Is this ich?

[Colin_T]

You see a reflection because you are looking at an angle or Australia is using glass with a reflective sheen to it.

As I said, I know smaller tank manufacturers might be using different glass on the bottoms than the big national manufacturers do. I have seen (and had) a number of different bottoms on my tanks from our local manufacturer but if it's clear glass, they should not be seeing a reflection.

We use plain old boring clear glass. We get reflections off the front, back and sides of the glass too. You see it in pictures that people take of their aquariums.

We will have to agree to disagree, but when a cichlid is displaying to itself in a bare bottom tank, it's seeing something.

 

[Jacky12]

I have different brands of US made tanks, 15 total aquariums. I can see my reflection in all when empty. I recoiled in horror the first time on a 125. Not expecting a lifelike reflection, there appeared to be a mermaid at the bottom. The skinny blonde was shocking. Other mermaids have long dark hair, yet this straw haired creature gazed back. I thought we were screaming at each other until I came to my senses.

 

[Jacky12]

Day # 3

1) all 5 sevs more active
2) absence of flashing & scratching behaviors continue, hence no associated scale loss or bruising. No signs of secondary bacterial infections
3) not eating well
4) improved respiratory function
5) 4 young adults show significant improvement in pectoral fins
6) juvenile has new body cysts
7) increasing frequency of IchX use. Directions specify treating every 8-24 hours. Moving from outer limit to lower.
8) using API Stress Coat tap water conditioner instead of the usual product.
9) ordered compound microscope, slides & covers, expected to arrive Tuesday.
10) Maintaining temp. at 24C

 

[Colin_T]

What are the instructions for ich-x?
we only treated once a day for white spot, why are they saying every 8-24 hours?

 

[Jacky12]

They say no more than than every 8 hours & no less than every 24.
Med contains <5% formaldehyde, <2% methanol & <0.1% malachite green chloride
Says it treats ich, velvet, saprolegniasis, & trichodiniasis

I don’t know why the instructions read as such. They also say change 1/3 water, refill, & add 5 ml per 10 gallons of water (entire tank volume) upon each use of the med.

What did you treat with? I called my LFS & they recommended this product. It is widely used per my recent readings.

Edit#1, 4:50 PM. Reading old forum posts here & elsewhere. I’m seeing some of yours circa 2008, Colin, & others by you recently. Someone named Gary E sure knows his stuff. Appears to me he’s not a fan of higher temperatures and keeps his fish room at 22-25 C, even for sick fish, & prefers meds. He mentions malachite green & methylene blue. I happen to have mb, ordered for non-fish purposes. But best I stay the course with IchX.

Edit#2: 8:03 PM. Reading about technique of transferring fish back and forth from existing tank to another & wondering if it would overly stress them. I have a 56 G on a stand I could move next to their present tank.

 

[Colin_T]

We used a medication containing Methylene Blue, Malachite Green and Formaldehyde.

Just keep using the medication you have. Treat once a day for a week after all the spots have gone. Don't try other treatments at this stage because the fish are in a weakened state and moving them or adding more medications won't help now. Just run the course and it should be clear by the end of the week.

Gary E keeps a lot of killifish that do better at cooler temperatures, in the low 20s Celsius.

 

[Jacky12]

Wilco
Thanks.

Edit#1, 9:09 PM. I will try to contact IchX tomorrow & ask why they say to treat 1-3X daily. Strikes me as odd, but likely they have their reasons

 

[Andy Sager]

I have different brands of US made tanks, 15 total aquariums. I can see my reflection in all when empty. I recoiled in horror the first time on a 125. Not expecting a lifelike reflection, there appeared to be a mermaid at the bottom. The skinny blonde was shocking. Other mermaids have long dark hair, yet this straw haired creature gazed back. I thought we were screaming at each other until I came to my senses.

All I can say is I have tanks of different brands and manufacturing dates, some 40 years old even and when I look from the top to the bottom in a filled tank ( as a fish would do it) , I see what is underneath the tank, not the goof looking from the top of the tank.

 

[Jacky12]

Say whaaaat? You didn’t see a handsome dude with a monkey on his back?

 

[Andy Sager]

They say no more than than every 8 hours & no less than every 24.
Med contains <5% formaldehyde, <2% methanol & <0.1% malachite green chloride
Says it treats ich, velvet, saprolegniasis, & trichodiniasis

I don’t know why the instructions read as such. They also say change 1/3 water, refill, & add 5 ml per 10 gallons of water (entire tank volume) upon each use of the med.

What did you treat with? I called my LFS & they recommended this product. It is widely used per my recent readings.

Edit#1, 4:50 PM. Reading old forum posts here & elsewhere. I’m seeing some of yours circa 2008, Colin, & others by you recently. Someone named Gary E sure knows his stuff. Appears to me he’s not a fan of higher temperatures and keeps his fish room at 22-25 C, even for sick fish, & prefers meds. He mentions malachite green & methylene blue. I happen to have mb, ordered for non-fish purposes. But best I stay the course with IchX.

Edit#2: 8:03 PM. Reading about technique of transferring fish back and forth from existing tank to another & wondering if it would overly stress them. I have a 56 G on a stand I could move next to their present tank.

The reason for the water change before each treatment is because of the formaldehyde. If you add too much, you will pickle the fish. Follow the directions on the bottle. They were put there for a reason.
This chemical combo would treat velvet but still not as good as copper.

I concur, no changing tanks at this stage. The fish are too stressed at this point. Keep in mind that since there is an off the fish stage, you can't get complacent and think that things are better until you have gone past the full life cycle of the parasite. The good news is that the fish will get a reprieve from getting their fluids sucked out but that can be temporary while the parasites are multiplying in the substrate. It happens more than you'd think.

If this Gary E is up in Canada ( Montreal or New Brunswick), yes, he knows his stuff. I'll be seeing him in June. Back in 2019 when I first visited him, he arranged a get together with Oliver Lucanis, Hans Georg Evers and David Banks to meet me and my buddy Bruce. We figured out that our little group had over 300 years combined of fish keeping experience. For the " Pics or it didn't happen" group, you can see the pic here: https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/41382-albums14900-picture73160.html

 

[Andy Sager]

Say whaaaat? You didn’t see a handsome dude with a monkey on his back?

Nope. The only time I see him is when I look at an angle. I have used the angle reflection shots to get better shots of fish in tanks because straight on, the flash would screw up the picture or the room was too dark to not use flash. :^s

 

[Jacky12]

Learning how to take good fish pics is on my to do list. I have 2 Dgital SLR & can’t get a decent shot with either. People do far better with their cells. I use this iPad which sucks at closeups.

 

[Andy Sager]

Learning how to take good fish pics is on my to do list. I have 2 Dgital SLR & can’t get a decent shot with either. People do far better with their cells. I use this iPad which sucks at closeups.

The best way is at an angle if you need to use flash. Straight on is always a challenge because the fish can see you doing something " abnormal" so they scatter. Better to be at a distance and use a good zoom lens.

Another option is to take a video then do a screen shot of a frame you like.

 

[Jacky12]

My fish carry on as usual because they’re used to me standing in front & watching them, often photographing with the iPad. I’ve read it’s best to avoid flashes & when used should be angled away from tank: up, down or L/R. To avoid reflections. I bought some hoods that cover the flash attachment, forget what they’re called. I’m often better at reading than doing. Sad.

 

[Andy Sager]

My fish carry on as usual because they’re used to me standing in front & watching them, often photographing with the iPad. I’ve read it’s best to avoid flashes & when used should be angled away from tank: up, down or L/R. To avoid reflections. I bought some hoods that cover the flash attachment, forget what they’re called. I’m often better at reading than doing. Sad.

I just use and old Canon power shot. It has a great zoom on it so I don't have to be close to my subject to get a great pic.

 

[Colin_T]

If you have a digital SLR camera, do the following.
Set to shutter priority and have shutter speed at 1/200.
Use a flash.
Use a lens with a zoom between 28-80mm, whatever you have. Don't use macro lenses.
ISO 64 or 100. I normally use 100.

Clean inside and outside of the glass and do a big water change and gravel clean the day before you photograph them, or at least a few hours before taking pictures. Nothing ruins a good picture more than a dry water droplet on the glass.

Stand a couple of feet back from the tank and have the camera angled slightly so the camera flash reflects off the glass and away from the camera lens. This stops the big white blob appearing on pictures.

Wear dark clothes because digital cameras pick up reflections off the glass really well. Light clothes and light objects in the background can appear as reflections on the glass.

Have the tank lights on for a couple of hours before photographing them, and if possible the room lights as well, and open the curtains. The more light, the easier it is for the camera.

Take heaps of pictures, check them on your computer. Delete 99% of them and take more. Don't forget to recharge camera batteries after use.

Format the memory card after every photo shoot (after you upload them to your pc) to reduce the chance of new pictures becoming fragmented.

 

[Jacky12]

I contacted (email) Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd today at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. She is the lead author of the article often referenced for ich. I think Andy posted a link to it. I needed to know if an asymptomatic fish that recovered could transmit the pathogen to other fish. This is my theory on how the sevs became infected, from a group of koi angelfish that were in the tank before being replaced by the sevs. Dr. Francis-Floyd said this is indeed possible. The angels and their new tank mates continue to thrive. The sevs show little or no improvement since yesterday. For the third consecutive day, I carried a body bag to the tank to remove the juvenile, but he’s still alive.

The vet professor said IchX is “ok” & the formulation is better now. She suggested increasing salinity to 5ppt. I picked up API Aquarium Salt at the LFS. Box says to use one Tablespoon per 5 gallons. I don’t know if this equals 5ppt. I left a message on API’s answering machine. So far, I can’t find how to make the calculation online.

Edit#1: 5ppt = 5 gms/1000 ml. Uncertain if I’ll go that high, given I’m also using IckX.


Thanks, Colin, for the photo tips.

 

[Andy Sager]

I contacted (email) Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd today at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. She is the lead author of the article often referenced for ich. I think Andy posted a link to it. I needed to know if an asymptomatic fish that recovered could transmit the pathogen to other fish. This is my theory on how the sevs became infected, from a group of koi angelfish that were in the tank before being replaced by the sevs. Dr. Francis-Floyd said this is indeed possible. The angels and their new tank mates continue to thrive. The sevs show little or no improvement since yesterday. For the third consecutive day, I carried a body bag to the tank to remove the juvenile, but he’s still alive.

The vet professor said IchX is “ok” & the formulation is better now. She suggested increasing salinity to 5ppt. I picked up API Aquarium Salt at the LFS. Box says to use one Tablespoon per 5 gallons. I don’t know if this equals 5ppt. I left a message on API’s answering machine. So far, I can’t find how to make the calculation online.

Thanks, Colin, for the photo tips.

Always good to know from a pro.

 

[Jacky12]

Andy, finding disagreement among pros as to treatment. I really wanted her to confirm my working theory the little angels are vectors. Spawns of Satan! You can have them, since you’re so fond of angelfish.

 

[Andy Sager]

Andy, finding disagreement among pros as to treatment. I really wanted her to confirm my working theory the little angels are vectors. Spawns of Satan! You can have them, since you’re so fond of angelfish.

You are asking the wrong pros.
Thanks but no thanks. I'm actually not a fan of those Angels. They need too much color food to stay that color.
In truth, any fish could be a carrier. Since you take in so many fish from other people, you open yourself to the possibility of introducing something into your tanks if you don't really quarantine them for a long time.