Cory ich: best treatment?

[Familyfishny]

It’s these two. I think it’s missing scales? What do you think? They both have patches at the base of their tails, that look ok at some angles, and darker in others.

 

[Familyfishny]

So overall the fish look great! No spots, actively feeding, glass surfing and being active again. This one, though, has much smaller fins than the others, and also looks like most of its anal fin has been ripped off. Might have been the pleco, who was getting aggressive, but maybe fin rot?

 

[Familyfishny]

Hi folks. Thanks to you all, all of our fish are alive and appear to be ich free. We have one more day of high temps for the full two week treatment, but one of our guppies is getting lethargic (hanging out in the corners near the surface instead of obsessively chasing the female guppies is his habit), and I’m worried about him. Would it be ok to drop the temp back down one day shy and add some salt to help them shake any infections they may have gotten while hanging out in the elevated temps?

 

[Byron]

Hi folks. Thanks to you all, all of our fish are alive and appear to be ich free. We have one more day of high temps for the full two week treatment, but one of our guppies is getting lethargic (hanging out in the corners near the surface instead of obsessively chasing the female guppies is his habit), and I’m worried about him. Would it be ok to drop the temp back down one day shy and add some salt to help them shake any infections they may have gotten while hanging out in the elevated temps?

If you are one day sort of two weeks, not a problem to allow the tank water temperature to naturally lower to normal. Just turn the heater down to the normal set temp and let it reduce on its own. One week is or should be sufficient, but most sources say two weeks to be safe. It is not unknown for just one parasite to manage somehow to escape death, but the fish being stronger with respect to their immune systems (than they would otherwise have been with any drugs) is in their favour.

 

[Familyfishny]

Thanks, Bryon. I hope the lower temps perk up our fancy guppy, he’s down near the bottom of the tank tonight, and has been looking pale and stressed for a few days. The cories look great, though, and the rest of the guppies seem ok. Do you think 1tbsp/20l of salt for a week starting tomorrow would be ok?

 

[Byron]

Thanks, Bryon. I hope the lower temps perk up our fancy guppy, he’s down near the bottom of the tank tonight, and has been looking pale and stressed for a few days. The cories look great, though, and the rest of the guppies seem ok. Do you think 1tbsp/20l of salt for a week starting tomorrow would be ok?

No. Salt (meaning sodium chloride, common table salt or aquarium salt) is harmful to freshwater fish and especially so to soft water species. There is absolutely no reason to cause considerable stress to these fish from salt which would do nothing anyway.

I just noticed from your other thread that you are in New York and I commented in that thread about the soft water. That is likely an issue for the guppy. Do not get more livebearers. If your water is very soft as memory recalls to me for NY, livebearers will not fare well long-term. The lack of calcium in the water, which they canot get just from food, means their physiology is not able to function at its best. Soft water fish like the cories mentioned therein are fine.

My article explains the harm in salt.

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[Familyfishny]

False alarm on the no ich . Is this the stuff on the guppy? Right behind the fin? He’s very weak. I am ready to move to medication if it’s ich, but it looks a little fluffier than a lot of internet photos.

 

[Familyfishny]

Should I take the pregnant female out of treating with Ick Guard (Vic green and acrivane?

 

[Byron]

I donot see anything remotely resembling ich...what are you looking at?

 

[Familyfishny]

Its’s a large , fluffy, diffuse white growth right behind his pectoral fin. It’s much larger and more diffuse than what I saw on the other fish.

 

[Familyfishny]

Now the white has sloughed off and it’s red! (edited to add video)

 

[Essjay]

Ich is small raised white spots. If the white on your fish

large , fluffy, diffuse

it wasn't ich.

Fish can and do get excess slime coat when something in the water irritates them. What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels in the water at the moment? Have you added anything to the tank - salt, Ich Guard or anything else?

 

[Byron]

I agree with essjay. That is not ich. Clean water is the best treatment, do a good water change including a vacuum into the substrate. Do not start adding "medications" without knowing the issue, these are more harm than good for all the fish.

 

[Familyfishny]

I did a big water change and gravel vacuum, the third in five days. He’s listing on the bottom of the tank today; I’m not optimistic. My money is on hexamitiasis/‘hole in head’ disease. I had a fish in the same tank with it a few months ago. General cure worked well on her, but I am guessing it may have lingered in the tank at low levels, and the stress of the high temps weakened his immune system enough that he got sick.
This guppy is the last of our store bought ones; the rest are all second generation. Hopefully they will be more resilient to our rookie fish owner errors.

 

[Byron]

Given your quite soft water in NY, and that livebearers need harder water long-term, I would let this play out naturally. Risking the other apparently healthy fish is not worth it.