Starting to get a little nervous ( pics)

[tnice17]

so i have some bad news...

i recently got a "rainbow fish" but i guess he or one of my ballon mollies had ich.

i put in some aquarium salt and raised the temp to 88 degrees F. so far so good, i am seeing signs of improvement

 

[jestes]

Yeah that'll take care of it. The molly will like the salt anyway... lol.

 

[tnice17]

Yeah that'll take care of it. The molly will like the salt anyway... lol.

very little signs of ich still present now. i think it should be gone in a few days.

how much longer should i keep the temp up and salt in the water for? i was reading up to about a week.

 

[jestes]

With elevated temps, a week from the last day of any symptoms should be OK. Just stay on top of your water quality now that everything is settled down. Fish typically don't get sick unless already stressed, so now that your tank is cycled, hopefully you won't have to deal with sick fish for a while.

 

[tnice17]

With elevated temps, a week from the last day of any symptoms should be OK. Just stay on top of your water quality now that everything is settled down. Fish typically don't get sick unless already stressed, so now that your tank is cycled, hopefully you won't have to deal with sick fish for a while.

does stress cause ich?

im sure my lobster causes stress...

 

[Petty Officer Salamander]

does stress cause ich?

im sure my lobster causes stress...

No. Ich causes ich. Ich is a parasite. Stress does not cause any disease, however elevated stress levels can contribute to a weakened immune system, which can make contracting disease easier than in a normal situation (which it should be noted that fish do not have to be stressed to catch a disease, either.)

Also, from the last signs of ich, wait one week before eliminating the salt, two before cooling the tank down.

 

[jestes]

Like it was said above, stress doesn't directly cause a disease, it allows. Stress weakens the fish's immune system and slime coat, then allows some type of infection to get a foothold. Many, but not all, of the "bugs" that infect our fish, exist in even a healthy aquarium. They just are typically fought off by a healthy fish's immune system. However, once one fish has a good solid infection, the "bug", whichever one it may be, can multiply and spread at such a rapid rate that even the healthiest immune system of another fish cannot fight it off.

 

[krap101]

Like it was said above, stress doesn't directly cause a disease, it allows. Stress weakens the fish's immune system and slime coat, then allows some type of infection to get a foothold. Many, but not all, of the "bugs" that infect our fish, exist in even a healthy aquarium. They just are typically fought off by a healthy fish's immune system. However, once one fish has a good solid infection, the "bug", whichever one it may be, can multiply and spread at such a rapid rate that even the healthiest immune system of another fish cannot fight it off.

Most parasites have to be introduced, and alot of other diseases are just symptoms of an unknown underlying cause, or may be caused by multiple things. I'd think that most is a little too much . Alot of diseases can't live long without a host, and end up dying. The problem is reintroduction by a new fish, plant, or spores.

For human diseases, cancer is always present (mutated cells) and is the side effect of evolution, there are certain things that are everywhere like the cold, but the flu must be transmitted, and I'm not going to randomly catch tb if I don't take care of myself.

 

[jestes]

I didn't say most, I said many. lol. I made my statement about bugs in a healthy aquarium as more of a generalized rule rather than one specific to ich. Maybe I didn't phrase it properly. It was late.

It's always been my experience too, that infections of one kind of another can show up in a tank that has had no new fish, plants, or ornaments for months if something happens in the tank to severely stress the fish. I've also read many things that back up this experience.

I see what you're saying about randomly catching TB, but you have to agree that the healthier someone is, the less likely they are of catching something. There's always something out there that can overwhelm even the healthiest person though. And I do agree with you that you can't catch something that hasn't been introduced at some point.

 

[tnice17]

everything looks great so far. no signs of ich over the weekend. i did a 50% water change, so starting to get rid of the salt now. temps are still at 88 degress.

buy the end of the week ill lower the temp and get another tank mate

 

[dkpate]

Make sure you do a good gravel vac, and make sure you don't have any ich cysts in the substrate before adding any more fish.

 

[Petty Officer Salamander]

Recommend leaving the salt in for one full week after the last seen ich on a fish. Leave temperature up for two full weeks after. (not a weekend and then the end of the week)

 

[tnice17]

^^^ the last sign of ich was last week, from my old post on the 13th. so from that to today, that is a week. by the end of this week will be 2 weeks.