Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Alea eater

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Lupin 
#1 ·
Alright, I've had my tank with two blood parrots and an algae eater for 8 months now. The other week I looked at my pleco and saw that he had white specks all over him. I thought it looked like ich but I looked at my other two fish and they had NO signs of it. I left it alone because i thought if one fish has ich then they all would. I also thought that they were just oxygen bubbles....well, my algae eater died yesterday. I took another look at my blood parrots and they seem just fine. I took my water to be tested at Petsmart and they told me my water was perfect-the PH was 7.0 and had been at 7.0 since i started the tank a year ago. I told them about my pleco dying and they told me that it wasn't ich. I told them it looked like it snowed on my algae eater and once again, they assured me that it wasn't ich. Well, my question is, if it wasn't ich, then what could it have been?

Thank you
 
#2 ·
Welcome.:wave:

I'd recommend you buy your own test kit rather than be given false assurances by your lfs.:) API Freshwater Master liquid test kit is best you can get. Did your lfs told you about your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? What is the size of your tank? pH alone is insufficient for diagnosis.

I'm positive with my guess that it was ich if the fish did look like it was sprinkled with grains of salt. The reason why your blood parrots may not have harbored ich parasites is that they still have strong resistance which in this case I will recommend boosting their immune system by giving them varied diet and maintain proper tank maintenance. Make sure your ammonia and nitrites are zero with nitrates not exceeding 40 ppm.

Treating ich is done by increase of temperature to 28 degrees Celsius and possibly above if your fish can tolerate it and treat with either salt or medicines. I prefer the use of salt. The choice between aquarium salt and table salt is up to you but I never have problems with table salt. Dosage is done by 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons and the whole tank is treated for 14 days minimum to ensure no ich parasites will make a reappearance in the future should the fish succumb to stress again.

Good luck.:)
 
#4 ·
Well thank you sooo much for your help. But, no Nitrite or Nitrate were showing up and my Ammonia was just fine. I took my water to be tested because my tests at home were showing no signs of bad water (I thought maybe my tests were defective) and I wasn't sure if it was ich. I think my fish are probably immuned to the ich and I've always had my tank temp set at 78 F. I always make sure to add the right amount of salt to my tank.

I had my algae eater for 8 months and I didn't change anything in my tank.

Is there anything I should do?
 
#5 ·
i've NEVER had ich......dances jig around room :bluelaugh: then takes medication...anyway

how large is the tank? bullying can stress a fish so that it becomes weak and falls to the disease and i know from experience what blood parrots can behave like
 
#6 ·
It's a 35 gallon tank. So now that I know he had ich, should I treat the entire tank even though my other fish show no signs and are doing just fine? The next time I have only one fish with ich, should I treat the entire tank or should I take the fish out and treat him in a hospital tank?
 
#7 ·
inferretswetrust said:
It's a 35 gallon tank. So now that I know he had ich, should I treat the entire tank even though my other fish show no signs and are doing just fine? The next time I have only one fish with ich, should I treat the entire tank or should I take the fish out and treat him in a hospital tank?
You really must treat the whole tank so every ich parasite is eliminated.:)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top