Ich?

[KellyT1203]

Not sure if this is ich or not. I was doing a water change in my 40 gallon tank and noticed my yellow something molly has little pebble like spots on its body. A few of my silver molly's and a black molly has the same spots, but not as many.

That particular black molly has been treated for ich in the past but it has looked different (looked like white cotton). That is why I am not sure if this is ich or not. If this is ich would it be ok to treat it with API Super Ick Cure?

I have used this in the past and it worked ok. The directions are to pour a packet (1 for each 10 gallons) into the tank. Let it sit for 48 hours with filter funning with out the carbon cartridge. Repeat the dose and then 48 hours later do a water change.

Would this be ok if this is ich or does anyone suggest something different or better? This stuff makes my water turn blue. Plus, my ammonia levels have been hovering around .25-.50 ppm (tank still cycling). The nitrites are 0 and nitrates barely show a reading. Should I do water changes too or just let it ride.

In my tank:

2 platys
2 scissor tail rasboras
7 mollys (2 male, 2 female)

 

[cgbender]

Ick happens. As I have been told it apperes more when the water conditions are not that great. As for "white cottony growths" thats a fungus. Small white spots that look like sugar or salt crystals now thats ick. I would tell you what Im always told make sure you keep four things under your tank: an anti-fungal, an anti-bactiral, aquarium salt, and Rid-ick.
NOW the most important thing to know is READ the label, several medications are bad for individual species or even yourself.

 

[Colin_T]

As mentioned by cgbender, the white cotton stuff your molly had previously sounds more like fungus.

Ich or white spot is characterised by little white dots on the fish's body & fins. The dots are about 1mm in diameter. Sometimes the fish will rub themselves on rocks or ornaments trying to relieve the itch caused by the attached parasites.

Whitespot is usually caused by stress and sometimes happens in new tanks when high ammonia or nitrite levels stress the fish. It is also common in winter when water changes are done and cold tap water drops the tank's temperature a couple of degrees. This stresses the fish and can cause it to occur. Finally it can be brought in with new fish or plants from a contaminated tank. This is a good reason to have a quarantine tank available for new fish.

Do a partial water change using dechlorinated water with a similar temp & PH to the tank. Then start treating the fish.
Most general whitespot medications are fine but check the directions to make sure they are safe for the fish in your tank. None of the medications should be a problem for platies, mollies & rasboras but some will cause issues to catfish and loaches.

If the spots aren't white then it could be something else. Velvet prodcues tiny yellow or gold coloured spots. The spots are less than 1/2mm in diamteter and usually appear in clusters over the body so the fish appears to have a gold sheen.
Black spots about 2-3mm diameter are caused by a parasitic worm but is uncommon in aquaria.

 

[KellyT1203]

This makes total sense. About a week ago I noticed my male sailfin dalmation molly itch himself on a skull that is in our tank. It looked kind of funny to me. Then yesterday I noticed the white spots on a few other fish, some more than others. The platys look fine but are being treated anyways.

I dropped some of the ich treatment stuff I used last time into the tank. I couldn't find my male sailfin dalmation molly. I gave up and went to bed. This morning I found him tits up at the bottom of the tank. Poor little buddy.

Thats ok though because I think I am a little overstocked while the tank is cycling. I thought it had cycled pretty quickly so I added a few fish. Then my moms fish were practically killing each other. She had 3 mollys in a 5 gallon tank. I took them on so that they wouldn't kill each other. So I added 7 fish within 24 hours of each other. Now my ammonia levels aren't horrible but aren't normal so I am doing water changes like a mad woman.

Anyways, since the tank has been set up (2 weeks with fish now), I have only had one casualty. I am feeling pretty good about it. I am just praying others don't die. They are looking pretty good so far.

As for the white cottony stuff on my black male molly that I treated for ich (thought it was ich until now) a few months ago, the stuff I used to treat ich worked just fine and cleared up the fungus. I just noticed on the packaging for the ich treatment that I bought that it "combats secondary bacterial finections." It cleared it up with 2 rounds of treatments and haven't had a problem with that fish since.

Keep your fingers crossed that more fish don't die.

 

[Colin_T]

they should be fine because you noticed the problem and are doing something about it

many aquarium medications treat more than one thing.

To keep the ammonia levels low just cut the feeding back for the next week or so. The less food going into the tank the less ammonia produced. The fish will be fine for a week or two without much food.

The whitespot parasite can take a week or more to kill off. It has 3 phases to its lifecycle.
1) the white spots are seen on the fish.
2) the whitespots fall off the fish and sit in the gravel dividing.
3) the whitespot cysts in the gravel rupture and release 1000s of little parasites that reinfest the fish.
You can only kill the parasite when it is free swimming from the third stage. This means you have to keep medication in the water for a week or so after the spots have fallen off the fish.

fins crossed for good luck

 

[KellyT1203]

I went to my LFS and got some WuICK Cure. It says to use 1 drop per gallon per day. I had planned on using it for at least a week. I am such a tard though. I didn't ask him if I should wait or start treatment today.

I started treatment yesterday with a powder that says to treat then retreat 48 hours later. It is the same ingredients in both types of medications. So I am wondering if I should hold off on treating with the new stuff until tomorrow or start treating today.

I also bought aquarium salt for my tank. I read that it helps to enhance the fish disease treatment. It says to put 1 tablespoon for every 5 US gallons. I have put in 4 so far, and will be putting in 3 more. I have a 40 gallon tank but am only treating for 35 because of water displacement for rocks, undergravel filter and all the decorations I have in there.

Any thoughts?

Kelly

 

[Colin_T]

salt doesn't normally enhance medications. It does help relax the fish and can kill some forms of bacteria and fungus if the levels get high enough.
Wait until the 48hours is up before adding the new medication. If you want to add the new medication sooner then do a big water change using dechlorinated water that has a similar temperature and PH to the tank. Make sure you don't have any carbon in the filters because it will absorb the medication.

 

[KellyT1203]

Thanks for the info. The carbon filter was taken out when I added the powder. I may do a water change tonight but probably not very much and then maybe add half a treatment of the new stuff.

Thanks again,
Kelly

 

[scooterchick]

Hi Kelly,

You have a cycling, you MUST do water changes. If you don't no need to worry about the whitespots cos the amonia will get your fish. It sounds as though your tank has barely began to cycle and you have disease already, that's a lot for the fish to cope with and I doubt your fish will survive the nect month.

However, I don't think the LFS will take back diseased fish, or if they do they'll just destroy them so what can you do. Well, if your scissortails look ok, I'd take them back, trade them in for some marine salt and heavily salt that tank, do water changes everyday, remember to add salt to the new water. The prority has to be getting that tank cycled. Where do you live? Could someone give you some mature media from their tank?

 

[KellyT1203]

I live in Oregon. I have a 10 gallon tank that has already been cycled. The stats are completely normal except the pH hovers around 6, no ammonia, no nitrites, very little nitrates.

I can use that but I just did a 15 gallon water change and added the ich treatment to my larger tank. I have never transferred filter media, only tank water after a tank change of my 10 gallon (gravel cleaning too).

I have aquarium salt to add. I was planning on adding 3 tablespoons since I changed out 15 gallons of water. Unless you suggest me do more or less.

Fish in the tank has changed. My lyretail molly died and I moved my pregnant female dalmation molly into my 10 gallon tank a few days before I noticed the ich. So I am treating the 10 gallon for ich also as a just in case. My dalmation molly does not have any spots on her at all.

So currently, in my 40 gallon I have 2 scissor tail rasboras, 1 male molly and 4 female mollys, and my 2 platys. I can move one or two more fish into my 10 gallon if thats what is suggested.

I know there is a lot going on. I think I just JUMPED to the gun when setting up my new tank. I only had 4 in at once and then added 4, then the next day took 3 of my moms mollys because they were killing each other in her tiny 5 gallon tank.