Is this ich?

[Oli]

Is this ich on my 2 new EBA’s pectoral fins

 

[Colin_T]

Bit hard to say but I would monitor them and if they disappear in a couple of days, it is possibly white spot.

The safest way to treat white spot in tropical fish is to raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the white dots have gone.

Before you raise the water temperature, do a huge (80-90%) water change and gravel clean. This will reduce the number of parasites in the tank. Clean the filter, and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen level in the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If you have trouble getting the water temp to 30C, insulate the base, back and sides of the tank with 1-2 inch thick sheets of polystyrene foam. Just tape them to the outside. And have a coverglass on the tank.

 

[Oli]

Sure thing, I’ll get on all this in the morning, thank! Also ordered some “API White Spot Cure”. Anyone have experience?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't use the chemicals, just cancel the order and use heat.

 

[itiwhetu]

Sure thing, I’ll get on all this in the morning, thank! Also ordered some “API White Spot Cure”. Anyone have experience?

No chemicals, just heat. Like what @Colin_T said

 

[OliveFish05]

Looks to be so. Electric blue acaras very commonly come home with ich. Mine did. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me so far with my tanks. I moved sand and decor from the EBA’s tank to my guppy tank, then realized they all had ich. By the time I realized, it was severe and I couldn’t save the guppies. Of course the acara lived on to terrorize my bloodfin tetras. This was my guy with ich

 

[Oli]

Unfortunately I don’t use heaters as all my tanks sit happy at 25 c off the room temperature alone. I have just been out to by a 300watt heater and am doing a water change/clean as we speak. Should I gradually raise the temperature or do I just set it to 30 and it’ll be gradual enough. Also how would I go about removing the heater when the ich is resolved?

 

[Oli]

Also am I right in thinking this orange light means it is on but not yet at temperature. I take it when it hits 30, the light will turn off to indicate it is 30 degrees

 

[Oblio]

Also am I right in thinking this orange light means it is on but not yet at temperature. I take it when it hits 30, the light will turn off to indicate it is 30 degrees

You are correct!

It should turn off at 30, but it is best to check with an accurate thermometer. It will then turn off until the temp drops a (usually) fixed amount. This allows for Hysteresis, a fancy word for the gap between on and off temperature. If the hysteresis is too small, the heater will cycle on and off too rapidly, leading to reduced reliability. This is more critical for cheaper heaters with bi-metallic contacts with a limited number of cycles before they fail, usually in the on state.

 

[Essjay]

Yes. Once it reaches temperature it will turn off. it will continue to turn on and off as the water temperature drops slightly so it will turn on to warm it back up.

However, the majority of heaters are not well calibrated. The setting on the dial is not the same as the temperature it will heat to. You need to set the dial to whatever number gives the temperature you want, as measured by a thermometer in the water - those which stick on the outside of the tank are influenced the air temperature.


It's not just aquarium heaters. When the grill element in my cooker broke, the repair man said that when an oven thermostat needs to be replaced, you have to learn how to cook again as the new thermostat won't heat the to same temperature as the old one did when the temp control knob is set to the same setting.

 

[Oblio]

And not to hijack too much, one day I want to perhaps get an Inkbird temp controller, or maybe make my own, because I like the idea of being able to calibrate the themometer, monitor via WiFi, and other such geeky things.

 

[Oli]

What seems to be the risk in using the API Ich treatment. Have read plenty of good things about it, can it really be so bad to couple with the heat treatment as well? I have also read about adding salt and seen conflicting information on regular table salt vs aquarium salt etc. and how much to use? Also information on removing carbon from the filter? Thanks for any help, want to do everything possible to ensure these fish survive. I will not be adding fish in the future without quarantine.

 

[OliveFish05]

What seems to be the risk in using the API Ich treatment. Have read plenty of good things about it, can it really be so bad to couple with the heat treatment as well? I have also read about adding salt and seen conflicting information on regular table salt vs aquarium salt etc. and how much to use? Also information on removing carbon from the filter? Thanks for any help, want to do everything possible to ensure these fish survive. I will not be adding fish in the future without quarantine.

Coupling meds with increased temps adds additional stress. It is best to pick one and stick with it!

 

[Colin_T]

What seems to be the risk in using the API Ich treatment. Have read plenty of good things about it, can it really be so bad to couple with the heat treatment as well? I have also read about adding salt and seen conflicting information on regular table salt vs aquarium salt etc. and how much to use? Also information on removing carbon from the filter? Thanks for any help, want to do everything possible to ensure these fish survive. I will not be adding fish in the future without quarantine.

There is nothing really wrong with using chemicals to treat white spot. However, one of the main ingredients in white spot medication is Malachite Green (aka Victoria Green). This stuff is carcinogenic (causes cancer) and can have some serious side effects to anyone or anything that comes in contact with it.
If you have a choice of being treated by something safe (eg: heat), or a cancer causing chemical, which would you prefer?

Salt does nothing to white spot so don't bother with that.

Carbon needs to be removed from filters if you use any medication, otherwise the carbon will remove the medication and the fish won't get better.

More information about white spot can be found at the following link. Post #1 & 16 are worth a read.

What is ICH?

This is a common question that is often asked, what is ich and how is it recognisable and what causes it? The real term is ICHTHYOPHTHIRIASIS. OR commonly known as white spot. It is an extremely comon parasite that affects aquarium fish. It is highly infectious and potentially lethal and...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Oli]

Okay for now I have my tanks at 30 degrees Celsius and am monitoring. I will not add salt or any treatments and if (hopefully when) the white spots disappear, I will keep it for a further 7 days and then begin to gradually reduce temperature back to heater free level of 25 degrees before finally removing the heater. Does this sound right?