I don't know anything about ich guard so if you are certain it is ich you should follow the product instructions. If you are absolutely certain it is ich AND are moving all your fish to a QT just turn the temp in the main tank up to 80F. You don't need to do anything else. Ich cannot survive without host fish so by the time you have completed the treatment in the QT your main tank will be clear.
Does my Guppy have Ich??
- Thread starter GuppyMom32
- Start date
If it is Ich there is no point in moving the fish to a QT tank, you need to treat all the fish at once, The best way to treat Ich is to raise the temperature of the water to 30 deg C for 5 days.
GuppyMom32
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Okay now I only have one heater, which means I have to use it for my guppies in the 10 gallon and not the main one. So since I can't heat the main tank to 80F, would it be the better option to just clean it completely out? Also, since my other 6 guppies aren't showing any signs of having Ich, should I put them in the 10 gallon and keep the other guppy in the quarantine tank and continue treating him?
@NickAu has the correct solution if it is Ich. If it were me and I was absolutely certain it was Ich I would put them all in the main tank and treat that. If you are not absolutely certain keep them separate and as @Colin_T said keep watching. If you are able to get a pic onto your computer you can upload it using the "Upload a File" button and someone can confirm if that's what it is.
I seriously doubt it is ich because no new fish have been added to the tank in the last 2 weeks, or have they?
Ichthyopthirius can only get into a tank from a contaminated fish, plants or water from an infected tank. If you have not added anything new in the last 2 weeks it will not be ich (whitespot). Also if it was ich, the other fish would be showing white dots by now. It spreads very quickly and the white spots actually drop off the fish after a few days. When the white spot cysts drop off the fish they settle to the bottom and the protozoan inside the cyst multiplies for a few days before the cyst ruptures open and hundreds of new white spot parasites get into the water and infect the fish. Basically the fish get a few white spots, the spots disappear for a couple of days. Then the fish get covered in white spots, then a week later the fish are dead.
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DO NOT pull the main tank apart and wash everything down. You will damage the beneficial filter bacteria and the tank will go through another filter cycling process. If you want to wash ornaments then take them out and wash them with fresh water, that is fine. If you want to clean the tank and gravel then wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish only sponge, do a complete gravel clean, and a 75% water change each day for a week. Then wash the filter media out in a bucket of tank water. That will clean the tank conditions up and you can leave the fish in there while you do it, and not have to worry about wiping out the filter bacteria.
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Do not use medications unless you know what the actual problem is because they can cause problems to fish and filters
Ichthyopthirius can only get into a tank from a contaminated fish, plants or water from an infected tank. If you have not added anything new in the last 2 weeks it will not be ich (whitespot). Also if it was ich, the other fish would be showing white dots by now. It spreads very quickly and the white spots actually drop off the fish after a few days. When the white spot cysts drop off the fish they settle to the bottom and the protozoan inside the cyst multiplies for a few days before the cyst ruptures open and hundreds of new white spot parasites get into the water and infect the fish. Basically the fish get a few white spots, the spots disappear for a couple of days. Then the fish get covered in white spots, then a week later the fish are dead.
-------------------------
DO NOT pull the main tank apart and wash everything down. You will damage the beneficial filter bacteria and the tank will go through another filter cycling process. If you want to wash ornaments then take them out and wash them with fresh water, that is fine. If you want to clean the tank and gravel then wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish only sponge, do a complete gravel clean, and a 75% water change each day for a week. Then wash the filter media out in a bucket of tank water. That will clean the tank conditions up and you can leave the fish in there while you do it, and not have to worry about wiping out the filter bacteria.
-------------------------
Do not use medications unless you know what the actual problem is because they can cause problems to fish and filters
GuppyMom32
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Okay thanks for the advice. I have the guppy with "Ich" in a separate tank again and I'm giving him Ich guard... which I have learned that it doesn't harm fish that don't have it, and Ich right now is the only thing that it really looks like. The whole thing with adding new fish makes it really not make sense though, since I haven't added anyone new. Also I thought I heard that stress and water temperature changes also cause it? My biggest problem right now is that all the other guppies are fine and acting completely normal. So I really don't want to do anything that could mess that up. I don't want to stress them out by changing their water every day. So, I think I'm going to avoid doing anything to the main tank until that's my last option. I'm going to continue treating the sick guppy and see how he is in a week.I seriously doubt it is ich because no new fish have been added to the tank in the last 2 weeks, or have they?
Ichthyopthirius can only get into a tank from a contaminated fish, plants or water from an infected tank. If you have not added anything new in the last 2 weeks it will not be ich (whitespot). Also if it was ich, the other fish would be showing white dots by now. It spreads very quickly and the white spots actually drop off the fish after a few days. When the white spot cysts drop off the fish they settle to the bottom and the protozoan inside the cyst multiplies for a few days before the cyst ruptures open and hundreds of new white spot parasites get into the water and infect the fish. Basically the fish get a few white spots, the spots disappear for a couple of days. Then the fish get covered in white spots, then a week later the fish are dead.
-------------------------
DO NOT pull the main tank apart and wash everything down. You will damage the beneficial filter bacteria and the tank will go through another filter cycling process. If you want to wash ornaments then take them out and wash them with fresh water, that is fine. If you want to clean the tank and gravel then wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish only sponge, do a complete gravel clean, and a 75% water change each day for a week. Then wash the filter media out in a bucket of tank water. That will clean the tank conditions up and you can leave the fish in there while you do it, and not have to worry about wiping out the filter bacteria.
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Do not use medications unless you know what the actual problem is because they can cause problems to fish and filters
Ichthyopthirius is a protozoan that infects fish. It has several stages to it's lifecycle.
Stage 1 is the free swimming parasite. These land on fish and attach themselves to the fish. When they land on a fish they produce a hard white casing around their body to protect them from being harmed. Whilst on the fish they feed and grow inside their little white case (the white spot). This is the only time you actually see this disease, when the fish have little white dots on their body or fins.
Stage 2 is where the parasite lets go of the fish and sinks to the bottom. On the bottom the parasite divides inside its little white case, (commonly called a cyst).
Stage 3 After a few days of dividing inside the cyst, the cyst ruptures open and releases hundreds of free swimming parasites that reinfect the fish. Stage 3 is the only time you can kill the parasite. When the parasite is swimming around the water looking for a new host, is when it can be affected by medication and heat.
Once the parasite finds a new host and makes a new white spot, you can no longer kill that individual parasite. This is why you need to treat whitespot for a week or so, to kill off the free swimming parasites before they can attach to a fish.
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In your situation, no new fish, plants or water from a contaminated tank has been added to your guppy tank. This means no whitespot parasites have been introduced into your aquarium.
Whitespot parasites cannot live for more than 48 hours without a host fish to attach to. And if you have fish in a tank with the parasites, you will see white spots on the fish.
Stress and poor water quality weakens a fish's immune system and makes them more vulnerable to bacterial and fungal diseases, but unless there are whitespot parasites in the actual aquarium water, they cannot develop the disease.
------------------------
Excess mucous can cause cream/ white patching, and there is a virus called Lymphocystis that creates white lumps on the body and fins, usually the fins.
Stage 1 is the free swimming parasite. These land on fish and attach themselves to the fish. When they land on a fish they produce a hard white casing around their body to protect them from being harmed. Whilst on the fish they feed and grow inside their little white case (the white spot). This is the only time you actually see this disease, when the fish have little white dots on their body or fins.
Stage 2 is where the parasite lets go of the fish and sinks to the bottom. On the bottom the parasite divides inside its little white case, (commonly called a cyst).
Stage 3 After a few days of dividing inside the cyst, the cyst ruptures open and releases hundreds of free swimming parasites that reinfect the fish. Stage 3 is the only time you can kill the parasite. When the parasite is swimming around the water looking for a new host, is when it can be affected by medication and heat.
Once the parasite finds a new host and makes a new white spot, you can no longer kill that individual parasite. This is why you need to treat whitespot for a week or so, to kill off the free swimming parasites before they can attach to a fish.
------------------------
In your situation, no new fish, plants or water from a contaminated tank has been added to your guppy tank. This means no whitespot parasites have been introduced into your aquarium.
Whitespot parasites cannot live for more than 48 hours without a host fish to attach to. And if you have fish in a tank with the parasites, you will see white spots on the fish.
Stress and poor water quality weakens a fish's immune system and makes them more vulnerable to bacterial and fungal diseases, but unless there are whitespot parasites in the actual aquarium water, they cannot develop the disease.
------------------------
Excess mucous can cause cream/ white patching, and there is a virus called Lymphocystis that creates white lumps on the body and fins, usually the fins.
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