Is my bristlenose sick?

[Pipb9]

Hi, we have a bristlenose catfish/pleco that has these spots/marks on him. I would like help identifying them and any suggestions on how to treat them please. We did have a problem with white spot/ich a couple of weeks ago and the few fish we had died so we now only have the bristlenose, a few amano shrimp and some snails. He is eating and is active.

 

[Byron]

That does not look good, but I will not guess as to what it is. Other memnbers will have better knowledge to help you, but they will want mnore data. Please post all you can about the water parameters (GH, pH, temperature), test results for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. Water changes, cleaning, filter cleaning. How you treated the ich. Tank size, how long it has been running.

 

[Pipb9]

The tank is 200l, been running for about 2 years, I've been doing 40l water changes once a week and clean the filter media in the tank water that I take out. I've just done a dipstick test for the parameters as I dont gave enough liquid test to do one tonight, the readings are GH 120, KH 80, PH 7, NITRITE 0, NITRATE 40. Temperature is at 24. The man at maidenhead aquatics told us to use Aquacare anti fungus/ whitespot liquid, 10ml mixed into 1 litre of water every other day for a week, with the temperature at 28. To kill off the ich, told him what we had in the tank and he said they would be fine. Have we damaged bristlenose with the ich treatment ??

 

[Metalhead88]

He's sick. I don't believe that is ich. Not really sure what it is. Are any other fish affected? For starters, work on getting your nitrates lower. Doing bigger water changes of at least 75% a week should be part of your normal routine.

 

[Metalhead88]

Also, what is your ammonia?

 

[Byron]

I agree, nitrates need to get much lower. On these, have you tested the tap water on its own for nitrate? This is worth knowing as nitrates in the tap water are one issue while nitrates occurring within the aquarium are another and more easily dealt with as well. But 40 ppm is detrimental to all fish so this needs looking into.

I know nothing about the ich medication, but for the future...if you have ich and are fairly certain it is ich, the best and safest treatment is to raise the temperature to 86F (30 C) for two weeks. This will usually kill the ich at one stage of its cycle, so the two weeks ensures better coverage. Most fish can tolerate this elevated temperature for 2 weeks.

 

[Barry Tetra]

That’s “catfish” fungus, do 80% water change, raise the temperature like @Byron said but don’t forget to unplug the heater before cleaning the tank.

 

[Pipb9]

Thankyou for your replies and help. My nitrates are now down to 20, ammonia is 0.

Unfortunately he died. Took me abit by surprise as it is the first loss like this and I thought I was doing well but I have only been doing this for about 3 years so still lots to learn.

 

[FallenPepper]

That looks like ammonia burns how high was your ammonia?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Ask @Deanasue, she is a illness expert.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I’m so sorry for your loss. I’ve never seen that on a pleco so I’m at a loss.

 

[Retired Viking]

Sorry for your loss

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I’m sorry for your loss.