blah new firemouth has ich

[talloulou]

So I got two firemouth cichlids yesterday. And I didn't QT them (yeah I know but I have a horrible habit of filling my tanks with fish instead of leaving a nice quarrentine tank open). Anyway today the fish has two perfect white "salt grains" on it's head. Grrr Aaargh.

So I took the fish out of the tank and was going to take it right back to petsmart but then I decided to try dealing with it instead. It's been over 5 years since I've dealt with ick and I didn't know about the heat treatment back then. Plus the fish has been in my tank for over 24 hours so isn't it now necessary to treat the whole tank anyway?

Anyway I put the firemouth in a salt dip bucket. Don't know if this will help but it's always my first step in treating ill fish. I plan on leaving him in there for an hour or so. There's a tube blowing bubbles in the bucket keeping it aerated. Plus my room temp is around 81 so I'm not worried about heat.

Now the main tank was at 82 anyway. So I turned the heater up to 84 and in a few hours I will turn it up to 86. Then tomorrow am I will turn it up to 88. Sound good?

Is it normal for ick to first appear as just 1-2 white spots on head? When he's done his salt bath I will get a picture for you.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Is it normal for ick to first appear as just 1-2 white spots on head? When he's done his salt bath I will get a picture for you.

Sometimes it doesn't appear at all. Give the heat a go, and you should be fine. Looks like you caught it early.

 

[talloulou]

Here are some pics. The fish is new and therefore shy so this is the best I can do.

 

[talloulou]

You see the one white spot on the top of the head? He has another one on the other side. Start of ick, right?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Kinda hard to tell with those pics, but it looks to small to be anything else. Since ich is so common in new fish, and you didn't see that small spots when you got the fish, I'm guessing that's what it is.