Ich

[Sake]

You're going to laugh at me!...Anyhow I went to the local petsmart and seen some black neon tetras. I fell in love with them right away, I got 3 of them they were just the prettiest colors and had these random white spots on them. So being a noob i took them home, drip acclimated them and released them into my tank. I was so excited!

Well over the next few days I watched them playing and having fun and i started to notice those little white spots...they were multiplying....something ain't right. Well a bit alarmed I decided i wouldn't panic, I waited a few more days and low and behold, my neon tetras started getting white spots....Oh joy it's a disease or something time to research!

Anyhow here i am slowly raising my tank temp to 86 degrees and hoping for the best.Now here is my questions the fish i have in the tank are...Black neon tetras (infected lil buggers lol) neon tetras, glolight tetras, zebra danio, glofish (same thing as zebras i know), loaches, cory cat, and ghost shrimp, will the shrimp survive the higher temps? Also i see alot of sites say to use salt to help should I salt? It's a planted tank also. I just don't want to cook any fish if I can avoid it. Also i will be doing 50% water changes every day till this is beaten. Oh and there seems to be some confusion on water temps, some say 82 degrees (27 degrees celsius) some say as high as 92 degrees (33 degrees celsius), but most say 86 degrees (30 degrees celsius). So salt, or no salt, and is 86 degrees warm enough or should i go a bit higher?

 

[darkmatter_3500]

Hehe thats a great story , dont worry about salt , it just helps them breath better at higher temps, highter temp = less disolved oxygen. Just make sure you have enough aeration and you should be fine. If you dont have a air pump just lower the water level so your filter splashes alot when it hits the water and good luck.

 

[darkmatter_3500]

86 is fine also , for about 2 weeks after spots dissapear

 

[Sake]

Okay cool I already added an airstone before I even started raising the temp, and i removed my DIY co2 system. The only thing that confused me is the different opinions on salt/no salt and the varying temps. Thanks alot

 

[darkmatter_3500]

It has something to do with helping absorb Oxygen better and osmosis but im not a expert on it, I use it with heat and my fish always do fine. I think at higher concentrations it can actually kill the ich but you have to take your fish out of the aquarium and soak them in it until they roll over. I have never tried it, just heat and a little salt in the tank.

 

[Sake]

okay so I have a question imagine that lol! Anyhow airstones in did 2 50% water changes temp at 84-87....depending on which thermometer I use doh the mercury thermometer reads 86, the digital 87, and the cheapy strip 1 i just tossed on says 84, so my question is, which do you think is more accurate the mercury or digital one? Yeah i know I have a bit of ocd with things but it's a good thing i swear! I mean I am just trying to get the BEST care to my lil buddies, after all I am their god

 

[darkmatter_3500]

Mercury but you could have slightly different temps in different parts of your tank

 

[Sake]

Yeah i thought about that, that's why I actually use different ones, the cheapy strip one is on the bottom right of the tank the mercury is on the top left, and the digital one I am taking the temp right next to the mercury so that shouldn't be the issue. I just like knowing what the temps are in every part of the tank ocd and all loll.

Thanks for the fast reply!
chris

 

[Sake]

Okay so here's an update, been doing 25-50% water changes daily, tank temps are between 86-87 degrees, Ich spots on most fish are significantly lowered, there is one that has more than the others but I am sure it will just take a bit more time for him. I haven't lost any fish Yay! Although i sure thought I had, I started out with 6 glowlight tetras, couldn't find 2 of them for the life of me, low and behold, sitting here counting spots/fish, and I now am up past 6 up to 7 glowlight tetras....How the heck did one sneak in my tank, I don't remember getting him, maybe the LFS gave me an extra on accident lol. Anyhow it seems that raising the temp is working great, thanks for all the help!

Chris

 

[fishdok]

i had fish with ich once and i thought that if chlorinated water (tap water) kills bacteria in our water then why cant it in tanks , so i used tap water instead of conditioning it , and it worked , or maybe it was a fluke , either way tap water isn't deadly just not good

 

[Sake]

Okay update, temp is up, all ich spots are gone from ohhh spider walkin across my floor gotta look brb....
Just a crab spider lol sorry have lots of brown recluses the kitties like to eat gotta squish them quick!

Anyhow as i was saying all ich spots are gone from all the fish except the neon tetras. I don't understand it they all have 1 or 2 spots not many but shouldn't it be cleared up from all the fish by now?

Ah well if anyone has any opinions please let me know i guess it's just going to take a bit more time for those guys to clear up!

 

[Bearchumjs]

Way to go on taking care of your fish! I'm glad you didn't lose any and somehow got a glo light to clone itself. I say keep doing what your doing and the neons will probably clear up soon!

I saw black neons at petco. They were very pretty and I can see why you got them. I was told they will school with neons. Have you noticed the neons mingling together or do they stay away from each other. I was thinking of adding black and regular neons as a school of 5 (3 neons and 2 black neons) but not unless they will school together.

Anyway, I'm sorry to change the subject of your thread. I just had to ask though!

 

[Sake]

Yeah the neons, and black neons all lump together! Even the glolights/zebra danio and glowlight tetras get in on the school.

Figures i grab the camera the zebra's and glowlight tetras bolt, put the camera up and all the fish are schooling together lol

 

[Bearchumjs]

Yeah the neons, and black neons all lump together! Even the glolights/zebra danio and glowlight tetras get in on the school.

Figures i grab the camera the zebra's and glowlight tetras bolt, put the camera up and all the fish are schooling together lol

That's good news!! I will proceed with my plan when I add more fish.

 

[Sake]

Update, all ich spots are gone from every fish but 1 neon tetra. It has one spot on it's top fin I can't believe all the spots are gone overnight from them. So now begins the countdown for leaving the heat raised. 2 more weeks and i should be back to normal yay! You have no idea how badly this has been stressing me out lmao. It's good that it's all downhill from here

 

[darkmatter_3500]

Update, all ich spots are gone from every fish but 1 neon tetra. It has one spot on it's top fin I can't believe all the spots are gone overnight from them. So now begins the countdown for leaving the heat raised. 2 more weeks and i should be back to normal yay! You have no idea how badly this has been stressing me out lmao. It's good that it's all downhill from here

Thats great , its always a good thing when ich clears up like that, the few times I have dealt with ich the heat always worked in a day or 2, I works fast if your water conditions are really good and your fish are healthy.

 

[Bearchumjs]

That's great news!

 

[darkmatter_3500]

They should be fine just keep the temp up for 2 weeks and vacum the gravel as much as you can, when you do water changes keep the temp exact if possible, a degree or 2 warmer is much better than a degree or 2 colder if you have trouble getting tge temp exact

 

[Sake]

Yeah if i can't get it exact I make sure to go just a bit higher, I have INSANE water pressure here something like 175 psi! That makes it very difficult to get it exact you just turn the knob a fraction and the temp jumps up 5 degrees lol. I've actually blown threw 2 python like water changes because of my water pressure finally made my and it's holding up so far...

 

[darkmatter_3500]

I have big tanks so the water temp changes during a water change , the only times I ever had ich was when the temp dropped a little on me during a change, I hace been running water a little higher in temp ever since with no problems.