Hello I am new to this feed and need a little help. I have been keeping fish for quite some time about 13 ish years. I currently have a 40 gal tank with a aqua clear 70 hob filter. I have been struggling latly on keeping fish due to some fungus or parasite in my tank. I have been thinking its been ich the last few times. Been treating for ich now for about 3 days. I had 10 tiger barbs when i started when I only saw one small white dot. Now by the 3rd day I have lost 5 fish and soon to be more. Fish are just cover in these white dots that have a little white **** now forming. Tank is at 80°f would just like some input on why this is spreading like wild fire and now killed many many fish on me in the last year due to the same issue. Fish in the picture attached are the best pictures I could get. Fish have been purchased 1 mouth ago. Any help on what this is and what to do would help alot, thanks
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Random parasites or fungus....
- Thread starter Jor124dan
- Start date
Retired Viking
Fish Connoisseur
Raise the temp to 86 to 89 degrees and do daily 50% or more water changes, remember to treat the new water with conditioner. Do this for 2 weeks. You can add marine salt about 2 tablespoons per 5 gallons, this should be added slowly to the tank by dissolving it in water and adding that water to the tank, do this over a few days not all at once. @Colin_T can correct me if I am wrong, it has been a few years since I had to deal with ich.
Last edited:
Hi and welcome to the forum 
The tiger barb looks like it is covered in excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. This can be ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, wrong pH, medications, plant fertilisers or any other chemical that got into the water.
You need to test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
Post some pictures of the other fish in the tank.
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The safest way to treat white spot (I don't think this is white spot) is to raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks. The white spot parasite can't tolerate the high temperature and dies. No chemicals needed.
If you do raise the temperature to 30C, do a 80-90% water change and complete gravel clean beforehand. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank. And clean the filter too. Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels.
The tiger barb looks like it is covered in excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. This can be ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, wrong pH, medications, plant fertilisers or any other chemical that got into the water.
You need to test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
Post some pictures of the other fish in the tank.
--------------------
The safest way to treat white spot (I don't think this is white spot) is to raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks. The white spot parasite can't tolerate the high temperature and dies. No chemicals needed.
If you do raise the temperature to 30C, do a 80-90% water change and complete gravel clean beforehand. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank. And clean the filter too. Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels.
I just tested my water parameters with my test kit and I got some readings. I know for a fact that I always have had high ph levels in my water and also my water hardness is high. I tried one time in the past to lower the ph with pH reducer and didn't seem to show any changes. Also never done anything to try and change that hardness Not really sure on the others but all look to be normal. I will attach the best pictures that I can of the test results. Any help on what I could add to make anything that doesn't look right to make it right. I currently have zeo carb, carbon, and bio balls in my filter. All the pictures I added previously are all of the fish that are left in the tank. 1 more passed and now currently down to only 4 fish in tank all are tiger barbs. Any help will be grateful. Also if nothing can be done what would be the best fish for my parameters in my tank?Hi and welcome to the forum
The tiger barb looks like it is covered in excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. This can be ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, wrong pH, medications, plant fertilisers or any other chemical that got into the water.
You need to test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
Post some pictures of the other fish in the tank.
--------------------
The safest way to treat white spot (I don't think this is white spot) is to raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks. The white spot parasite can't tolerate the high temperature and dies. No chemicals needed.
If you do raise the temperature to 30C, do a 80-90% water change and complete gravel clean beforehand. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank. And clean the filter too. Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels.
Attachments
You won't be able to change the pH due to the high GH, and you probably have a high KH (carbonate hardness) too. These three are linked and the high GH and KH prevents the pH from dropping.
The only way to lower your pH, would be to use reverse osmosis (r/o) or distilled water to dilute the tap water. R/O and distilled water have a pH of 7.0 and a GH of 0ppm. Depending on the fish you keep and the actual numbers for the GH and KH, you would have to add 50% r/o or distilled water and 50% tap water, or something like that. However, I wouldn't bother trying to lower the pH or GH, because they don't have anything to do with the fish problem.
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Carbon is not needed in an aquarium filter unless you have chemicals or heavy metals in the water.
Not sure what Zeo Carb is. I assume it's zeolite and carbon mixed up. Zeolite is used to remove ammonia from the water and stops the beneficial filter bacteria from growing.
In most filters, all you need is sponges. Bio balls are fine as are ceramic beads. When it's time to replace the carbon, I would put a sponge in the filter. Then a month later swap the zeo carb for another sponge. The sponges will last for years and you simply wash them out in a bucket of tank water ad re-use the sponge. the bucket of dirty water gets poured on the garden/ lawn.
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If the water quality is good then the only other possible cause of excess mucous like that on the fish, is external protozoan parasites like Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina. These can be treated with salt (see directions below).
Before you add salt, wipe the inside of the glass down, and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter too, wash filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. After that, add salt.
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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate will not affect plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
The only way to lower your pH, would be to use reverse osmosis (r/o) or distilled water to dilute the tap water. R/O and distilled water have a pH of 7.0 and a GH of 0ppm. Depending on the fish you keep and the actual numbers for the GH and KH, you would have to add 50% r/o or distilled water and 50% tap water, or something like that. However, I wouldn't bother trying to lower the pH or GH, because they don't have anything to do with the fish problem.
-----------------
Carbon is not needed in an aquarium filter unless you have chemicals or heavy metals in the water.
Not sure what Zeo Carb is. I assume it's zeolite and carbon mixed up. Zeolite is used to remove ammonia from the water and stops the beneficial filter bacteria from growing.
In most filters, all you need is sponges. Bio balls are fine as are ceramic beads. When it's time to replace the carbon, I would put a sponge in the filter. Then a month later swap the zeo carb for another sponge. The sponges will last for years and you simply wash them out in a bucket of tank water ad re-use the sponge. the bucket of dirty water gets poured on the garden/ lawn.
-----------------
If the water quality is good then the only other possible cause of excess mucous like that on the fish, is external protozoan parasites like Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina. These can be treated with salt (see directions below).
Before you add salt, wipe the inside of the glass down, and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter too, wash filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. After that, add salt.
-----------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate will not affect plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
I found this interesting article by a fish pathologist: https://www.bassleer.com/ornamental...s/3/2016/12/INFOFISHFish-Health-_-05-2012.pdf
Not the most encouraging news, but if it isn't ich and you wind up losing these remaining fish, it would be worth tearing down the tank, bleach cleaning everything and re-cycling before adding new fish to the tank, given you've been battling this for so long, it sounds like it might not be ich I'm afraid. More research into how to battle these other possibilities, or how to sterilise the tank and all equipment after an outbreak before adding fresh stock would be wise.
I'm sorry you're going through this, it looks awful Please don't give up though, even if it means starting over, it's not your fault, just some rotten luck. I'd recommend starting a new thread to ask for stocking advice, make sure to include tank size and dimension and water parameters, give some ideas about the kind of fish you like and whether you'd like a species only or community tank, and people will be happy to give suggestions!
Not the most encouraging news, but if it isn't ich and you wind up losing these remaining fish, it would be worth tearing down the tank, bleach cleaning everything and re-cycling before adding new fish to the tank, given you've been battling this for so long, it sounds like it might not be ich I'm afraid. More research into how to battle these other possibilities, or how to sterilise the tank and all equipment after an outbreak before adding fresh stock would be wise.
I'm sorry you're going through this, it looks awful
Please don't give up though, even if it means starting over, it's not your fault, just some rotten luck. I'd recommend starting a new thread to ask for stocking advice, make sure to include tank size and dimension and water parameters, give some ideas about the kind of fish you like and whether you'd like a species only or community tank, and people will be happy to give suggestions!
Tez_20
Fishaholic
@Jor124dan to the forum and sorry your going through this but you can't go wrong with Colins advice.Similar threads
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