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Whitespot in tank
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OK that is a good point I thought if I took the week fish out the ich might die off I've got some pics up I've got better detailed vids but won't let me upload them what do you think
xZaiox
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Are there any fish the tank which are covered? Like in this pic below? Ich is generally very prolific and one spot suddenly turns into crazy amounts on every fish very quickly.
That being said, those pictures of yours do look like Ich caught early. Fish can sometimes get non-ich cysts such as if they've been nipped, but they tend to be isolated and don't spread. Are your fish displaying other signs of Ich such as itching on the aquarium decor? When I had ich before, the itching was relentless - all the fish would scratch very frequently. They had faster breathing rates too.
That being said, those pictures of yours do look like Ich caught early. Fish can sometimes get non-ich cysts such as if they've been nipped, but they tend to be isolated and don't spread. Are your fish displaying other signs of Ich such as itching on the aquarium decor? When I had ich before, the itching was relentless - all the fish would scratch very frequently. They had faster breathing rates too.
I can see why you'd think that, and with certain illnesses (such as Columnaris), isolating the infected fish can definitely be the right thing to do, but in the case of Ich, it is so prolific that isolating is pointless. When one fish has ich, it is to be assumed every fish in the tank has it.
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No the only fish that have those spots are the 2 blue rainbows I thought I see 1 or2 on the other rainbows but it might have been the light I've been looking mertiulesly the blues have this white spot or fuzzynes on the lips before I started medicating I did see my leaf flick againsed the wood once I haven't seen anything or any others do it before or after my plec is acting normal as is the knife but the guppies look like they
are breathing fast that could be due to the temp but everything is acting normal
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The other thought I had was maybe removing all the fish into another tank letting the parasite starve and then reintroducing the healthy fish after 6 weeks I'm trying the meds as want to eradicate rather then maintain the rainbows are the least healthy fish removing everything and dealing with everything maybe salt in the tank might clear it up and clear my main tank the blues had a few more spots then they have now but they have been coming and going
xZaiox
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Do you have any close up pics of this?
Fish with Ich are generally very itchy, so high amounts of flicking are quite common. In all honesty since there are only a few spots and not much flicking, I personally would wait a little bit to see how it develops. It definitely looks like the start of Ich, but I'd probably also say it's a bit too early to be 100% sure. The treatments for Ich aren't nice either way, so I think it's best to be sure of the diagnosis before committing to anything. If loads more similar looking spots pop up, then I would strongly consider treating for either Ich or Epistylis (Ich are flat spots, whereas Epistylis tends to protrude outwards).
Honestly, this is pointless because if that is Ich then every fish has already been exposed. At that point, if you remove them to another tank then the Ich parasite will just proliferate in that new tank. With Ich, you're best off treating the main tank because of how prolific it is.
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OK I have a slight update the blues have not got any spots on them now bar 1 with 1 spot and a guppy has 1 spot on its Fin but I did catch a sight of my bristle nose pleck and he has 3 or 4 spots on him he is now the worst fish and everything else has cleared up bar the ones I mentioned ived dosed again today day 4 the dose was ment to be 3 days but I read you can carry on for 4 I'm missing a guppy somewhere but nothing is big enough to eat it it is a big improvement from last night tho swoukd it be best to carry on with treatment for a couple of days remove the meds and see how it goes or do a water change tmorrow and remove the meds and run carbon I don't see the pleck very often
Also would treating the tank remove it compleatly from the tank forever I've raised the temp up to 30 again to see if that help I will try to get a pic of my pleck
xZaiox
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Keep a tight eye on your fish over the next week. Ich cysts shortly fall off the fish and then divide in the substrate, what then follows is huge amounts of spots everywhere on the fish due to a much larger number of parasites in the water column. However, if you're dosing medication this may not happen (the medication kills the parasite during it's free swimming stage).
It's up to you, but since you've already started the medication it's often worth following through with the full course of treatment. That way you can at least rule out whether it works or not.
If the parasite has been properly killed off then yes it should. Be mindful not to re-contaminate the tank though. I.e if you use nets, plant tongs, or other equipment in the tank temporarily, then be sure to thoroughly rinse and sun dry (or otherwise sterilise) so that you don't cross-contaminate.
Honestly, I would probably only pick one treatment (i.e heat or medication). 30C is a high temperature and will be stressful for most fish. Do remember to aerate the tank at higher temperatures due to it holding less oxygen.
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Yes I am sitting in front of the tank for hours checking all the fish I've noticed a dramatic change today its only the plec that has a few now I don't see him very often don't know how long he has been like it the instructions said dose for 3 days I've dosed for 4 and can dose tmorrow then that's time up they say can dose for 5 if problem is still there
I did raise the temp yesterday evening to 29 I don't know if that made a diffrence but seems to clear up masivley
Do you have any recommendations for sterilisation we are not getting much sun now I did boil the kettle and added aquariam salt left to soak for 20 mins and then airdry I was going to use bleach but Ive never done it before and not sure what I'm doing to be honest never had to before and first planted tank
But also I would like to thankyou for your patience replying and all the assistance you have given I've been racking my head and getting very stressed never had to deal with this before honestly payday I'm getting a quarantine tank never buying from tropco again and playing the paitence game lol
xZaiox
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Just do bear in mind the ich lifecycle, if fish are losing cysts it doesn't necessarily mean they're in the clear unfortunately, because part of the lifecycle involves dropping off and dividing. See this image ->
Raising the temperature will speed up the life cycle of the parasite, so it will stay on the fish for a smaller amount of time, and divide quicker. This can be useful in combination with medication because it gets the parasite to the 'free swimming' stage quicker, but comes at the cost of stressing fish further.
Honestly this sounds fine - boiling water is fantastic for sterilising, not much will survive it. If it's sunny I always recommend just sun-drying, the UV light is very anti-life
For what it's worth, bleach is surprisingly completely fine to use (just make sure it's THIN bleach, the thick stuff has surfactants that will stick), I sometimes bleach stuff myself (such as CO2 atomizers or Seachem's Purigen, I also bleached my Seriyu rocks before putting them in the tank). Bleach will evaporate, so if you fully dry out whatever you have bleached, there shouldn't be any traces left. Just as a precaution, if you ever bleach anything then make sure it doesn't smell of bleach when you put it back in the tank, they shouldn't have any smell of bleach to them at all.
It's general practice to just simply rinse whatever you've bleached after it's soaked for a while, then air-dry (ideally in the sun). If you need to be extra certain it's safe, then you can soak the item in Seachem's Prime, this will remove the bleach but you usually have to use fairly large amounts.
You're most welcome, honestly I've had run-ins with the majority of parasites. When I had my first setup, a 182L tank, I fully stocked it without quarantining, even though I had read to. I thought "oh everyone online is probably being dramatic, I doubt it's needed". Yup, I learned pretty quickly that was wrong when my main tank suffered from Ich and gill flukes.
Fish shops unfortunately don't tend to care for fish health, they ship them in cheaply and just want to sell them as fast as possible. A large amount of fish are either wild caught, or kept in tanks with wild caught specimens. This means that parasites are often not uncommon.
A very wise decision.
I also got my ich-fish from Tropco lol. They honestly have horrific practices and I would avoid them like the plague. I actually wrote about the experience on another thread - Link
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Yes I will bear that in mind my plan now is to dose again tmorrow leave the temp at its set point water change the day after and run carbon how long do they stay on the substrate for would it be worth remedicating in 3 days or leave it see how it goes if it comes back try again with another product or same? The fish don't seem that stressed now everything seems to have calmed down I got a filter shrimp from there as well he has just molted I'm guessing that's a good sighnJust do bear in mind the ich lifecycle, if fish are losing cysts it doesn't necessarily mean they're in the clear unfortunately, because part of the lifecycle involves dropping off and dividing. See this image -> View attachment 194117
Raising the temperature will speed up the life cycle of the parasite, so it will stay on the fish for a smaller amount of time, and divide quicker. This can be useful in combination with medication because it gets the parasite to the 'free swimming' stage quicker, but comes at the cost of stressing fish further.
Honestly this sounds fine - boiling water is fantastic for sterilising, not much will survive it. If it's sunny I always recommend just sun-drying, the UV light is very anti-life
For what it's worth, bleach is surprisingly completely fine to use (just make sure it's THIN bleach, the thick stuff has surfactants that will stick), I sometimes bleach stuff myself (such as CO2 atomizers or Seachem's Purigen, I also bleached my Seriyu rocks before putting them in the tank). Bleach will evaporate, so if you fully dry out whatever you have bleached, there shouldn't be any traces left. Just as a precaution, if you ever bleach anything then make sure it doesn't smell of bleach when you put it back in the tank, they shouldn't have any smell of bleach to them at all.
It's general practice to just simply rinse whatever you've bleached after it's soaked for a while, then air-dry (ideally in the sun). If you need to be extra certain it's safe, then you can soak the item in Seachem's Prime, this will remove the bleach but you usually have to use fairly large amounts.
You're most welcome, honestly I've had run-ins with the majority of parasites. When I had my first setup, a 182L tank, I fully stocked it without quarantining, even though I had read to. I thought "oh everyone online is probably being dramatic, I doubt it's needed". Yup, I learned pretty quickly that was wrong when my main tank suffered from Ich and gill flukes.
Fish shops unfortunately don't tend to care for fish health, they ship them in cheaply and just want to sell them as fast as possible. A large amount of fish are either wild caught, or kept in tanks with wild caught specimens. This means that parasites are often not uncommon.
A very wise decision.
Yes I usually sterilise my landing Nets in the sun if its out coming up to winter it will be few and far between lol but I will double check and. Resterilise absolutely everything again
Oh really this is my 3rd tank I've always been so carful never had anything wrong up to now I suppose my time was up lol I'm very lucky where I am there is a world of water 5 mins drive from my house and they have a full quarantine system and treat every fish that goes through their store in regards to quarantine would a 30l cube be sufficient with a small internal pump a d 300w heater its all I have spare will leave the sponges in main tank and have everything dry packed away till needed
Yes I will never be going back there and don't touch pets at home unless it's their tropica section they have some really good deals all my plants are tropica I will have to have a read of it find others expiriance my shrimp seems to be thriving from there for now it's just molted and hiding lol
xZaiox
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It's your call, but since you've already started the medication I would just follow whatever their instructions are. If it doesn't work then I would move onto heat treatment personally
Sounds good, I pre-treat all of my fish in quarantine with various dewormers before they go in the main tank.
The 30L will be fine for a quarantine yeah, but I'd be a bit nervous about a 300W heater 😳 that thing could quite easily cook fish in a 30L. I'd probably go for a smaller heater personally.
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OK many thanks for that appreciate your help
