Ich And Fungus Differentions.

[HaliHostility]

My little discus family of 5 get these little white spots their fins and body every so often, usually when I tend to over feed and not adjust water changes according to the over feeding...Bad hali, i know.
None of my other fish get it, just them. The first time it happened is was fungus. The tiny little spots progressed to small patches in a matter of like 3 days before i could tell what it was.
So i just got API Fungus Cure and it cleared up in a few days.
Now i just keep a box handy because it's cheap and it progresses so frikken FAST!
But during the first day or two when i FIRST see it I automatically think its ICH and get scared, even tho they're the only ones with the spots.
So i was wondering if there were any key signs to distinguish the two early on.
I've never had to deal with ICH so i don't know what it looks like, i've seen pictures but it's not like, a 3D image. Usually i try to see if the spots actually protrude the body [they're super tiny so i can't tell if it's cottony or not]
but i don't know if that's even a reliable sign.



ALSO, one of my discus has seemed s little stressed lately, she's dark and she stays at the back of the tank and looks thin and doesn't eat. I checked the parameters and ammonia, nitrate, nitrites are all at 0.. PH is good. It was around 6.0. My water 's super hard but it's always been that way. I'm contemplating on getting an RO system...
I brought the temp up to like 82-84 i tried hand feeding her she just kinda looks at it.... I don't have any stress coat or stress zyme so i just put some conditioner in...Seems like the same thing to me..
Any pointers?

 

[thereverendturtle]

Keep the temp at 84-86 deg always for discus. As far as ich goes it looks like grains of salt on the fish, they do protrude from the fish slightly.

What other fish do you have with your discus?

Watch to see if your other discus are picking on the lone one. It may just be lowest on the totem pole.

 

[HaliHostility]

yeah a little bit, but last time, that's what i thought it was and it turned into cottony fungus a few days later.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Fish with ich will usually start scratching a few days before spots are visible. Also in general ich doesn't show up as just a couple of spots, they will be all over the fish within a day or so.

I just looked at your profile, your tank is way over stocked with fish that get good size to freaking huge. The arowanas, bichir, dat and the pang cat are all going to out grow your 55 very quickly. The turtle shouldn't be in there at all, creates a lot of waste, which could be leading to your fungus problems. The fish are going to be constantly stressed and eventually it will start eating them.
Your plans for your nano are not good either. 6 gallons isn't big enough for a watchman gobies and a few damsels.
I think you need to research your fish a lot more before purchase and thin out your 55 ASAP.

 

[HaliHostility]

Fish with ich will usually start scratching a few days before spots are visible. Also in general ich doesn't show up as just a couple of spots, they will be all over the fish within a day or so.

I just looked at your profile, your tank is way over stocked with fish that get good size to freaking huge. The arowanas, bichir, dat and the pang cat are all going to out grow your 55 very quickly. The turtle shouldn't be in there at all, creates a lot of waste, which could be leading to your fungus problems. The fish are going to be constantly stressed and eventually it will start eating them.
Your plans for your nano are not good either. 6 gallons isn't big enough for a watchman gobies and a few damsels.
I think you need to research your fish a lot more before purchase and thin out your 55 ASAP.

The bicher, datnoid and the shark have all been in there for ever and they're the same size. And besides, whenever my fish in my 55 gallon get to big I just move them to the 150 gal.
I buy all my fish from babies and grow them until they're big enough to go into the 150.
My arowanas definitely will outgrow it to fast but the other ones got some time.
My turtle WILL NOT eat my fish.
1. its not even 3 inches in diameter.
2. Its a chicken #106### and won't even eat goldfish unless they're dead.
3.its homies WITH ALL my fish. They kick it together all the time and he's only nipped once when i first put him in.
Also, about the waste thing, i've heard that they put out less than regular turtles, he's not like a red ear or anything he's a spiny softshell, and i was keeping an eye on my parameters to see if they went to crazy when i put him in and they stayed the same so he got to stay:] . And i have like, 120 gallons of filtration on it.
I know my other fish aren't stressed because if my discus aren't showing any signs of stress than i know the other ones aren't.
So long as i'm not home to much and i'm not overfeeding [which i go WAY overboard on when i AM home.....] and i don't get lazy with water changes, then there's no problems.
I know how to run my tank. I break some rules but i make up for it in ways and my water reads clean, my fish look healthy so it seems to be working out.
About the nano, those fish are some of the very few that i like listed on the "nano safe" list soooo?
And if i ever purchase fish that might outgrow what i have available, i always have a plan B.
The LFS owner lets me trade big fish for new fish, sometimes its hard to part ways but it's better than setting up a whole new tank...


The spots never show up ALL over the place it's just the caudal fin area, I'm just MORTIFIED of ich so i get all panicked and jump to conclusions when they come around...
I THINK i want to start doing water changes once a week instead of 2 weeks, but they don't seem to like the process when i leave them in the tank, and its SUUUCH a pain taking them all out and bagging them and yada yada.

 

[HaliHostility]

And my one discus that was stressed seems better now, i still don't know what her deal is but the water passes and she eats a bloodworm every now and then but not really much at all, she doesn't seem to be getting to thin so i guess shes eating SOMETHING and her colors are lightening up, but almost so that they look kinda flushed...I think she's getting better..