This female guppy just today started acting listless the others are all beating up on her.. after looking at her I wonder if she's starting to get ick (see pic) I have been battling a high nitrite spike in the tank for a week and a half now (previously made a post on this). I do 50-75% water changes a day and it still doesn't seem to be slowing the nitrite down. I even went without feeding for a day to see if that would help and it didn't. No doubt this has stressed her out. I have ick treatment but I also have tiny fry in a fry cage in the tank so I'm not sure if I can use it or what really to do at this point.
Can anyone tell me if this is Ick?
- Thread starter Ellithain
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BBradbury
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Hello Ell...
You observe your tank daily, like the rest of us, I'm sure. So, if you believe there's a problem with the fish, there's a very good chance there is a problem. It's time to review your tank keeping practices. This hobby is totally about keep the water free of dissolved fish waste. This means no traces of ammonia or nitrite and a low nitrate level. Have you tested the water? If not, do it or take a sample to the local fish store and have them do the test.
In the mean time, you should be removing and replacing at least half the tank water every few days to keep the water clean enough to keep the fish healthy. Add a floating plant like Hornwort. Just drop individual stems into the water. This will help keep the water clean between water changes. House plants like Chinese evergreen will work as well. Remove all the potting soil and put the roots under the water, with the leaves above. There are easy ways to keep the water clean, but the large, weekly water change is the best.
I can tell you that parasites won't live long in pure water conditions and a healthy fish in good water conditions isn't likely to be infected by anything.
B
You observe your tank daily, like the rest of us, I'm sure. So, if you believe there's a problem with the fish, there's a very good chance there is a problem. It's time to review your tank keeping practices. This hobby is totally about keep the water free of dissolved fish waste. This means no traces of ammonia or nitrite and a low nitrate level. Have you tested the water? If not, do it or take a sample to the local fish store and have them do the test.
In the mean time, you should be removing and replacing at least half the tank water every few days to keep the water clean enough to keep the fish healthy. Add a floating plant like Hornwort. Just drop individual stems into the water. This will help keep the water clean between water changes. House plants like Chinese evergreen will work as well. Remove all the potting soil and put the roots under the water, with the leaves above. There are easy ways to keep the water clean, but the large, weekly water change is the best.
I can tell you that parasites won't live long in pure water conditions and a healthy fish in good water conditions isn't likely to be infected by anything.
B
Umm in my first comment I spoke about how I have been fighting with high nitrites for a week and a half now. I'm testing the water and doing 50-75% water changes daily.. its usually around .5-1 which is way too high. Also as I said above, I tried not feeding for a day after a water change and that also did not help.. Frankly I have no idea why its doing this. Ammonia is at 0 and nitrates are at around 10. I use a API master test kit. If you want to know about my nitrite problem I have another post all about that
That was what I thought as well. Do you know if I can dose a tank with ick meds with fry in it?
As for the plants I have java moss and java fern attached to wood in the tank and no soil whatsoever in it. It is a bare bottom tank. I recently squeezed out my uptake sponge but I didn't touch the sponge inside the filter. I am not using store bought cartridges I'm just using sponges to give bacteria a place to grow but I was concerned that the uptake sponge had food or something on it that was rotting and causing the problem. That didn't work and might just have squeezed some of my bacteria out with it idk..
Angellove78
Aquarium Advice Addict
Do you vacuum the bottom and clean the glass inside? Tank not cycled yet? And if you hadn't touched the inside filter you might want to. Just clean the inside filter in a bowl of old tank water. Don't ever squeeze your sponges out in the tank.
Angellove78
Aquarium Advice Addict
Oh, and looks like fin rot right now. I wouldn't treat with ich treatments. Work on finding out what is spiking the tank. And keep doing the water changes. I'd try to do 50% 2 times everyday til it clears up. And just say'n, I added a few house plant clipping to my tank and they starting rotting causing some problems.
I didn't squeeze it out inside the tank. The tank was cycled before I added the fish (ammonia, nitrite at 0 Nitrate at around 10 for a good week). It is a new tank however, being only 2 months old at this point. I have not used any cleaner inside the tank and I vacuum the bottom twice a day when I do my water changes. I have never had such an issue with a tank. I have tested my tap water by putting it in a cup with some conditioner to check if it has nitrites in it or something and nothing. As I said, I have no idea why the spike is happening. I'm doing what I can with the water changes but it's not stopping. I've heard not to clean the filter inside to avoid killing off the bacteria on it? from multiple sources so I hesitate to do that.. I've bought some prime to add to the tank after several people recommended it as well as several other seachem products that claim to help with stress and water parameters.. (haven't gotten them yet they will be here on monday) to try to help because I'm at the end of my rope at this point. I also just had surgery to remove my gallbladder so all of this is really rough on me right now (have to sucker someone else into actually hauling the water to and from the tank because its too heavy for me to do safely) .. I just want a healthy tank and fish 
Angellove78
Aquarium Advice Addict
What size tank and how many fish. I really recommend getting a bowl of the tank water and pulling the main filter. And doing a water change alone with it. If you've been doing all that. The water should have cleared up by now. Think your filter might be pushing the toxic through. The water travels throughout filter and if your filter has bad build up on it, it's just gonna keep pushing it through making worse. It don't hurt to clean the filter itself. Just don't scrub the inside walls of the filter system. Your filter has be breath.
Okay I will do that. Its a 20 gallon (not long) with three guppies two female one male (the female pictured above passed away last night ) three neon tetras, a bristlenosed pleco and a small blue dream shrimp. I also have about 35 guppy fry in a fry cage in the tank.
) three neon tetras, a bristlenosed pleco and a small blue dream shrimp. I also have about 35 guppy fry in a fry cage in the tank.I had turned down the flow to the filter considerably as It had seemed to be too strong and be pushing the fish around a bit. After turning it back up my nitrites remained at .25 instead of spiking to .50-1 as it has the last week or so. I will check it in the morning and if it remains relatively stable kick myself a few times for forgetting that in order for a filer to work water has to go through it at more than a trickle..
Angellove78
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yeah, that should work. ?Hope you feel better soon.
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