Grrr... Ich or not? What to do?

[babybetta]

OK, so I posted a topic called "Flashing, but I don't think it's Ich" last week. I've been watching my aquarium and now more fish of several species are flashing. I don't really see any spots, though. Should I do the heat and salt treatment, just in case?

The thing is, I've always got a little aquarium salt in there at about 2-3 ppt. No real reason. Guess I thought it would be a preventative, help the little guys out. Is it possible that this is a brackish Ich organism? Because saltwater fish get Ich, too, right? Or am I dealing with a totally different problem altogether?

Should I increase the salinity anymore? How do I know if the fish can handle that much salt?

I've heard so many conflicting things about treating Ich. I'm confused.

I have plants and shrimpies, too, but I'll take those out during treatment. Figured that would be easier than chasing all the fish around. I'd appreciate keeping the beneficial bacteria intact, too. Wouldn't want to go through the whole cycling thing again.

 

[i3k]

It can be ich or other parasites that irritate the fish on the inside. Ich can also attach the inside of the gills so you might not see any spots on the outside. What do you treat the fish with for ich? there are some meds that treat wide veriety of parasites including ich. You might want to try treating the whole tank with the temperature lowered to normal. Sometimes the ich will actually spread faster if the water is warm but not too warm...ich dies in temp's 86+.

 

[rallycat]

When in doubt, try tetracycline tabs! They helped me with my gourami tank, they were forever flashing and freaking out until I treated them. And if they don't show any outward signs of ich, like i3k said, it may be a parasite or bacterial infection, which the tabs should fix.

 

[glasstapper]

i believe christmas fish put an article on no chemical treatment for ich it works!!! also i had a bought with exactly what you are describing and i went with clout and temp elavation,, slowly

 

[babybetta]

glasstapper, what happened after the treatment? What's "clout", by the way?

I've treated them in the past with RidIch+ when they had visible white dots. it helped for awhile but i thought maybe I didn't get it all the first time because there was still a little flashing. so i did another round of treatment. now, after two pretty good long exposures to poison, i am hesitant about using more chemicals on them. especially if i'm not certain that's even what the problem is.

my guys look good on the outside. good color, no torn fins, everyone's eating and active. a few missing scales, probably from the scratching i'm guessing, but so many that i'm concerned. mostly it's the flashing like they're irritated. also, the little guys (White Cloud Mtn. minnows) will sometimes dart around erratically and that does concern me. it does look like they're freaking out, like something's really bothering them on the inside that they can't shake.

I will definitely try antibiotics as rallycat suggests. what were your gouramis doing in terms of freaking out?

 

[Menagerie]

WAIT! Have you read the article by Allivymar on FW ich in the Articles section??
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32

If this is ich, antibiotics will not help. Antibiotics are for bacterial infections. Antibiotics are not going to help viral or parasites.

 

[glasstapper]

thats the article i was refering to menagerie, it worked for me also in the case of visible ich,, but cluot in my case cleared up what ever it was that was causing my fish to flash and rub and let me apologize for quoting the wrong author no disrespect intended ill be more carefull menagerie BABYBETTA, i believe what needs to happen is to identify the source of the problem then decide on a treatment, meds can harm certain types of fish, def. read the article

 

[babybetta]

sorry, all. i've been offline for a few days, felt very disconnected from the world.

anyway, my goal in posting this topic was to see if anyone could help me identify the nature of this. i had read the freshwater ich article before i posted. it is very good, sound advice, but i don't know if i need to go through that. i guess it wouldn't hurt, but like i said, they already have a little salt in there. it gets HOT here, so i could just let the tank heat up to 88. do people think i should proceed with ich treatment if, for nothing else, to possibly rule it out before doing anything more drastic?

any insights would be appreciated, because i don't know what the best course of action at this point is.

 

[patryuji]

Hmmm...

1. No outward signs of Ich and you have had the salt in there for atleast a couple of weeks? Has the tank always had salt or is this something you added when they started to "flash".

2. Tank parameters? NH3, NO2, NO3? Any recent changes in any other commonly monitored tank chemical?

Perhaps a combination of factors is stressing the fish out leaving them open to other infections. The medications, salt, temps etc could all be causing difficulty for the fish.