Ich outbreak in quarantine tank.

[FFGuest6357]

I’m coping with it.

just wanted throw this out there again (only to drive home the point to new comers to the hobby) that a quarantine or hospital tank is absolutely necessary.

bought some fish from a LFS. After 4 days, ich outbreak. Spotting and diagnosing fish disease is not my area of expertise, but this one is obvious.

that aside, I shouldn’t have bought these fish. I deal with this store mostly for supplies, and other non livestock commodities. But I rolled the dice, and have now lost 3 fish.

sparing the details, it’s important for newcomers to the hobby to nail down the basics. If I didn’t have this quarantine tank, this could spread to my whole “main” tank.

I was maybe a little bit dumb, in buying fish I probably shouldn’t have, but at least I’m not going to kill the rest of my stock.

cycling a tank, knowing water parameters, fish types, behaviour, size, diet. It’s a reminder that fish keeping, like every day life, if you’re well informed, you know when you’ve made a mistake, but mistakes can be mitigated with calculated risks…

For new people to the hobby, this forum is filled with LOADS of great threads with information and opinion. But the basics are key, and impulses can be regretful.

I couldn’t make a short post if you paid me…

 

[Myraan]

.....you didn't say what the fish are and if they are cool?

 

[FFGuest6357]

.....you didn't say what the fish are and if they are cool?

that is absolutely correct, and done on purpose. It will be disclosed in the future possibly, provided I get my new stocking to where I want it.

it is beside the point, and irrelevant. I will say that they are fairly common, and quite affordable.

but that is not the point. I had a properly cycled quarantine tank, parameters are good, I have done everything by the “book” (the broadest sense of the book). Sometimes you just get bad luck with sick fish. The take away is that those sick fish are going to survive and hopefully thrive without killing other fish.

again, newbies, do your homework.

I can only take solice in the fact that if it wasn’t me who bought the fish, they could have just died in store, or possibly worse, wiped out someone else’s tank…

 

[FFGuest6357]

Also, don’t get discouraged… I will be hopeful that this story has a happy ending…

 

[Attenbruh]

I will say that they are fairly common, and quite affordable.

*Deep breath*
Goldfish
neon tetras
discus
cardinal tetras
angel fish
Bristlenose...

And just remembered it was an LFS tank, oh.

 

[FFGuest6357]

You’re not right, but you’re not wrong. Either way, you won’t get a straight answer.

I will gladly entertain guessing games, as long as the main points are understood. The rest will be what is.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Ich is 'interesting' in that it seems that stress can cause ich to flare up even in what had been very healthy fish. I often wonder if the stress of chasing, catching, bagging, and transporting fish may just cause enough stress to sometimes trigger ich.
I know that many prefer salt and/or raising the temperature to 86°F, but I like to keep Hikari ICH-X on hand (one of the only medicines I have).

 

[itiwhetu]

Is your Q tank fully planted.

 

[Colin_T]

This is a good reason to quarantine all new fish, shrimp, plants and snails for at least 2 (preferably 4) weeks before adding them to an established aquarium.

 

[FFGuest6357]

Ich is 'interesting' in that it seems that stress can cause ich to flare up even in what had been very healthy fish. I often wonder if the stress of chasing, catching, bagging, and transporting fish may just cause enough stress to sometimes trigger ich.
I know that many prefer salt and/or raising the temperature to 86°F, but I like to keep Hikari ICH-X on hand (one of the only medicines I have).

Interesting point you make. And I know this to be true in some previous experiences.

it did take the keeper quite a bit of time to capture the fish. I imagine stress would play a role here. It was only a 12 minutes drive home before I was able to start acclimating the fish.

I went without the salt treatment as I have some cories that are also serving a time out. From what I have read cories can be sensitive to salt.

Last time I checked I could not get hikaris ich x in Canada. I have been treating with API’s ich meds, and it seems to be working.

My remaining fish are almost white-spot free, and are behaving better. I’m keeping up the water changes, trying to keep things as clean as possible.

again, I’ll say it, buyer be ware, better I lose a few fish than to have someone lose their whole stock.

I know @Colin_T preaches proper diagnosis before treating sick fish, but the fact that I am seeing signs of recovery means I made a good decision, even if API isn’t the best cure.

 

[Colin_T]

If you don't have access to or don't want to use chemicals, you can treat white spot with heat. Simply raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the white spots have disappeared. The heat kills the parasite and you don't need chemicals.

Salt does nothing to white spot. The parasite lives in fresh, brackish and seawater.

If the fish were new and developed white spot in quarantine, they had it at the shop before you got them.

 

[itiwhetu]

Out of interest is your QT tank fully planted and a smaller version of your main tank. If it isn't then when you place your fish in the main tank they are going to go through another environment change which will mean quarantining your fish will be a waste of time because your fish are going to be stressed again. The only way quarantine works is if it is an introduction to your main system. If the parameters are not identical then there is no point in quarantining fish.

 

[AbbeysDad]

If you don't have access to or don't want to use chemicals, you can treat white spot with heat.

I once calibrated a spare heater to 86°F in a 5g bucket of water so that if/when ICH reared it's ugly head, I could just drop the "ich heater" into the tank and plug it in. No fuss. After the treatment was complete and all signs of ich were well gone, I simply unplug and remove the 'ich heater' so the temperature slowly comes back down to normal.
I'd consider this 'ich heater' like having a bottle of Ich-x on hand.

 

[FFGuest6357]

These fish brought it home for sure.
I’ve kept this tank’s water pristine, double filter action, tons of beneficial bacteria.

Again, last time I’ll buy fish from this store. Looks like I’ll have zero survivors. It manifested very quickly, and as I was able to treat right away, these fish appear to me to have already been compromised, or further compromised health wise. Of the four fish I have left, one is swimming on a 45 degree upright angle, one has a huge outbreak on the side of its body, one has almost all of its fins deteriorated, and the last one looks like the runt in size and is washed out almost completely from its colour.

Im riding a hope and prayer here, but I’m not sure I can or could have done anything else. Just keep them fed, water clean.

Temperature has been sitting steady at 84F for the last 4 days. Treatment has been per directions. Parameters are all good, 0:0:10-20ppm(changed out daily). Ph is steady at 6.9-7.0. All acceptable to the species.

I think these fish were all destined for a porcelain send off to begin with. Did my best. It sucks. It’s not over, but it looks like surrender is imminent. Any thoughts @Colin_T ? At what point do I go forward with the “E” word?

Remember kids… QUARANTINE, assume all your new fish have Covid…

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Salt does nothing to white spot. The parasite lives in fresh, brackish and seawater.

Salt may do nothing to the ich, but can do a lot for fish immune systems and electrolytes. Each of those little ich creatures makes hole.