Ich? Or Fungus? Need help!

Hello. All.
First of all, thank you for any help, im new to this forum.
I have a 125g tank (72" long)... stocked with 2 Oscar fish (juvenile?), 2 parrot fish and a bala shark. This was stocked on oct. 6. My tank was fishless cycling prior, I did transfer a dirty sponge filter from my established 60g tank and the bala shark... he's about 6in and figured would benefit from the added leg room of the new tank. I did a 50% wc on friday... all the fish seemed to be happy and eating. Today I woke up to a large amount of white filament covering all of my rock gravel and even some covering my bala shark. He seemed lethargic too, while my tiger oscar was just laying on the bottom. I did a 50% wc and removed as much of the white film off the rocks as I could. Because cleaning most of the film, pieces were stirred all over the tank... so I did another 50% wc. My bala shark doesn't seem to be swimming as active as he normally does but seems better. Can't see film coming off of him. Originally I thought this was fungus in my tank, but now my bala shark looks to have what looks like ich. My oscar on the other hand seems worse... he was laying on the bottom seemingly dead... occasionally flipping upside down and sideways almost as if in pain... I raising the tank temp from 78 to 80 and added some salt... not sure on what else to try?

Never saw ich on a sponge filter before the photo of the Bala looks ichy to me but then got threw off by it being on the sponge

Guyb93 said:

Never saw ich on a sponge filter before the photo of the Bala looks ichy to me but then got threw off by it being on the sponge

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Yeah, that's why I was confused as well. Could it be I have both? If so, what medications can I mix if any?

Digitalfirex said:

Yeah, that's why I was confused as well. Could it be I have both? If so, what medications can I mix if any?

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I’m sure iv saw many times posted on this forum about ich and the standard response seems to be use salt and raise tank temp, I think 86f up helps

Heat is a lot less harmful to fish than adding ich medications. The treatment is to raise the tank water temp to 86F (30C) and keep it there for 2 weeks - or a week after the last spots disappear if that's longer than 2 weeks - then turn the heater down and less the water cool slowly.


Edit - can I ask why you have just one bala shark? They are best kept in groups of at least 5 and in tanks at least 96 inches long........

essjay said:

Heat is a lot less harmful to fish than adding ich medications. The treatment is to raise the tank water temp to 86F (30C) and keep it there for 2 weeks - or a week after the last spots disappear if that's longer than 2 weeks - then turn the heater down and less the water cool slowly.

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Is that ich ? Do you know ? Just for future knowledge, iv never saw ich on a sponge like tht but I thought it was ich on the fish

It does not look like ich to me. ich looks as though the fish has been sprinkled with salt and i can't see any salt-like spots in the photo.
The stuff on the sponge is not ich. In the stage where it comes off the fish and multiplies in a sort of cyst, it is too small to be seen with the naked eye.

essjay said:

It does not look like ich to me. ich looks as though the fish has been sprinkled with salt and i can't see any salt-like spots in the photo.
The stuff on the sponge is not ich. In the stage where it comes off the fish and multiplies in a sort of cyst, it is too small to be seen with the naked eye.

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What is that on the Bala fins ? Cus I would of assumed Ich until you said it’s not and out of curiosity cus I get stuff like that and treat with heat will tht cure most parasites other than ich ? Just as a safe guard kind of thing

I don't know what the white is but it looks nothing like the ich I've had in my tanks. That has small solid circular white spots randomly over the whole fish.
I have no idea white the white stuff is on the sponge, though.


I should have asked for the water conditions - ammonia and nitrite. Whenever fish start to act oddly testing for those is the first step, followed by a large water change.

essjay said:

I don't know what the white is but it looks nothing like the ich I've had in my tanks. That has small solid circular white spots randomly over the whole fish.
I have no idea white the white stuff is on the sponge, though.


I should have asked for the water conditions - ammonia and nitrite. Whenever fish start to act oddly testing for those is the first step, followed by a large water change.

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My ammonia and nitrates are low... it is a new tank. It was new water, I just moved a sponge filter from my stablished 60g tank to cycle. I got the fish on the 6th, Tuesday, and did a 50% water change on Friday 9th. I actually did a water change on both tanks using the same tap water supply. My 60g is fine. I also did 2, 50% water changes yesterday... I honestly think the tiger oscar had ich from the LFS... the bala shark does look like it has salt sprinkled on it. The white stuff on the sponge is a slimmy white film... I thought it was fungus. It was covering everything, decorations, rocks etc...

If it does look like the fish has been sprinkled with salt, do a big water and refill with water warmer than usual. Then turn the heater up so that the water reaches 30 deg C/86 deg F and leave it there for 2 weeks. If the spots have disappeared completely by then, turn the heater back down and let the water cool to its usual temperature.

Stressed fish do get sick more easily and keeping a single bala shark is stressful for a fish which needs others of its own kind. However as these fish need a 96 inch long tank, getting more isn't really an option.

essjay said:

If it does look like the fish has been sprinkled with salt, do a big water and refill with water warmer than usual. Then turn the heater up so that the water reaches 30 deg C/86 deg F and leave it there for 2 weeks. If the spots have disappeared completely by then, turn the heater back down and let the water cool to its usual temperature.

Stressed fish do get sick more easily and keeping a single bala shark is stressful for a fish which needs others of its own kind. However as these fish need a 96 inch long tank, getting more isn't really an option.

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Sad news.... I lost my bala shark and tiger oscar :'(
I had taken the tiger oscar out to quarantine in a 5 gallon bucket. Heated the water and added 1.5 spoons of aquarium salt. I left the bala in the regular tank as it didn't look at bad as the oscar. Clearly it didn't help. I'm still treating the whole tank tho, hopefully my 2 parrot fish and the remaining lemon oscar will survive.

essjay said:

If it does look like the fish has been sprinkled with salt, do a big water and refill with water warmer than usual. Then turn the heater up so that the water reaches 30 deg C/86 deg F and leave it there for 2 weeks. If the spots have disappeared completely by then, turn the heater back down and let the water cool to its usual temperature.

Stressed fish do get sick more easily and keeping a single bala shark is stressful for a fish which needs others of its own kind. However as these fish need a 96 inch long tank, getting more isn't really an option.

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Now my lemon oscar seems to be worse. He looks lethargic, laying at the bottom. One side looks perfect, his other side looks like he has a large white patch of missing scales!