'll be at their mercy as to which pet store they'll "tolerate" taking me to!!
I would have them recheck your nitrates for sure. If your nitrates are 80 It will probably take a few water changes to get it back down to 0. I don't do one huge water change when one of my tests come out high. I do about 20% a day til it's down, and watch my fish and corals carefully for stress. Just how I do it.
Will it affect the test results if my sample water sits in a container for a long period of time? Slight water change last night and added kick-ich - no change on my water test results. Going to Conway tomorrow to stock up on r/o water and other supplies. What causes nitrates to elevate?
Knucle Head - I have been making my own food for quite some time and use garlic as preventative against external parasites like ich. It is not an acute cure for ich but the chemical properties of garlic when absorbed in the tissue can be quite unpalatable to quite a few organisms. I do feel that garlic and clam juice is an excellent stimulant. When I go diving in the Caribbean the dive master will break up a conch and the fish will go nuts. On of our biggest challenges in our hobby is getting fish to eat our man made fair as opposed to natural foods. I would personally stand on my head and whistle dixie if it helped a fish begin to feed that is not. I have become much more conscious of having lfs show me that a fish is eating but from time to time I try a fish that I would really like to keep that is not eating and use everything in my arsenal to get a feeding response.
It is not a good idea to let it sit in the container on the dash of your car for a long time. If you are traveling from your house to the fish store then it should be fine. You did not see a change in the Nitrates? Is 80ppm the upper limit of your test kit? If so, you could have a higher level than that and the test kit cannot show it. Also, if you think about it your levels will not drop very quickly with partial water changes. For example, if you did a 25% water change on your tank when you have 80ppm of Nitrate, you will end up with 60ppm after the change. Another 25% change will bring you from 60ppm to 45ppm. Another 25% change will bring you from 45ppm to 34ppm. So on and so forth. You see if will do say a 50% water change and then another, you would go from 80ppm to 40ppm and then to 20ppm. A couple 50% changes would be my reccomendation to get your Nitrates under control. Keep us updated.
I probably did about a 10% water change, I only had about 3-5 gallons of R/O. Also, turns out my tank may still be cycling since I have been vaccuuming the substrate every time I do a water change. I posted some questions about it on the chemistry forum. But, could it be that my nitrates are spiking because the tank is cycling? When you put the "math" to the water change's effect on the test results, it makes much more sense and gives me an attainable goal. I feel like I'm shooting in the dark most of the time! With the fish so stressed from all of this and still being medicated with kick-ich, should I do a 25% water change the next four times I add the kick-ich? Or is the nitrate spike more stressful to the fish than a 50% water change? The yellow tang is not looking much better yet - the last day or so he's started looking pale and kind of "fuzzy" - not as grainy as the ich looked and none of that waxy covering, just sort of like powder on him. Do I need to do another fresh water dip? That was really stressful, but it seemed to help at first. I feel like you guys are holding my hand through all of this!
doing larger water changes are ok if you make sure the water you are using to make the change matches the temp, pH, and salinity of your tank pretty closely.
50% water change yesterday and nitrates are down to 40 today. How soon should I do another water change and how much? Things seem to be looking up
I would do a water change every 3 days until your trates are below 10, at that point you need to determine how often you need to do changes to keep your levels below what your target level is. Probably somewhere around 10.
25 % water change yesterday with a dose of kick ich. Nitrates measured 30 today. Tang's appetite is growing strong. Inverts seem to be tolerating the treatments. I'll do another water change and the last dose of kick ich Saturday. I'll keep you posted! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I added the last treatment of kick ich tonight (didn't do the water change yet, I need to get some more r/o). Ummmm, here's the thing... I somehow got in my mind that the dosing cup I was using had to be filled twice and looked closer tonight and realized I've been adding double doses of kick ich (except for tonight). Good Grief! What next!? Well, it hasn't seemed to hurt anything so I'm feeling kinda stupid and kinda lucky. So, round one of kick ich is over. When should I do the next water change, add the filter sock, and turn the skimmer back on? Considering the heavy medication, should I repeat the kick ich treatment?
I would do a 50% water change asap because of the double doses. It may take a bit before anything shows stress. That's just what I would do, I don't have any experience with double dosing problems tho
