ICH even after a 4 week quarantine

[Salts155R]

Good evenin/morning guys and girls.

so after adding my new fish the other day from their quarantine tank, I now have an outbreak of ICH in my tank

I’ve been reading lots of posts on here and I believe it was one from @Colin_T that stuck as he seems to know his shizzle.
70% water change done with slightly warmer prime treated water added, temp dialled up to 30c and the water level just below my outlet nozzles to increase surface agitation and more oxygen in to the water as I’m not using an air stone.

so far it’s only the neons that have tiny white spots, started yesterday when i noticed one white dot in a fin in one of them. Dam it’s quick to spread.

Anyway reason for this post is that I’ve also read that some people say that heat will cause more problems to the fish so I’m going to do a little diary for beginners like me to follow and understand that chemicals are more harmful than an increase in temp.

So day 1
1 out of 8 tetras had 1 white spot in his dorsal fin. (Monitored for confirmation of ICH)

Day 2
6 out of 8 tetras with multiple white spot, confirmed ICH.
Water change 70% with a good gravel vac and glass cleaned. filter media rinsed in bucket of old tank water(only if your filter has been running for 6-8 weeks or longer if not then skip this stage),
New water added to tank at a slightly higher temp than normal 27c (used IR thermometer) with prime to de-chlorinate.
Dials on heaters set to around 31c and monitoring the temp with a thermometer (heaters turned off at 29c and now sat at 30c/86f) DO NOT RELY ON THE TEMPERATURE SETTINGS ON THE HEATERS ,THESE ARE GUIDES.

Extra surface agitation allowing a better gas exchange in the water to keep the oxygen sats high in the higher temperature water, THIS IS A MUST WHEN INCREASING THE TEMP.

I will post day to day reports on how the fish are doing.
Photo isn’t the best.

What is ICH?

This is a common question that is often asked, what is ich and how is it recognisable and what causes it? The real term is ICHTHYOPHTHIRIASIS. OR commonly known as white spot. It is an extremely comon parasite that affects aquarium fish. It is highly infectious and potentially lethal and...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Salts155R]

Day 3 and 24hrs of tank being at 30c

still only 6 of 8 neon Tetras with white spots
No other fish infected as of yet.

One of my lamp eyes took a funny turn over night and was struggling this morning, looked like exhaustion ( breathing very fast, not swimming properly and floating on his side occasionally. Moved him out to my quarantine tank that thankfully just finished cycling and after 10 mins he seems fine again.

all other fishing in the tank are eating, playing and generally really active.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Hi do you have any water parameter readings for ammonia and nitrite?

 

[Salts155R]

Hi do you have any water parameter readings for ammonia and nitrite?

Just waiting on them to develop as we speak

 

[Salts155R]

Hi do you have any water parameter readings for ammonia and nitrite?

So after the 5min development time
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm

 

[Salts155R]

Ph 7
Sorry forgot that one

 

[mbsqw1d]

Good stats! Your plants are likely helping to eat up any ammonia from the tetra.
You have very soft water in Camborne, with equally very low KH, both ideal for tetra, but I'm wary of soft water tanks suffering PH swings. Do you have a PH test kit?

 

[mbsqw1d]

Ph 7
Sorry forgot that one

Mustve read my mind haha

 

[mbsqw1d]

When did you last perform a water change?
I would advise you keep a close eye on the PH, maybe do some daily tests, like I said, I'm nervous with tanks where the KH is low (I'm assuming yours is low of you're in the south west).
Whilst your nitrogen stats look great, a PH swing could stress the fish and make them susceptible to Ich

 

[Salts155R]

When did you last perform a water change?
I would advise you keep a close eye on the PH, maybe do some daily tests, like I said, I'm nervous with tanks where the KH is low (I'm assuming yours is low of you're in the south west).
Whilst your nitrogen stats look great, a PH swing could stress the fish and make them susceptible to Ich

Last water change was yesterday at around 10:30 in the morning.

whilst I was cycling the tank I was taking readings every other day and the ph never changed from 7 and the tap water actually comes out at 7 as well(just tested)

it’s concerning that the ammonia test having been left for 10-15 mins has actually now gone to 0.25 I’m just going to drop some water out a min and take care of that.

 

[Salts155R]

When did you last perform a water change?
I would advise you keep a close eye on the PH, maybe do some daily tests, like I said, I'm nervous with tanks where the KH is low (I'm assuming yours is low of you're in the south west).
Whilst your nitrogen stats look great, a PH swing could stress the fish and make them susceptible to Ich

With the he tetras having ICH will that create more ammonia in the tank ? Probably a stupid question lol

 

[mbsqw1d]

With the he tetras having ICH will that create more ammonia in the tank ? Probably a stupid question lol

No, I don't believe so.

I'm not sure why your cycle has been affected, possibly the temp increase but if anything bacteria do better in higher temperatures ?

 

[Salts155R]

No, I don't believe so.

I'm not sure why your cycle has been affected, possibly the temp increase but if anything bacteria do better in higher temperatures ?

Haha that was a stupid question


It’s a bit strange as to why it took so long to show up.
I had fed them about an hour or 2 prior to testing maybe I fed a little to much.
some fresh water and hopefully the level drops.

 

[mbsqw1d]

I'd recommend more plants if you can, can never have too many plants ?
Most plants actually prefer to process ammonia out of the nitrogens, its always nitrate as often heard. For nitrate, plants actually have to turn it back into ammonia befor it can process it.
Would you consider getting some floating plants such as Frogbit? The tetras would also benefit from having some overhead cover and shade

 

[Salts155R]

I'd recommend more plants if you can, can never have too many plants ?
Most plants actually prefer to process ammonia out of the nitrogens, its always nitrate as often heard. For nitrate, plants actually have to turn it back into ammonia befor it can process it.
Would you consider getting some floating plants such as Frogbit? The tetras would also benefit from having some overhead cover and shade

I am wanting to get some new plants. I’ll have a look at some frogbit. The plants I have in at the moment are starting to take off well especially my hygrophila corymbosa, that’s doing extremely well.

So after a quick 100L change I’m back at 0 on ammonia. love the fx4 for water changes.