Uncurable ich / ick / white spot

[Dephea]

Alright, before I lose it and go back to keeping rodents instead of fish...

Water parameters still absolutely fine. Nitrites spike sometimes due to my anorectic bala and extra frozen daphnia for that bad boi, but I battle that with water changes, cleaning filter sponges and vacuuming the sand.

I have insulated the tank exactly 7 days ago, added 2nd heater on the other end of the tank (cold room), replaced gravel with sand (AKA removed literally all possible gunk from the tank) and since then maintained very consistent temperature of 30 degrees. Using King British white spot meds every 2 days as per the leaflet, on slightly over half dosage due to loaches.

Most white spots disappeared from the random fish, one loach is still bad but doesn't seem to be getting worse. The spots are taking their time to fall off. No flashing from BNP, nothing from the ram either. Never seen that little dude happier tbf, all proud and very nicely coloured. But what did I notice today?

MY GOURAMIS ON A BLOODY FLASHING CONTEST. Who can flash more in one go without going dizzy seems to be the common theme, 1 bala shark is flashing too. Most seem to specifically target their gills. I tested the water just now (did 50% change yesterday) - ammonia 0, nitrites 0, not sure about nitrates, still waiting for my kit to be delivered as i ran out. Nitrites were between 0 and 0.25 yesterday right before I did WC and on 0 after, tested it twice today, both on 0 as well.

I have 1 more dose left of the king british meds and I am tempted to do WC, run carbon, give it a week and see if fresh water with no meds helps and if not attack this with Esha mix. I was told today in Maidenhead Aquatics where I just randomly asked them how they treat flashing in fish that Esha gdex + exit + 2000 is a great combo and usually treats a wide range of issues but also doesn't have any side effects if used correctly.

Before I do this - does it sound like a reasonable plan?


EDIT: forgot to add that after the 50% WC I did not notice any excessive flashing, the problem really started this evening so solid 24h after the WC

 

[Dephea]

Alright, one last try... @Colin_T tagging you as you're always educating me BIG time so I hope I will be able to eventually resolve this problem

When googling photos of velvet I often see white spots on fish, very tiny and very close. I tried to shine the torch during the night but I am not entirely sure what I'm looking for, some of my fish have the yellowish sheen on them but it's their natural colour I believe? Is it possible that I am treating one issue hence why the ich is clearing up nicely but the flashing continues because of velvet? Frankly I am so confused as to what I am looking for when it comes to velvet...

EDIT: do bala sharks have golden sheen on the tops of their bodies? Because if not then velvet might actually be the answer here. Can't see anything weird on my yellow gouramis because they are... yellow.... but Balas seem to be the most glittery and I actually didn't think they could, I thought they were supposed to be silver, not golden

If so should I just stick to the previous idea of giving the fish some time in clean water with no meds, run carbon and just attack it with Esha gdex+exit+2000? I have other meds but I can't remove my shrimps and I don't have a tank big enough to quarantine the fish, Esha seems to be safe for shrimps.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

I followed colins advice with this,and although I still see the odd fish flash,I’m sure my fish are building up immunity to it.This can happen.
Remember stress is one of the primary triggers for ich,adding meds and constantly messing around with the tank is just keeping things on repeat.
Turn the temp to 30 and leave well alone for a while,and be prepared for the fish having a voracious appetite.
I have nearly 100 fish in my tank and believe me when I say every one of them were flashing against the gravel and decor,it was a bad case,but thanks to Colin-t it was managed easily without all this meds carry on.
Don’t expect to cure ich,but expect to bring it back to a manageable level where you won’t notice it.

 

[Dephea]

I followed colins advice with this,and although I still see the odd fish flash,I’m sure my fish are building up immunity to it.This can happen.
Remember stress is one of the primary triggers for ich,adding meds and constantly messing around with the tank is just keeping things on repeat.
Turn the temp to 30 and leave well alone for a while,and be prepared for the fish having a voracious appetite.
I have nearly 100 fish in my tank and believe me when I say every one of them were flashing against the gravel and decor,it was a bad case,but thanks to Colin-t it was managed easily without all this meds carry on.
Don’t expect to cure ich,but expect to bring it back to a manageable level where you won’t notice it.

The temp is at 30 degrees, the ich problem is cleraing up now but I had to use meds, hot temp alone didn't help but it was partially my fault. The fish went through a lot of stress when I moved houses.

I want to just leave them be, I really do. But when I see my gourami flashing 5-7 times in one go just to repeat it 2 min later then I somehow don't think it's wise to just let it be, no idea why but my anxiety is just spiking and I worry about the fish more than I probably should. I didn't lose any fish to a disease yet and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can, it's my first time with fish so 100% a long way to go to learn the balance between 'do nothing' and 'emergency case, do something'

 

[Avel1896]

Your pics on previous page show White Spots that can lead to Ichthyophtiriose or Oodinium. Both are parasites. Both are very contagious.
At an advanced stage of Oodinium, fish's skin looks like velvet.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

The temp is at 30 degrees, the ich problem is cleraing up now but I had to use meds, hot temp alone didn't help but it was partially my fault. The fish went through a lot of stress when I moved houses.

I want to just leave them be, I really do. But when I see my gourami flashing 5-7 times in one go just to repeat it 2 min later then I somehow don't think it's wise to just let it be, no idea why but my anxiety is just spiking and I worry about the fish more than I probably should. I didn't lose any fish to a disease yet and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can, it's my first time with fish so 100% a long way to go to learn the balance between 'do nothing' and 'emergency case, do something'

I didn’t say “just leave them be”,I said leave well alone for a while.You have tried to put it across like I don’t care.
That’s a bit nasty considering I was offering you advice,but I will give you the benefit of the doubt,since your anxiety levels are running high which is fair enough.
That’s good to hear that your ich problem is clearing up and hopefully that’s the end of it.

 

[Dephea]

I didn’t say “just leave them be”,I said leave well alone for a while.You have tried to put it across like I don’t care.
That’s a bit nasty considering I was offering you advice,but I will give you the benefit of the doubt,since your anxiety levels are running high which is fair enough.
That’s good to hear that your ich problem is clearing up and hopefully that’s the end of it.

Actually I did not in any way assume that you didn't care. If my wording came across this way then I do apologise. English is not my first language and - albeit it's rather good - I still make mistakes or just don't word things the right way. I am sorry if you thought it was nasty of me, I assure you it was not my intention.

Ich is clearing up and I do hope I will find out eventually what is going on with the extra flashing.

Once again I am sorry

 

[Fishfinder1973]

That’s ok dephea.I understand your anxiety with your fish,it shows you care about them so much.
Hopefully things turn out well with the aquarium and you can get to enjoy the hobby again.