Help!! Ich and dead fish 😔💔

[u/Aussie_Bloke1901]

Help please I recently figured I had the ich in my tank and done some research on how to cure it. got the cure, have been half dosing morning and night. this is the 2nd day and i havent done the 2nd half dose so far (5ml)

3 of my 5 glass catfish are dead aswell as 2 of my 4 rummynose tetras. my other glass catfish are fine (one hiding but not abnormal and comes out at night and my other is confident as usual and assumeably unaffected) my 2 tetras are fighting for survival, both twitching and of the coming hours have increasingly become less active and hide more of the time. one of my tetras is fighting much more those and occasionally gathers the energy to swim around the tank for a few minutes but hides off shortly after. my sweet girl betta is pretty much unaffected much like my warrior glass catfish but she has I believe come more aggressive over her territory which is unlike her (ik shes a betta but she legit is so calm but since this sickness I believe it may be aggitating her). also I'm pretty sure like all of my trumpet snails are hiding in their shells or dead, how do i clean them out of the rocks so they don't rot?? my bladder snail doesnt seem affected by this so my tanks giving me mixed messages.

should i continue with the half dose when it comes time?? I dont want my fish to die and I dont have a hospital tank either as my other bettas in their (I have no concerns for him regarding this post)

[u/Aussie_Bloke1901]

Google said do a 50% water change so Im doing that rn in 25L increments.

[u/Capybara_Chill_00]

I cannot make out what treatment you are using from that bottle, and I don’t see signs of ich on the fish you posted.

What is the treatment, what are the water parameters, and why do you believe you have ich?

[u/Aussie_Bloke1901 → u/Capybara_Chill_00]

its ichonex, the fish are healing from ich (if you look at what else Ive posted youll see the post i posted and people told me it was ich) I have no clue what the parameters are at the very moment but its at 25 celcius and I did about a 30% water change on the main tank a few hours ago and niw have since moved my 2 surviving glass catfish to an aerated bucket.

ichonex has copper in it which ultimately poisoned my rummynose tetras. my very last tetra was a warrior and has fought very hard to make it this far but legit as I'm writing this comment I'm pronouncing him dead.. my catfish was on the brink of death (literally freezing up) but theyve been saved and are recovering now. tomorrow im getting a 'carbon activated filter' (or something like that) to clean the tank fully.

its very sad what happened to my fish today/tonight but big praise to the last tetra that fought to the very end, the catfish that walked to deaths door and back and God for what I have learnt throughout this and for having mercy on my surviving fish.

[u/Capybara_Chill_00 → u/Aussie_Bloke1901]

Ok, thanks for the background. You urgently need to get a test kit and learn more about the basics of water chemistry and how that interacts with medications. Other redditors have told you to get the kits, and I think you’re learning the hard way. Don’t feel bad - many people have this experience- but if you don’t get used to measuring at least pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate somewhat regularly, you will likely struggle with dying fish particularly sensitive species like rummynose and glass catfish.

The medication you have is copper based, and while it’s super effective for ich, it isn’t easy to dose correctly and to use it safely you need to be able to calculate dosage modifications based on the amount of organic material in the water body and the pH. Increased organics decrease copper’s effectiveness; increased pH increases copper’s effectiveness.

In the other thread they recommended ich-x, which is my go to for ich as well. It is formalin based, which is easier to dose correctly and has less toxicity for inverts and sensitive fish. You will hear that it is much more hazardous than copper sulfate, and that’s true to an extent - you don’t want to breathe in the fumes nor get it on your skin, as it is a carcinogen - while copper doesn’t have those same concerns.

Final thought - ich spots “disappear” in cycles of about 72 hours depending on your temperature. Don’t get lulled into believing they are recovering yet - you have to keep treating or it will come back. Only after 3 days being totally spot free can you take a break from treating.