Rope fish white dots everywhere? (pls help)

I recently got a 8” rope fish for my 55 gallon tank, 2 days ago he started getting little white bubbles all over his body, I initially thought they were bubbles because he likes to swim through the bubble pad stone. But considering they did not go away; rather increase in amount, I have my suspicion that it is some type of illness or bacteria?

My tank is mixed with fake and real plants,
Fish in tank: 4 boesemani rainbow fish, 1 rainbow shark, 3 longfin leopard danios, 2 cherry barbs, 1 rope fish, 5 ghost s

water parameters:
ph:7.6
ammonia:0.0-0.25
Nitrate:0.0-0.25
Nitrate:5.0
Hardness:150 ppm
Alkalinity:120 ppm
Temp: from 75°F at midnight and 78.2°F throughout the day

Other behavior of rope fish;
He tends to hide most the time under a rock with my rainbow shark, yet lights or no lights on hell come out randomly and start to swim to the glass walls and start to rub or swim up and down them. He also hasn’t eating at all since I got him, or at-least I’ve never seen him eat, I have several different foods I feed the other fish and specifically try and get him to eat frozen brine shrimp yet he does not. I also have 5 ghost shrimp which are always available to eat if he truly is hungry and yet he still does not. (According to my research the rope fish and rainbow shark are supposed to snack on them if they are hungry)

if you have any idea how to help in this, it’s much appreciated!

I'm a fishkeeping beginner, but I would be suspecting that is ich.

It does look like ich.
If it is ich, then it might be best to treat the tank. (This is contagious and if the parasite is showing, then it most definitely is in the whole tank by now).
The good news is that it is treatable and you don't need medications.
Treatment would be to increase your tank temperature by a degree every day, until you reach 86℉.

I agree it sounds and looks like ich! It is recommended to raise the tank temp gradually to 86F until 1 week after the last white spot disappears. Here is the forum's thread on what ich is.


One stage of ich cannot be killed by heat, but vacuuming the substrate removes them at this stage and helps greatly in reducing the numbers. When my tank had ich, I diddaily substrate vacuums and raised the temp to 86F. After that, the tank was completely clear within two weeks.

Avel1896 said:

Hard to question yourself. I know what it means, I had to do this several times before understanding that keeping fishes in captivity requires providing them
with living conditions identical to their natural habitat.

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Animallover😍 said:

I'm a fishkeeping beginner, but I would be suspecting that is ich.
View attachment 143457

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If that is ich, it looks really pretty lol

Just as an FYI.


from Fish Parasites: Pathobiology and Protection

Note that is states that ich does not usually survive above 30C (86F). That is not the same thing as ich does not survive above that temp. Then it mentions a strain of ich that survives at 34C (93F).

There are a lot of fish farms spread througout SE Asia and there fish do make it into the the UK and USA etc. So not all ich may be vulnerable to 86F. Also, when it is said that in one stage the ich attached to a substrate, this doen not mean what we put on the bottom of out tanks, it means any hard surface to which it can attach. This includes plants, wood, decor etc. The term substare is used differently in science than in our hobby. Read papers on the nitrifying bacteria and you will see they use the term substrate the same way- to what the bacteria attaches.

Sometimes the heat above 86F(30C) will work, but sometimes it may not.

I seriously doubt it is ich. Again there are not real white spots to me but I can be wrong.

Reminds me of some Corys that have been on a wrong diet (wrong protein) showing "bubbles". What is it fed exactly?

A bacterial issue (looking at the progressive infection)) or a reaction to something in the water is a possibility as well.

But I'd be be careful starting to treat for Ich by raising the temp. Several other diseases will benefit of a tempraise.

I agree. It doesn't look like ich to me either. Looks viral in nature or like something else. The behavior of the fish spells that it is likely a medical issue, but I don't think it's ich. I don't think it'll resolve with heat.

DoubleDutch said:

But I'd be be careful starting to treat for Ich by raising the temp. Several other diseases will benefit of a tempraise.

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Fair point, so what do you think it is and it'd be helpful if you could list the parasites and illnesses that benefit from such an increase in temperature...and could it realistically be any of these?

If it's ich, then then I believe that the temperature can be raised to anything up to 90℉, but never, ever over that. Most strains of ich will die off before 88℉ is reached.

Bruce Leyland-Jones said:

Fair point, so what do you think it is and it'd be helpful if you could list the parasites and illnesses that benefit from such an increase in temperature...and could it realistically be any of these?

If it's ich, then then I believe that the temperature can be raised to anything up to 90℉, but never, ever over that. Most strains of ich will die off before 88℉ is reached.

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Most bacterial / fungal issues can't be treated by higher temps and tend to get worse in warmer water.

Most protozoans can !!!!
If there is a reasonable doubt a med can be better choice cause possible other diseases won't benefit / worsen by the use of most meds (some even have an antibacterial / antifungal working as well).

So heathtreatment is fine but only if one is 100% positive about the ID. If so some meds require a slight raise of temp to fasten the lifecycle of Ich (only free swimming stage is treatable). This is different than the heattreatment !!!! Don't use both treatments at the same time.

DoubleDutch said:

If there is a reasonable doubt a med can be better choice cause possible other diseases won't benefit / worsen by the use of most meds (some even have an antibacterial / antifungal working as well).

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Fair point, BUT I've always believed that, unless a diagnosis is 100% certain, the meds are NOT the way to go.
Of course, if a diagnosis IS 100% accurate, then treatment gets so, so much simpler.
Horses for courses, I suppose.

Bruce Leyland-Jones said:

Fair point, BUT I've always believed that, unless a diagnosis is 100% certain, the meds are NOT the way to go.
Of course, if a diagnosis IS 100% accurate, then treatment gets so, so much simpler.
Horses for courses, I suppose.

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I think one should never throw in meds for unclear reasons. Only thing I say that an anti Ich Med will do less harm in case of a a lot bacterial / fungal issue than raising the temp in that case. As said some of these meds even have anti bacterial / anti fungal working due to the ingredients. In specific cases (chosing between heat / meds) but if it can be avoided I am on your side.

I put natural treatment (heat) far above using meds, but only if there is a positive diagnose.

The misuse / overuse of meds and mainly antibiotics without a clear diagnose is an issue on its own in our hobby. So are the so called broadspectrum meds (we don't know what it is, so shoot with a shotgun).

DoubleDutch said:

The misuse / overuse of meds and mainly antibiotics without a clear diagnose is an issue on its own in our hobby. So are the so called broadspectrum meds (we don't know what it is, so shoot with a shotgun).

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And a direct cause of antibiotic immunity!

DoubleDutch said:

I seriously doubt it is ich. Again there are not real white spots to me but I can be wrong.

Reminds me of some Corys that have been on a wrong diet (wrong protein) showing "bubbles". What is it fed exactly?

A bacterial issue (looking at the progressive infection)) or a reaction to something in the water is a possibility as well.

But I'd be be careful starting to treat for Ich by raising the temp. Several other diseases will benefit of a tempraise.

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Well, I feed the other fish in the tank, freeze-dried brine shrimp from Hikari, Micro pellets from Hikari, Frozen brine shrimp, cucumbers, and if all else fails they can snack on the live ghost shrimp (which none have yet). Another pointer is the rope fish has yet to eat at all, or at least I've never seen him eat.

Have you got any more photos you could post? Maybe in better lighting if you can please?