GBR have spots

[pairustwo]

I have two German Blue Rams that seem healthy, happy, and hungry.
A couple of days ago I woke up to see that they had spots all over them.
It looks like someone sprinkled glitter on them.

At first I thought it was air bubbles sticking to them as I had just lowered the water level and now the filter makes a cascade of bubbles as it puts water back in the tank.

But the spots don't seem to move or really be a bubble on the surface of their skin. They are persistent have sort of a reflective white quality that is like the reflective nature of their coloring.

Does anyone recognize this?

None of my other fish have anything like it on them.

Thanks for any help

 

[JDogg]

dose it look like THIS?

if so you have ick!

easiest/safest way to fight it is to SLOWLY of the next couple days raise your temp to over 86 F, keep it there for at least 1 week AFTER the last white spot is gone.

ick is a parasite and the hight temp kills it when it is in its free swimming stage, that is why you have to wait a week after all the spots are gone.

HTH, and good luck!

 

[Zagz]

Are they flashing any? It sounds to me like it may be ich. Do the spots resemble grains of salt?
What size tank and what are the inhabitants? What are your water parameters? There is a list of questions that will aid in the diagnosis of your fish listed http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=33947] here [/url].

If it is ich, raising the heat to 87 F and leaving it there for 2 weeks after the last spot is gone will cure the ich. Also add extra aeration to the water. But to be sure it is ich, either a pic or the answers to the above questions will help.

 

[pairustwo]

Yes, It sounds very much like Ich. (If I did even a little bit of poking around I think I could have figured it out on my own. Sorry for the lame question.)

That being said, the spots don't look like grains of salt in that they seem to be flush with the fish - they are not raised, crystal like structures. However they do resemble all the pictures I've seen.

I've already begun raising the temp but I am worried about one inhabitant in particular-the african dwarf frogs, can they deal with that high of a temp? - and maybe some others.

Here is my detailed info.
20 gallon planted tank.
pH6.5
Ammonia 0ppm
NitrAtes 5ppm
1 small (for now)sailfin pleco
1 guppie
2 german blue rams
5 neon tetras
3 african dwarf frogs

The fish profiles here suggest that the neon tetras don't like temps above 78 and the frogs don't like them above 80. The tetras seem to be able to live through anything, I don't know about the frogs.

Everyone here seems to feel that raising the temp for a couple of weeks is no big deal.
So are the frogs safe?

Thanks

 

[WaterPond]

i have dwarf frogs in my 50gallon, and the temperature is 88F right now. And it has been for a long time, because the ick keeps coming back in my tank. They seem to be fine. I don't see why they couldent deal with the temperature.

 

[Zagz]

Better the temp for the ADF than any ich meds that's for sure! I'm sure he'll be fine.

Never ever hesitate to ask a question, there are no dumb or stupid questions.

 

[pairustwo]

Thanks for all the advice.
The spots never spread to any other fish and are now gone from the two rams.
The last spot disappeard three days ago and I havn't seen any sense.

I've kept my temp at around 90f and am now trying to keep temps around 87f for the next eleven days.

All the fish seem to be fine and I wonder if I should leave the temps up that high?
Are the fish being stressed by 87 degree water?

 

[gu2high]

My local Petco has blue ram for $6.50 each. But I found spots on their tails so I didn't buy them. I heard bad thing about the blue ram as they are very sensitive to water parameters. Let me know if your ram works out of the ich by heat treatment. Thanks.

 

[pairustwo]

They seem great now and have had them nearly a month.
The spots showed up after they had been in my tank about a week.
It took me about a week to figure out that it was a problem (I'm new to fish).
It took about a week to treat and now I'm on a week of temps at or above 87 degrees.
Will keep that high for two weeks.
Rams and other fish seem fine. The frogs are a lot less active then they used to be.

I wonder if keeping temps that high forever is ok?

 

[Zagz]

No keeping the temps that high forever is not good for the fish. It speeds up their metabolism and would shorten their lifespan.