Ich Outbreak?

[7F3WI4M]

Hi, i'm new here. Please forgive me if there is a thread already on this. If so, can you lead me in the right direction to finding it?

This morning I woke up, and before eating went to feed my Clown Loach, 2 Silver Tipped Sharks, 3 Red Glass Barbs, and my Albino Rainbow Shark.

One of the Silver tipped sharks (There was three, now two) died yesterday. I couldn't think of what it could be. But now with further inspection I saw both the silver tipped sharks have ich.

I quarantined them in my hospital tank IMMEDIATELY. Now it turns out, the Clown Loach might actually have the ich too. This was a last minute quarantine tank set up.. and now I think the whole tank has ich.

Questions for you guys:

1. Can I re-add the sharks back, and then just treat the entire tank?
2. The Sharks and CL are scaleless, while the RG Barbs aren't, does this affect dosages?
3. Is it too late for the two sharks? are they off to fishy heaven? It may be too late and I say this because they look very ill. They didn't eat last night either.
4. IF the whole tank doesn't make it... do I have to clean everything out? Or will the virus die off in a day without a host?
5. If they are all cured, will the virus come back? Or do they build up an immunity to it?


THANK - YOU !

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons or litres is your tank?
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph?

Whitespot look like the fish has been sprinkled in salt.
Tiny white spots on fish fins, body.

Once a fish has Whitepot, you medicate the whole tank.
If you keep inverts, make sure you can use the med with them in the tank.
If not remove them.
Raise temp to 30.
Increase aeration.
Remove black carbon from filter.

Clown loachs do have scales. They are tiny so makes them hard to see.

 

[7F3WI4M]

How many gallons or litres is your tank?
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph?

Whitespot look like the fish has been sprinkled in salt.
Tiny white spots on fish fins, body.

Once a fish has Whitepot, you medicate the whole tank.
If you keep inverts, make sure you can use the med with them in the tank.
If not remove them.
Raise temp to 30.
Increase aeration.
Remove black carbon from filter.

Clown loachs do have scales. They are tiny so makes them hard to see.

50 gals (for the moment), we ordered a bigger one
0 Am. Ph is 7.2, Nitrates 0, and Nitrites (Petsmart said 10 ppm when they tested my water).

They do have it, no doubt. Either that or something else closely related to it.

Should I add the sharks back then to the 50 gal and just treat it or no?

I have 2 airstones and 2 filters working at all times, it has some salt in the water for good measures. The Temp is currently at 80 Deg.

There isn't any carbon in the filter so.

Thank you

 

[7F3WI4M]

I'll add, the sharks are COVERED in small, white dots. However, everything else in the 50 gal seems fine, other then the Clown Loach. He loves to hide in "his cave" that he likes to stay in. He came out for a little bit, to play with the barbs. Thats when I noticed three white dots on him. One near the tail, one in the mid-section, and one by his head. The funny thing is, it only covers ONE side of his body. He isn't scratching up against anything and acts normal. We bought him yesterday too, so he is fairly new. Could the dots just be a natural pattern?

 

[WILDER]

Remove the salt with water changes.
Not all fish tolerate salt. Clown loach is one.

Add the sharks back to tank, but match temp.

When you do a water change. Just add the correct amount of med back to water removed.

It's rare to have a nitrate reading of 0.
Have you got mixed up with the ammonia reading.

Once a fish has whitespot you have to treat the whole tank.

It sounds like whitespot to me.

Can you load a pic up of the sharks onto the site.

 

[7F3WI4M]

Maybe Wilder, I only got those #'s from Petsmarts water testing, so I may be thinking of the ammonia.
There isn't much salt in the tank, it's quite little. Could this be the reason for the Loaches dots?

 

[WILDER]

http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/ichthyophthirius

 

[7F3WI4M]

I can TRY to upload a picture. They're very fast, so it's hard to get an accurate picture of them.

 

[WILDER]

Pic of Whitespot.

I doubt it's the salt.
it would fall off when they move.

 

[7F3WI4M]

Sorry if this is bad quality or whatever. I tried as best as I could with my iPhone.

This should be bigger..

I'm going to treat the 50 Gal now with Ich meds, and use a little bit more then half the dosage, but not the full recommended dose. I'm guessing this may be the stage where they're all looking for a host. Even if there is NO ich in the tank, is it harmful to the fish to add meds?

 

[WILDER]

What med are you using?
Does the instructions state to only half dose with sensitive fish.
It's the copper based meds that are more harmful to sensitive fish.


I can't see the spots on the fish. The pics are not big enough.

Fish don't have to be constantly flicking and rubbing with Whitespot.

 

[7F3WI4M]

It's calle Mardel® Biospheres® Maracide® Spot Treatment for Fish. I can't get the pic much bigger, but when I get back I will try again. It doesn't read copper or nothing that I can find in the instructions for sensitive fish.

Thanks for your help!

 

[WILDER]

OK.
If the instructions tells you to use full dose with no exceptions. I would use full dose.

Good Luck.

 

[7F3WI4M]

I'll read the instruction manual that came with, as on the bottle it says "Treat with 2 capfuls per 10 Gallons"

Heres a *hopefully* larger pic:

Thanks

 

[7F3WI4M]

As mentioned, I want to move the sharks back out of the 10 Gal Hospital tank and back into the 50 gal. Since they seem to be in stage one, would it make more sense if I leave them in the hospital tank UNTIL they are in the last stages, and are medicated? Since they are in stage one, i'm worried if moving them could make things worse in the 50G.

I'm treating both tanks in a moment.