First Signs of Ich?

[Jsarita68]

I have just finished fish-less cycling my new tank and added three female platy three days ago. Two days ago I noticed one tiny white spot on the tail of the mickey mouse platy. I can only see it with a magnifying glass. The next day there was another one and then one more today. These spots are very small and located on the end of the tail in the clear part. When my tank light is on the spots look white and when the tank light is off the look dark unless the fish moves in a certain direction and light hits them and they look white. Her annal fin seems to not be opening as much as the others but other than than I see no signs of scraping, erratic behavior, or stress. If it's ich I want to nip it in the bud ASAP! I was hoping to add one more platy next week. I put in a special order for her. Thanks!

Tank Info:

Tank parameters are PH 8.2, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 to 10 nitrates.
The tank is 13 gallon and has been set up since April 25th.
I am using a quiet flow 10 filter rated for tanks 10 to 20 gallons.
The fish are platy and about 1.25 to 1.5 inches.
I did a very large water change four days ago to reduce the nitrates I had accumulated from the fish less cycling. I have not done any since.
I have fed them Aqueon Tropical Flakes. Very tiny bit once a day.
The tank has small baby dwarf sag., guppy grass and water sprite and has been planted since I set up the tank.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Seems like you had everything right. Could be from stress of the move to a new home or the tank at the store was infected.

Turn your temp to 86 and do daily water changes/vacuuming. If you are sure it's ich it should go away soon.


Caleb

 

[Jsarita68]

Thanks Caleb! Should I do salt treatment as well or wait and if it doesn't go away do salt?

 

[Lillefishy]

You don't need to use salt, just raise the temp as said above to 86 & keep it there for at least two weeks, do regular water changes & gravel vacs to remove any Ich spores that fall off, you can also add an airstone to help with oxygenation as warmer water holds less oxygen.

 

[Jsarita68]

Hey I know this is weird but two of the dots are gone as of this evening. They were definitely there this afternoon. There does seem to be one left. Is this normal for the ich cycle? I have started raising my temp very slowly and it is at 80. Should I continue on? Thanks! ~J

 

[coralbandit]

it is normal for them to fall off.
They are now in your tank(substrate/plants) multiplying possibly by the thousands!
For real!
Why you need to vac every day!
Ich | The Skeptical Aquarist
Know the enemy.
KILL the enemy.
Read link!

 

[Jsarita68]

Well the fact that they feel off means the diagnosis was correct and I should see more attaching to fish soon. Already did a 20% water change today. It will be hard to do hard core vacing as I have tiny baby water sprite growing and half of my substrate is sand :/
I'll keep you all posted on progress! Thanks! ~J

 

[ImACoolguy]

Water sprite is a tough plant it will be fine.


Caleb

 

[Jsarita68]

I dropped the water level about two inches below where the water comes out of the filter. Will that be enough agitation to sufficiently oxygenate the water? I have another filter. It's an API Superclean 10. I could hang it in the tank without filter media installed and let it run to agitate more. ~J

 

[ImACoolguy]

I dropped the water level about two inches below where the water comes out of the filter. Will that be enough agitation to sufficiently oxygenate the water? I have another filter. It's an API Superclean 10. I could hang it in the tank without filter media installed and let it run to agitate more. ~J

Sounds like a great idea


Caleb

 

[Jsarita68]

Hello! I have finished my 10 day heat treatment and am starting to slowly turn down the temp. Should I change out my filter incase any of the ich may still be living there?

 

[ImACoolguy]

Hello! I have finished my 10 day heat treatment and am starting to slowly turn down the temp. Should I change out my filter incase any of the ich may still be living there?

Nope. Then you will uncycle the tank (if it was cycled anyway)


Caleb

 

[coralbandit]

How long since you last saw any spots?
How long the heat is up may not matter at all if you saw a spot just days ago.
The time of any treatment for ich starts after the spot is seen.

 

[Matt68005]

idk why people don't just put a few drops of this in...... https://www.google.com/search?q=qui...XC4GbyASckYD4DQ&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=643
......and call it good. Seems like a lot of hastle just to "hopefully" cure ick with heat, when this will "definately" kill it in a few hours.....

 

[TMRC Exotics]

idk why people don't just put a few drops of this in...... https://www.google.com/search?q=qui...XC4GbyASckYD4DQ&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=643
......and call it good. Seems like a lot of hastle just to "hopefully" cure ick with heat, when this will "definately" kill it in a few hours.....

I'm unaware of a cure that "*definitely" kills ich (all life cycles) in hours but heat does kill ich.

 

[ImACoolguy]

I'm unaware of a cure that "*definitely" kills ich (all life cycles) in hours but heat does kill ich.

Crank the heat up to 90 it kills Ick instantly and some fish too! It's a great method lol


Caleb

 

[54seaweed]

idk why people don't just put a few drops of this in...... https://www.google.com/search?q=qui...XC4GbyASckYD4DQ&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=643
......and call it good. Seems like a lot of hastle just to "hopefully" cure ick with heat, when this will "definately" kill it in a few hours.....

Masking an issue doesn't cure the issue

 

[coralbandit]

idk why people don't just put a few drops of this in...... https://www.google.com/search?q=qui...XC4GbyASckYD4DQ&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=643
......and call it good. Seems like a lot of hastle just to "hopefully" cure ick with heat, when this will "definately" kill it in a few hours.....

This statement is not even close to true.
NOT ONE of those meds will kill ich while it is on the fish.
So just right there it may take 3 days for ich to fall off and then,
Then if ich is off the fish I highly doubt any of those meds will kill the fallen ich in less then 24 hours.

 

[54seaweed]

Crank the heat up to 90 it kills Ick instantly and some fish too! It's a great method lol


Caleb

LMAO

 

[TMRC Exotics]

Crank the heat up to 90 it kills Ick instantly and some fish too! It's a great method lol


Caleb

I'm not getting it? Do you disagree with what I said?