Is this Ich? What do I do? (With Pictures)

[Kentaaa]

Yesterday I posted a thread in regards to my Gourami. He was acting very unusually by darting around the tank, appearing to be "rocking" back and forth, ocassionally rubbing his fins against the glass, and just looking generally agitated. It seems as though he's stressing out all of the other fish in the tank. He is eating normally and there don't seem to be any physical signs on his body. In my previous post I attached a video as well as a photo for reference.

All of the tank's parameters are normal. Nitrate 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Ammonia 0.25ppm, and a pH of 8.2. I know the pH is a tad high for freshwater community fish but it has been this high from the beginning and the fish don't seem to mind it. I have well water which is very very hard.

I have been monitoring him since yesterday morning. I am considering making up a hospital tank for him so he can be quarantined just in case he is sick with something infectious. As I was inspecting him up close my juvenile Australian Rainbow swam by the glass and I caught a glimpse of white spots on her tail. Upon further inspection I noticed she has about 4-5 tiny white spots on her tail and one spot on her dorsal fin. I thought maybe they were just markings but after inspecting my other fish I noticed my Boesemani Rainbow also had a few similar specks on his tail. I figured maybe it was a "rainbow thing" since none of my other fish had these specks. My mollies, Angel, loaches, and Tetra all seem spot free. Then I noticed one or two specks on the Gourami's tail fin as well. I did not originally see it because it is only present on one side of the fin. Could this be what is causing his erratic behavior? Being irritated from the ich?

If this is ich how do I treat it? I read online that aquarium salt can be used BUT, in the same tank I have a Cory Cat and a Dojo Loach which I had also read are completely intolerant to aquarium salt. Should I go to my local PetSmart and purchase an ich remedy? I remember being told somewhere to purchase one that was copper free. Also, what will happen if I put the medication in the tank and it turns out to not be ich? Like I previously stated only three seem infected. Will the medication harm the fish that don't have ich? Or are ich treatments fairly gentle on fish and plants? I have NEVER in all my ten years of fish keeping had ich and now I am terrified because I have no clue what to do to cure this. What steps should I take to ensure that first and foremost I cure the ich, but while doing this not harm the other fish or plants in the tank? Any help would mean the world to me

I have attached photos of all the affected fish. For some reason the light refracts off of the spots making them look shiny. In person however they are just plain, opaque, matte, white. There does not appear to be any "fuzz" to them. They are flat. I believe clicking on the pictures will allow you to zoom in.

Australian Rainbow

Boesemani Rainbow

Gold Leopard Gourami


**I know this is probably COMPLETELY unrelated but I have learned by using the forums that it is best to provide more than enough details in cases like these. I have had my Cory Cat for about two months. About two weeks after I bought him he began to develop a white spot on his head. It almost appeared to be a blister or peeling skin. All I could think of to describe it would be when you wear shoes that are too tight and a "bubble" like blister forms on the back of your Achille's tendon. I scoured the Internet and could not find a thing. One of the staff members at my LFS (actual aquarium store, not a chain) said it could be one of two things. Either he has developed a blister from swimming back and forth under the rock cave OR he has a protein cyst. I figured the latter seems more plausible since during the first two weeks I had him ALL he would eat was frozen bloodworms. Flakes would not make it to the bottom of the tank and I was not feeding pellets at the time. Since, he eats a more balanced diet of bloodworms, sinking pellets, and brine shrimp. His "cyst" now looks much better but it is not completely going away. Could this really be an infection? Was I given false information? Is it possible the Gourami as well as the others have caught this as well (if it is a parasite/disease)? I never examined him closely before he developed his bubble cyst. For all I know, it could've started out as white specks as well. Does this situation have anything to do with the other fish being ill?

Thank you all SO much in advance!

Kentaaa

 

[Kentaaa]

UPDATE: I am about 90% sure now that it is Ich. I just closely inspected the other fish in the tank and noticed they ALL have the same tiny white specks. They range in severity from my Angel which only has one or two specks just on her right pectoral fin up to my Hatchets which have about 10-15 each (there are 5 hatchets in the tank). The Hatchets are the only fish in the tank with spots on their actual bodies and fins. The rest just have spots on their fins. I'm going to slip out to PetSmart in a few hours. Is there anything specific I should pick up?

 

[lksdrinker]

I avoid adding chemicals or medicines to my tanks unless absolutely necessary. That being said, heat treatments work very well with ich (assuming your livestock can handle the temp). I slowly raise the tank temp up to about 90 degrees and keep it there for 10 days after the last white speck is visible on a fish.

 

[Sambo7475]

Looks like the start of an ich outbreak to me. I used heat exclusively to treat the last ich outbreak I had. Like lksdrinker said, raise slowly (over 6-8 hours) the tank temp to 86-90. Make sure you have adequate aeration, because the oxygen is less soluble in higher temp water, so you need to increase the availability. I did twice daily vacuuming of the substrate in order to get the cysts that have fallen off the fish. Continue heat treatment for 10 days after the last spot is seen on the fish. Continue at least daily small water changes with substrate vacuuming to remove the cysts.
Somewhere on here there was a really good write up of ich. I'll see if I can find it for you.

 

[Sambo7475]

Here it is:
Fish Disease Index: Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. - Aquarium Advice

 

[Kentaaa]

Oh wow. It's as easy as raising the temperature?! Like I said, I've never dealt with Ich before so I just assumed you would have to add chemicals and just wait. I've been stressing out ALL day over this and unfortunately gave myself "WebMD" syndrome from reading horror story after horror story online. I read one entry that said once you notice spots on your fish it's too late and they're too far gone to be saved. But I'm thinking to myself..."Well how would you know if they have Ich without seeing the spots...?" Anyways, I am so scared that I'm going to mess something up and kill all my fish.

I did have a question about vacuuming the gravel. My tank is heavily planted and has a large rock formation in the center. I can reach about ~70% of the gravel without having to remove everything from the tank. Is this good enough? Or is it absolutely vital to vacuum every inch of the tank and leave no stone unturned? I really don't like to remove things from the tank because last time I did a THOROUGH cleaning and removed everything I ended up killing about three of my plants (they were only out of the tank no more than two hours) and losing my Kuhli Loach. The poor little guy decided to swim under a rock at the last second while I was pushing it into the gravel .

This is my current stock. Do you think they can handle such high temperatures?

1x Gold Leopard Gourami
1x Angelfish
2x Rainbowfish (One Boesemani, One Australian)
3x Mollies (One Sailfin/Lyretail, Two Balloon)
1x Diamond Tetra
3x Glass Cats
1x Dojo Loach
1x Clown Loach
1x Angelicus Loach
1x Streba's Cory Cat
1x Farlowella

I also read that aquarium salt can expedite the curing of Ich. However, I have always heard that Cory Cats and Loaches cannot handle salt. Is salt absolutely necessary or will the heat alone kill the Ich?

 

[rlederer]

Looks like ich to me. I used ich medication as directed with no problems. Four days later all was well. Also vacuum gravel as intermediate stages of ich hide there


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Rlederer

 

[Sambo7475]

curious to see how things are progressing.

 

[platylover26]

Ya that's definetly ich, and one other thing, you said your tank has 0.25 ammonia and no nitrate, which means its probably uncycled. After/while you solve the ich fiasco, you might wanna get on top of the ammonia problem, which is probably the cause of the outbreak in the first place... good luck