Loaches Online Forum

Good luck! Ick can be hard, and it takes a while to get rid of sometimes.

Sounds good. Your experience with Ich Attack is just about right:
A few more spots show up in the first couple of days after you start, then no more spots. The ones on the fish fall off over a week or more.
Keep up the treatment until several days after the last spots fall off. The medicine is killing the phase of Ich that you cannot see, the babies that swim in the water looking for a new host.

A little puzzling that there is that trace of ammonia in the tank.
One possibility: Water with chloramines has chlorine + ammonia. When certain dechlorinators break apart the chlorine and ammonia the ammonia is turned loose in the water, not locked up. It can take the nitrifying bacteria a day or so to get rid of this. Or, if the dechlor is locking it up then it may be that the test kit is telling you there is ammonia (there is) even through it is locked up, not a danger to the fish.

Keep up the water changes. Keep the nitrates under 20 ppm if at all possible, and lower is better.

This should be the final day of ich treatment. Main concern is with getting the Ph more stable. Did a partial water change saturday...ph was about 6.8. checked today and it was at 6! Did another partial water change, just 15%, using conditioned tap water, and it was 7.2! I am worried I have killed or am on the way with this...I didn't think such a small amount of water would so drastically change it. I am wondering too how accurate my testing measurement is.

What are you testing the pH with and how old is the kit?

the kit is only a few months old...a test tube kit (where you put drops in), donn't recall brand. There is variance between that and testing strips. Today it was 6.8-7.2, based on 3 tests (test tube, another ph test tube for pool use, and strip). What do you think about "neutral regulator" by seachum? It claims to adjust ph to neutral.

I am doing official testing of various mixes of my tap water and Publix purified water, to find what will be the best combination for the fish. Does ph naturally decline over time?
From what I have read, I think it is mainly a function of alkalinity level, and I am guessing the best way to get a handle on it is to find the right combination of the purified water with low alkalinity and my tap water with very high Ph and alkalinity. Suggestions are very welcome...probably should make separate post as this is beyong Ich.

My fish are still alive and seem well. Have used a diatom filter for an hour each day for past 2 days, which really clarifies water and claims to basically get rid of the tomites from ich and other parasites/bacteria. It was really a pain to set up and not simple to use and take care of, so I don't expect to use that regularly past 1 week here.

Of side interest in my 10-gallon tank in which I kept biostone in, the the ammonia and nitrite levels are at nil, but the nitrate levels keep spiking...so I am doing partial water changes and hope that soon stops. Would more live plants help?

I wouldn't worry about the pH so much. If the fish are happy, leave the water chemistry be. I avoid medication and water additions unless it is absolutely neccessary. Especially since you have been lucky with the ick -- the fish are probably prestty stressed from the treatments and need to just relax.

ok

whats with the random junk lately?