Help! Gold rams, ich??

[Byron]

I am still not convinced those two specks are ich. I certainly would not add any medication, the heat may be OK. But I would worry about those cories. How is their respiration rate?

On the water tests, I assume the GH/KH unit is ppm or mg/l (these are the same), not dGH, so that is very soft water. The pH will stay below 7. Not good for the molly...any chance you could return it, or re-home? The lack of mineral in the water will impact mollies a lot.

 

[Deedo]

I am still not convinced those two specks are ich. I certainly would not add any medication, the heat may be OK. But I would worry about those cories. How is their respiration rate?

On the water tests, I assume the GH/KH unit is ppm or mg/l (these are the same), not dGH, so that is very soft water. The pH will stay below 7. Not good for the molly...any chance you could return it, or re-home? The lack of mineral in the water will impact mollies a lot.

Yes the unit is ppm on my water test. What can I do to raise it then? I’ve had the molly for about 4 months

The cories are still active but seem to be breathing a little slower than usual..

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[Byron]

Yes the unit is ppm on my water test. What can I do to raise it then? I’ve had the molly for about 4 months

The cories are breathing pretty fast but that’s how they always have been. They’re very very active and still currently are so I think they’re okay?

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Not knowing your level of fish-keeping experience, it is risky for me to assume this or that from observations you report. The cory respiration should not be rapid; if it is, it means the fish are having trouble getting oxygen, which could be the temperature but also could be other things. Including ich in their gills, or chlorine, or ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, or some toxin in the water. But here the heat would be a likely suspect. Do they surface breach a lot, or "normally"? Observation of fish respiration can clue us in to many issues; I have had it alert me to the filter needing cleaning because the flow reduced enough that the cories were respirating just a tad faster and/or surface breach more frequently.

On the water...no, you do not want to be going down that road for one fish. You will affect the others, depending how much you increase the hardness. It is much safer to select fish that work in your source water. It makes water changes including any emergency ones much easier and safe to do. And there is less to go wrong with chemistry. Water chemistry can get very involved and complicated, and that means more chance of some sudden catastrophe.

But I will answer your question...you can increase the GH/KH/pH simultaneously with a sand substrate composed of calcareous mineral like aragonite. Another method is to use mineral salts--not to be confused with "salt" salt [sodium chloride] but these are the salts of minerals like calcium and magnesium which are the primary minerals dissolved in water that give it the hardness (and carbonate hardness and pH are related). You can buy rift lake salts that achieve this, but that means preparing water separately.

It would be better in my view to remove the molly, then select soft water fish species to complete the tank. If the rams are OK the way the GH and pH are now, and they seem to be, raising it sufficiently for one molly is going to be a serious issue for the rams. This species does not do at all well with fluctuating parameters, or parameters outside those it was raised in--which is difficult to say obviously unless one knows the breeder.

 

[Deedo]

My cories do go to the surface “normally” but when getting them I was told it’s a regular thing for them to do as long as it’s not too frequent.. their breathing isn’t rapid, I’d say it’s what I consider the usual for them- I’ve had them for a couple of months now.

Do you suggest I lower the temp a few degrees to play it safe for the cories, or keep it at 86 for the next few days for the sake of my rams?

Unfortunately I just caught one of my rams rub itself on the cave decoration in the tank a few times


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[Byron]

My cories do go to the surface “normally” but when getting them I was told it’s a regular thing for them to do as long as it’s not too frequent.. their breathing isn’t rapid, I’d say it’s what I consider the usual for them- I’ve had them for a couple of months now.

Do you suggest I lower the temp a few degrees to play it safe for the cories, or keep it at 86 for the next few days for the sake of my rams?

Unfortunately I just caught one of my rams rub itself on the cave decoration in the tank a few times


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This is difficult to answer, and I don't want to suggest something that may not work for you. Keep an eye on all the fish, thee cory species is one of the hardier though that has its limits. And if ich is present, they are just as liable to get it as other fish. The temp is OK, but this can't go on for more than a couple weeks total.

 

[Deedo]

This is difficult to answer, and I don't want to suggest something that may not work for you. Keep an eye on all the fish, thee cory species is one of the hardier though that has its limits. And if ich is present, they are just as liable to get it as other fish. The temp is OK, but this can't go on for more than a couple weeks total.

I’m typically not too patient with things like this lol so I’ll try to go another week or so of observing and see if there’s any improvements. If anything gets worse I’ll have to make the appropriate changes. Keeping my fingers crossed

Also just lowered the level of the water a little bit to help with oxygenation

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[Colin_T]

I cannot see any signs of ich in any of your photos in that link.

First picture in the link has a gold ram. Left pectoral fin has a white spot on the outer edge. Tail has a possible white spot on the outer edge near the middle. Possible white spot on shortest fin ray of anal fin.

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Do you suggest I lower the temp a few degrees to play it safe for the cories, or keep it at 86 for the next few days for the sake of my rams?

Keep the temperature at 86F for 2 weeks. If it is whitespot, the temperature will kill the parasites, but you need to keep it at 86F for 2 weeks continuously.

Also just lowered the level of the water a little bit to help with oxygenation

If you lowered the water level to allow the filter outlet to create more surface turbulence then that is fine. However, when raising the temperature of the water it is a good idea to use additional aeration from an air pump/ airstone to try and maximise the oxygen in the water.

It's also a good idea to clean the tank, filter and gravel before raising the temperature. This reduces the rotting organic matter (fish poop) and leaves cleaner water for the fish. Doing a big 75-90% water change and complete gravel clean will reduce the number of parasites in the water and substrate and leave fewer behind to infect the fish.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

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There is more info on whitespot at the following link. The first post on page 1 is more technical, the last post on page 2 is more for beginners
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/page-2

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Corydoras naturally take air from the surface. They swallow an air bubble and it goes through their intestine and helps give them some buoyancy. They also absorb any oxygen out of the air bubble when they swallow it. If you watch closely you might even see them fart bubbles

 

[Deedo]

First picture in the link has a gold ram. Left pectoral fin has a white spot on the outer edge. Tail has a possible white spot on the outer edge near the middle. Possible white spot on shortest fin ray of anal fin.

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Keep the temperature at 86F for 2 weeks. If it is whitespot, the temperature will kill the parasites, but you need to keep it at 86F for 2 weeks continuously.


If you lowered the water level to allow the filter outlet to create more surface turbulence then that is fine. However, when raising the temperature of the water it is a good idea to use additional aeration from an air pump/ airstone to try and maximise the oxygen in the water.

It's also a good idea to clean the tank, filter and gravel before raising the temperature. This reduces the rotting organic matter (fish poop) and leaves cleaner water for the fish. Doing a big 75-90% water change and complete gravel clean will reduce the number of parasites in the water and substrate and leave fewer behind to infect the fish.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

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There is more info on whitespot at the following link. The first post on page 1 is more technical, the last post on page 2 is more for beginners [emoji4]
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/page-2

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Corydoras naturally take air from the surface. They swallow an air bubble and it goes through their intestine and helps give them some buoyancy. They also absorb any oxygen out of the air bubble when they swallow it. If you watch closely you might even see them fart bubbles

Haha! Thanks so much, everyone aside from my rams definitely seem fine. I was able to get a few pictures.. seems like the male has a few more spots but they’re VERY tiny. I thought he had none at first glance. The female definitely has less but she seems to be laying low more than the male. Here are some pictures- first 2 are the male, last one is the female. I want to say the male has about 8 spots and the female about 4. (They both have lots of iridescent markings on them so don’t be alarmed at first lol) -Planning on doing a decent sized water change this evening.

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[IHaveADogToo]

I’ve heard after raising temp it can get worse before it gets better

This is absolutely true. I just had an ich outbreak in my main tank, and for the first few days after raising the temp it looked more like the parasite was spreading than dying. Just keep it up for 2 weeks. It is entirely possible you might lose corys during the heat & salt treatment, though. I did. But my centerpiece fish all lived.

 

[Deedo]

This is absolutely true. I just had an ich outbreak in my main tank, and for the first few days after raising the temp it looked more like the parasite was spreading than dying. Just keep it up for 2 weeks. It is entirely possible you might lose corys during the heat & salt treatment, though. I did. But my centerpiece fish all lived.

Oh I hope I don’t! My corys seem okay so far.. and I’ve been using very very minimal salt because of them and my mystery snail (who is actually my favorite in the tank lol). All seem to be doing well. As for my rams.. it’s been a few days now, temp between 84-86. I did a 40% water change yesterday and used warmer water so it was temporarily at 88, hoping to kill any parasites that may be in the water. The rams still have ich present on them but they do seem stable. Still eating and what not. So just trying to be patient! I’ve been thinking about picking up ich medicine and doing a half dose if not less, but idk if I should just wait a little longer. Really don’t want to lose these rams though they’re awesome


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[IHaveADogToo]

I’ve been thinking about picking up ich medicine and doing a half dose if not less, but idk if I should just wait a little longer.

Do not mix heat and medication. Let the heat treatment ride out. I know it's tempting to "do more". Resist the temptation.

 

[Deedo]

Do not mix heat and medication. Let the heat treatment ride out. I know it's tempting to "do more". Resist the temptation.

That’s what I needed to hear lol thank you. I’ll keep the post updated and we’ll see


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[Colin_T]

Don't raise the temperature above 86F.
32C (90F) is the maximum most tropical fish can take and anything over 30C (86F) is going to stress the Corydoras a lot. Just try to keep the temp on 86F

 

[Deedo]

Don't raise the temperature above 86F.
32C (90F) is the maximum most tropical fish can take and anything over 30C (86F) is going to stress the Corydoras a lot. Just try to keep the temp on 86F

Sounds good to me thanks [emoji4]


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[Deedo]

**UPDATE

Kind of freaking out over here.. I noticed my male has gotten worse.. few more white spots, and (idk if I’m being paranoid now) I’ve noticed a red dot by his gill, a slight red line on his side,

and also a growth or bump of some kind on his head.. still eating and pretty active though.. I panicked and went to my fish store, spoke to an experienced worker there and told him the situation (he’s been around since the beginning of my tank and has helped me a bunch).. he told me all the stores tanks are lightly dosed with ich x and it’s harmless to my other fish in my tank.. he recommended I give it a try. I decided to get the ich x but I only put in a half dose.. I plan to continue for at least the next 4 days. Any advice??[emo

ji30]


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