Is this Ick?

Neutron

I had a friend who has a lot of experience with fish keeping come over this morning and he said it didn't look like ich.

Now it looks to me like a white fuzzy patch, possibly a fungus. I filled a bucket with one gallon of tank water and dissolved 3tsp of salt it in and put the fish in that for 5 minutes. I did that about 20 minutes ago and she is back in her tank and looks fine from the salt dip. She still has the white patch on her tail fin so I'm gonna keep an eye on it the next few days.

I didn't add any salt to the tank yet but I think I may add 5 tsp for the whole tank.. This one fish has had this white patch for like 5 days now and the others have no sign of it at all..

satu55555

Hi,

What was the result of this case? What were the diagnosis and treatments in the end and how did it end?

Thank you!

folyet

I have been following this thread closely as I also think I have ick...as I just purchased a new fish and all of a sudden a couple of black neons have white specs on them...

A couple of questions...sorry if some are silly...first the post by the person who wrote the great piece about ick and treating it...thanks...very informative...but it says add aquarium salt or table salt. If I use table salt, do I use one with or without iodine? And what is the difference between aquarium salt and table salt?

Second, I am confused a little. It says to do the steps, like dose, then dose again after 12 hours, and then again after 12 hours. After that, is there anything else to do? It also says to continue the treatment for another 7 - 10 days. My question is if you do this treatment every 12 hours for 7 - 10 days, will that not make the water so salty it will kill everything I am confused

It says you may have to do a water change to alleviate stressed fish. But if no fish get stressed, do you still do water changes, or just keep adding salt

Please let me know as I will most likely start this

satu55555

Hi Folyet,

If you're sure it's white spot (tiny white spots on the fins and/or body and the spots are not fluffy or cauliflower-like), then I would recommend buying a white spot (ick) treatment from a pet store.

Salt is good if the fish can stand it. Not all fish can take salt treatments. For example it's bad for Danios (I have some) and can damage their liver. Unfortunately I don't know much about neons. Maybe you could google if neons can take salt. You'd need to also find out that all the other fish can take it. Corydoras for example are sensitive to it. Ick treatment is a safer bet.

If you're using salt, it should be salt needs to be either specific aquarium salt or salt with no iodine or any other additives so table salt is no good. Pure sea salt with no iodine or additives works as well as aquarium salt. Iodine and additives can be toxic to fish. The aquarium salt doesn't have additives or anything else, but I'm not sure if there's other differences. Both work. You need to add the salt little by little in the tank during 24-48 hours. Maybe this is what it meant with the adding salt every 12 hours. If you put all the salt in one go, you may cause a shock to the fish. Dosage I would recommend to do a search on as well. My book says to put 1-2 tablespoon of salt per gallon as a prophylactic (1-2g/litre), but I always do more research on the dose as there are so many opinions. You can treat the water with salt for a week or so.

You don't need add more salt unless you do water changes. Then you would need to replace the amount you took out. Salt does not disappear from the tank and getting it too strong can be dangerous. I would again recommend using a proper treatment.

My best recommendation would be a proper treatment from a per shop and follow the instructions.

Hope this helps a little.

Geomancer

I just came accross this thread which is fairly old, but recently ressurected.

I'm going to strongly speak against using salt, it is very stressful for freshwater fish to be put into water with any amount of salt. Some can handle brackish conditions, most can not. Stress is more often than not the trigger for disease and parasites like Ich. Creating more stress on the fish is not a good solution.

This may or may not be covered earlier in the thread (didn't read the previous two pages) but just in case:

The first, and most important step to treating Ich (which is short for the scientific name of the parasite Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) is to raise the temperature of your aquarium. Ich, as mentioned, is a parasite and it has a very specific lifecycle. We see it as a white spot on the fish, this is when it is feeding off the fish. Once finished, it will fall off and drop to the bottom and begin to multiply by the hundreds. It will then 'burst' and become free swiming, searching for a host (the fish). It will then repeat the cycle, growing in numbers each time.

Increasing the temperature speeds this cycle up considerably, which is important because the parasite can only be killed while free swiming. When on the fish, and when multiplying in the substrate it can not be harmed by anything. The ideal temperature is at least 86 degress, but with sensitive fish you may have to stop at 84. 86 is ideal because at 85.5 the temperature is high enough that it will inhibit the reproduction of the Ich parasite, at 91 degrees it will outright kill the Ich parasite but only a few fish can tolerate that high of a temperature for a week's time period.

Salt may work to kill it in the free swiming stage, but it is far, far less effective than using a medication. I've personally used Coppersafe with ideal results, in both cases the fish in the tanks were spot free within 48 hours.

Continue the high temperature for 1 full week, even if all spots are gone within 2-3 days. You want to make sure they are all killed, and they have all gone through the full lifecycle. At 84-86 degrees the cycle takes ~ 4-6 days. At lower temperatures, the cycle is longer.

Ich infects the entire tank, you must treat the entire tank. You can remove fish to a smaller aquarium to treat if you wish, but still raise the temperature on the main tank. This works because the parasite needs a host to survive. This can be useful if you have inverts that you do not wish to risk with a medication. Copper is bad for shrimp and snails, but I have succesfully used Coppersafe with ghost shrimp and malaysian trumpet snails with no ill effects. Coppersafe is also okay to use with live plants.

Geomancer

One thing I forgot to mention, during the week's treatment do not perform water changes unless absolutly necessary (for example in a tank still cycling ... but you shouldn't have fish in an uncycled aquarium in the first place ;))

Remember, the idea is to remove as much stress as possible. The Ich parasite is everywhere in the tank, you can't remove it through water changes, you can not remove it thorugh aggressive gravel cleaning. Such efforts are futile. It also introduces the problem or correctly dosing the new water with medications, a headache you do not want, or need, to deal with.

folyet

Wow, I have read so many different ways of treating this ICK
On Wednesday, I raised the temp to 30 c 86 f
Yesterday I raised it a little more to about 32 c whih is just under 90 f I believe

all my fish seem ok so far...worried about my farlowellas as the big one did not come out looking for food in the evening as he usually does. Also my khuli loaches are always hidden since then...they are ususally visible some of the time

I am very confused...do I leave the temp at this high for a few days...to make things worse we are leaving for the weekend and I am eally worried as I do not want to come back to a tank full of death

interesting note with the high temps, the tetras seem more active, although they seem to be congregating where the flow in the tank is

I am not sure what to do

Also Geomancer mentioned not to do any water changes during this time. Any reason for that

I am worried that at high temperature, some issues could develop

Any insight appreciated

Geomancer

Warm water retains less oxygen, so fish hanging out at the surface is a sign of low oxygen levels. Since the tank temperature is elevated it is good idea to ensure you have surface agitation. An airstone, lowering the water so a HOB output waterfalls into the tank, or raising a canister's spray bar above the water line all works.

I'd lower it down to 86, near 90 wouldn't be giving you benefit unless you crossed the 91 line where it will kill the Ich.

The reason for no water changes is just to reduce stress, and to avoid messing with partial doses of medication. Most people only do water changes once a week anyways so shouldn't be an issue. Just do a water change before adding the meds and you should be good for a week. I forgot to mention though, remove the carbon from the filter as carbon will absorb the meds.

Twig Catfish are normally okay at 80, so 86 shouldn't be an issue for them for one week. Kuhli are normally good up to 84 so they'll not really notice the change.

Warm water can often induce spawing in several fish species ;) Signals a change in seasons for them.

Don't worry about being gone for a weekend, Ich just takes time to cure and if caught early isn't a very bad problem. Leave the tank light off (less light = less stress) Make sure there is surface turbulance for oxygen exchange and they'll be fine =)

folyet

I have an air stone (long one) and I had already lowered the water level as I have as an extra filter that is an HOB to complement my cannisterand with the lower water level causes great agitation

the problem is I was due for my weekly water change this weekend, and was planning to do a small one just before we went away.today..say maybe changing 20 or 30 litres..so nt sure if I should do it now

thanks for the info and tips...anything else you can offer I am all ears