Ich on my angel fish? Advice appreciated

[Grace321]

Hey everyone! I need some help figuring out whats wrong with my angel fish. I just noticed several white bumps on only one side of my fish. It sounds gross, but they almost look like zits that have pus coming out of them? I’m worried that it might be ich. I’m unfamiliar with the parasite, but I also am not sure that would make sense because nothing new has been added to my tank in maybe a year? So I’m not sure how ich would have gotten into my tank. Does this look like ich? If not, what is it?
Extra info: Its just the one angel fish living in a 47gallon tank with just three other fish (two mini catfish and a pleco). The only living plant is moss.
Any and all advice appreciated

 

[GaryE]

It 100% is not Ich. The cyst is too large and the shape appears wrong.

It could be epistylis, a life form that is always in tanks, and sometimes gets onto fish. I would do a google search (not an AI search) for sites on it, and give it the eyeball test. You can see the cyst better than we can in a photo.

 

[Colin_T]

It's the start of hole in the head disease caused by a parasite called Hexamita. It thrives in dirty tanks with dirty filters and lots of meat based foods.

Clean the tank up and add some salt. If there's no improvement after a week with salt you will need to treat the tank with Metronidazole for at least 1 (probably 2) weeks.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added tot he aquarium.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn.

Add salt to the tank.

---------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water.

Keep the salt level like this for 2 weeks. If there's no improvement after that you will need Metronidazole. There will be pits on the fish's head after the parasite is gone and these scars will remain for the fish's life.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

What is below was written by Robert T. Ricketts whom I had the good fortune to learn from very early on when I began keeping fish. You can read his writings on several sites on the net including here: https://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/author/rtr/page/2/

Author: Robert T. Ricketts
Retired research scientist (biochemistry and physiology, pharmaceutical development) and senior process analyst.Started fishkeeping in the dark ages (1950s), first SW tanks in the mid-60s, first puffers in the early 60s. Started with two tanks and never less than multi-tanked excepting some periods in college and grad school. Specialty if any would be filtration and water management. Primarily species tanks, planted whenever possible/practical and some where it not really practical.Ran something on the order of >150 tank-years* in studying optimum tank conditions for F-8 puffers, the largest tank study I have done. Other studies have been significantly less. Alternate canister use was mid-40s, OERFUG just over 60, veggie filters only about 25 to publication, but still going on less intently. If it had been known that the F-8s would live so long, it probably would not have been started at all.*One tank-year is one tank for one year.

His is from his paper: The Salt of the Earth, the Salt from the Sea . . .

Iodine is a halogen, and is required for vertebrates in its ionic form. Iodine is the element; iodide is the ionic form. Do not confuse either of those with “tincture of iodine” which is a topical antiseptic and quite toxic. Iodide is necessary for our metabolism as an essential part of thyroid hormone, which is our metabolic pacemaker. Soils in wide areas of this country are deficient in iodine, and this lack can result in goiter (hypertrophy of the thyroid gland, effectively from insufficient iodide intake). Thus the practice arose of adding iodide to salt intended for human consumption. This was the safest (the levels of iodide are minute) and surest way of protecting the population from this deficiency as salt is ubiquitous (all but universal) in food processing and preparation. The levels of iodide added to table salt are so small that any water-living vertebrate or invertebrate would be pickled in brine well before toxic concentrations of iodide could be reached, so that particular urban myth is without foundation. In fact, a number of our tank inhabitants need iodide- most crustaceans have a significant demand for the material, and a number of fish can develop goiter in captivity from the lack of iodine- African Rift Lake fish seem especially prone to this. The often-discussed toxicity of iodide could be considered urban myth #1.

 

[Grace321]

It's the start of hole in the head disease caused by a parasite called Hexamita. It thrives in dirty tanks with dirty filters and lots of meat based foods.

Clean the tank up and add some salt. If there's no improvement after a week with salt you will need to treat the tank with Metronidazole for at least 1 (probably 2) weeks.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added tot he aquarium.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn.

Add salt to the tank.

---------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water.

Keep the salt level like this for 2 weeks. If there's no improvement after that you will need Metronidazole. There will be pits on the fish's head after the parasite is gone and these scars will remain for the fish's life.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

Thank you so much for all the great info! I will give this a go and hope for the best. I really appreciate it!