Possible Ich?

[plecmom]

I am becoming a regular in this area, sheesh!

Two pictures below, I noticed these white dots on my common, Sucky, again. Is it ich? Can I treat the whole tank? if so with what is best? (You can also see the fog on his eye that I have asked about before, this is not a new thing, hes had this for almost 5 months now)

Pictures:

Info:

- Tank is well established, readings are prefect.
- In the tank there is also a large angel fish and a rubbernose.
- I removed the snail to a small tank for now as they are sensitive to meds.
- Running two filters one with carbon and one without.
- LOTS of bubbles going ong with the two filters and two air stones.
- Fake plants
- rocks
- gravel
- I have raised the temperature to 80F since last night to prepare for any treatment.
- I did a 20% water change last night via gravel vacuum and will do another one before beginning treatment.
- EDITED to add he is acting fine and is not scratching himself. Other fish show NO signs of what he has.
Any help would be awesome!

 

[Irene0100]

well it does look like some type of parasite unless you have sand in the tank which from the pic I think you done?
he may not scratch until he gets worse.
do you have any filters with UV?
some people treat just with temp, and/or salt bath (put used tank water in bucket add a couple of teaspons of salt and put him in it for 10 mins.) but I have generally used just a good make of white spot treatment from lfs.

 

[plecmom]

well it does look like some type of parasite unless you have sand in the tank which from the pic I think you done?

I have gravel. Everyday LFS gravel.

he may not scratch until he gets worse.
do you have any filters with UV?

No, least I dont think so...

some people treat just with temp, and/or salt bath (put used tank water in bucket add a couple of teaspons of salt and put him in it for 10 mins.) but I have generally used just a good make of white spot treatment from lfs.

I would do this, but I am afraid to catch him. He's a meter long (12linches) and extreemy strong. Last time he trashed so much he got stuck and busted a fin. So I would prefer to treat via the tank hes in.

Thank you for your reply!

 

[Irene0100]

fine, I understand, in which case I would either buy a uv internal filter such as aquael,
and/or some interpet white spot treatment, or similar paracite cure.

eg http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/catalog/aquael-internal-filter-p-1405.html

 

[Irene0100]

oh and lots of w/c as there will be spores in the water so other fish could break out all of a sudden...

 

[Doodles]

If you can get it Rid ich+ is a good white spot med that may be available in Canada if it is ich.

Nice to see you back, although not with ich.


Has nothing been added to the tank recently?

 

[plecmom]

Thanks Doodles, its nice to be back. We have a daughter with health issues so that took priority over everything else, including the fish tank, which is why I think this may have happened. We went a whole 2 weeks without any fixing or checking. When I checked both nitrate and nitrite was a in the "cream or pink color" which indicated a bit of stress. So I did a good water change, vacuum, checked again and things were normal again. That was over a week ago, and the water has been fine since. I know, no excuse for neglect but there was no time.....

BUT them boom, like a sick kid, we have a sick fish. AND like kids the infection has passed. I got back from the fish store and noticed the rubbernose now has some spots!

I just finished giving the tank a good vacuum and fresh water with declor. in it, then added an ich treatment. I dose for two days then wait two days to see if it begins to clear up. If not, then I redose after another water change. And go from there.

Any other advice on what else to do?
I have the water temp at 80F with lots of bubbles going on, and of course just did the first dose of med.

 

[Doodles]

Theres not much else you can do except wait, i would keep a close eye on the rubberlip as they prefer cooler temps than most plecs.

I wouldn't do too many water changes whilst treating as it will dilute the medication but if you do, gravel cleaning is very important as you will be removing the cysts that have yet to evolve and become free swimming, but theoretically the medication should kill them whilst they are free swimmers anyway.

Keep treating for 4 to 5 days after you see last spot disappear otherwise follow the instructions on the med.

Which med did you get hold of?

 

[thegeeman]

I have the water temp at 80F with lots of bubbles going on, and of course just did the first dose of med.

I would crank the temp up to 84/86 and make sure you have loads of aeriation aswell. This wont help kill the ich but speed up the lifecycle. It is critical you dont not do any water changes during treatment with the ich medication as this will dilute its power. The one I use is protazin and you treat on day 1,2,3 and 6 you can then start to change water on day 7. Hopefully by this time the medication has done its job


Good luck

Cheers

thegeeman

 

[Joby]

Did you take the carbon out of the filter before treatment?

 

[Lornek8]

Treat for at least 7 days, preferably 10, even if the spots disappear before then. The visible white spots are the adult stage of the parasite which is but one stage in the life cycle of the parasite. I tried for awhile to think of a way to explain the lifecycle and why its important to carry out the full treatment but couldn't without it becoming a novel. So, take a look at this article which should explain things a bit:
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich.php

 

[Doodles]

Helpful link:yes:

 

[plecmom]

Thanks for the replies. I did remove the carbon from the filter before treating, yup!

The treatment I have is this: http://www.iadempet.com/servlet/the-49/Aquarium-Ick-Medication-4oz/Detail

I treat for 2 days, water change w/gravel vacuum on 3rd day, wait one day. Repeat if needed. Should I then do the second treatment no matter what? What would leave me with a total of 6 days in the treatment?

Lornek8 thanks for the wonderful link. Sounds about right since I did go for like 2 weeks without doing anything... I figured something like this might happen

As of right now, My large pleco is almost spotless now. The little Rubbernose still has some white spots on his nose. The Angel still shows no signs of spots. Today was the second treatment, so tomorrow is my gravel vacuum with gravel change.

 

[Doodles]

personally I would do a second lot of dosing, the problem is if the ich returns it is usually harder to get rid of due to a resistance buildup.

 

[Lornek8]

Thanks for the replies. I did remove the carbon from the filter before treating, yup!

The treatment I have is this: http://www.iadempet.com/servlet/the-49/Aquarium-Ick-Medication-4oz/Detail

I treat for 2 days, water change w/gravel vacuum on 3rd day, wait one day. Repeat if needed. Should I then do the second treatment no matter what? What would leave me with a total of 6 days in the treatment?

Lornek8 thanks for the wonderful link. Sounds about right since I did go for like 2 weeks without doing anything... I figured something like this might happen

As of right now, My large pleco is almost spotless now. The little Rubbernose still has some white spots on his nose. The Angel still shows no signs of spots. Today was the second treatment, so tomorrow is my gravel vacuum with gravel change.

The info to glean from the article is:
1) There are 4 seperate life stages of the ich parasite, each of which may last a few days. The visible spots on the fish are but one stage of the life cycle, representing say 25% of the total parasite population.
2) Ich is only vulnerable to medication during one of stages and it is not when they are visible on the fish. This is why just because the spots are not visible on the fish does not mean the disease is cured.
3) Ich may be present in all stages at the same time.

Therefore, if you treat for just 3 days, you may only kill the parasites in the one vulnerable stage but the parasites in the other 3 stages are not affected by the medication. These parasites will continue to develop & infect the fish again. This is why you need to treat the tank for longer than just 3 days.

 

[plecmom]

Yes so then the second treatment is needed. Understood.:yes: So, I suppose the reason I was told to do the vacuum with the water change on the 3rd day is because the vacuum sucks a lot of the ich up that has settled into the rocks? I have the tank at 80F which speeds up the cycle of the Ich. So... in doing these things, with the second treatment, 6 full days total, that should be enough medication to kill the Ich in all possible stages?

Its so hard sometimes to understand, lol!:wb:

 

[Doodles]

So, I suppose the reason I was told to do the vacuum with the water change on the 3rd day is because the vacuum sucks a lot of the ich up that has settled into the rocks?

Yup, its also the same reason it is recommended to do a good gravel clean right before you start treatment for most external parasites:yes:

Just out of interest, i looked the med up but couldn't see, what are the ingredients(if they are on the bottle)?

 

[plecmom]

Yeah no ingredients listed. Just says its made in the USA and not to ingest it and to flush your eyes with water if you get it in your eyes, lol! Good to know.

 

[Doodles]

lol.

Let us know how you get on

 

[plecmom]

Update.

Today is the 4th day of the second treatment, I just did another gravel vacuum, this one bigger then the first, I think I almost sucked out half the tank via this vacuum. I added fresh treated water.
Now my question is, should I do one more treatment? In total there has been 8 days of treatment, 4 of those were adding the medication. The temp is still at 80F and there are no signs of spots on anyone. The angel fish did not get any, only the two pleco's were effected. Its been 2 days since ALL spots were gone from both pleco's.

Thanks You guys are a huge help.