Please Help-Fish seem to have weird white bumps on them

[Jlictro24]

I have a 20gal tank with 5 zebra danios and 2 albino cories. One of the danios and one of the cories seem to have weird white bumps on them. Does this look like ich? In my opinion the cory just seems to have weird white flakes and it is probably not ich(it is also not behaving oddly). The danio however does seem to have white bumps on his head/fins and so I am worried he might. He is definitely also behaving weird, his tail seems droopy and although he is actively swimming, I've also been seeing him rest on the substrate which is abnormal.

My tank was cycled prior to adding any fish, but recently I had a slight ammonia spike recently which would explain the odd behavior(after several water changes when I checked the water today there was 0.25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate), but I can't think of any other reason for the bumps. Could it be some other fungal infection?

I am very new to fish keeping, so any help or guidance or anything at all would be extremely appreciated, thank you.

 

[FranciscoB]

That is ick alright. A heavy infestation. Don’t wait any time. I would treat immediately.

 

[Sgooosh]

it's ick!
get an ick cure medicine from a pet store or online
raise the temperature to 86 f

the cories are probably irritated by the rough gravel. i'd say separate them into a clear smooth plastic container with holes attatched to the tank so they don't scratch themselves anymore

 

[JuiceBox52]

I agree it's ich. Turn the temp up to 86°f a few degrees at a time over half a day or so. Do some large waterchanges and vacuum the gravel. Keep the temperature up for 2 weeks at least. Add an air stone or turn the valve up on your filter because warmer water holds less oxygen. Good luck

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

While some of the stuff looks a bit like white spot (Ichthyopthphirius), most of it looks like excess mucous.

Fish have a thin layer of clear mcuous over their body and fins. It protects them from chemicals and microscopic organisms in the water. If the fish is stressed by something, it produces more mucous that can appear as a cream, white or grey film or patches over the head, body and or fins.

If the aquairum water had ammonia or nitrite in, that would stress the fish and cause them to prodce more mucous.


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I would do a huge (80-90%) water change and gravel clean the substrate. You should also do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm. This will dilute any ammonia and or disease organisms in the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You can also raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after al the white "spots" have gone. If it is white spot, then heat (warm water) will kill the parasites without the need for chemicals. This is better for the fish, especially if they are already stressed out from poor water quality (ammonia or nitrite issues).


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Before you raise the temperature, do the following:
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.


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Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and if you get a reading, do a big water change and reduce feeding to 3 times a week. Don't worry, the fish won't starve.

Post more pictures and water test results for ammonia and nitrite if things get worse.