Is this Scarring or something else?

[Jobin13]

Hey fish tank people.
I had a bad case of ick in my 40 gallon planted tank. (ended up loosing about 60% of my stocking as a result of infections caused by lowered immune systems) I tried treating with Marineland Ich remedy (Recommended by my LFS) but I didn't like how it was staining the sealants so I switched to Kordon Ich Attack (the all natural herbal formula) and treated that way for 2 weeks. That started to foul my filter (despite 3x weekly water changes) and it gunked up the sponges pretty severely. So then I was forced to retreat to aquarium salt and temperature bumping. Since it's a planted tank, I figured I'd be okay doing half dosage salt (as long as I got the temperature above 84 degrees.) However I've been treating this way for 2 weeks now, and my bloodfin tetras still appear to have shiny specks on their bodies (but not on the fins like it was before). My EDR and Julii Corydoras, as well as my bristle nose pleco all seem to be 100% spot free. But I'm scared to stop treatment due to the shiny specks on the bloodfins.


Is it possible that ich can leave scars? or is this possibly a continuation of Ich on the body? The temperature is currently at 86 and was at 88 for about 5 days (but seemed to be too high for some of the fish, so I bumped it down a little). In total I've been treating for Ich for over a month and these shiny spots won't seem to go away on the bloodfins...

Just doesn't seem to make any sense. The water parameters have been great with the exception of a small cycling following a major sponge cleaning from the gunk buildup..

 

[V227]

The reason I don't use meds to treat my fish are the reasons you noted. Most don't work and they usually screw up your BB and tank. As for your tetras the parasites might have marked the scales. After all ick does puncture through to access blood. The fact that there are no parasites on the fins is certainly a good indicator that your current treatment is working. I would continue your treatment a few days more just to be safe. Good luck.

 

[coralbandit]

Look into velvet/oodinium as a possible issue for the blood fin?
The herbal stuff [I usually use a four letter word instead of stuff] certainly won't work on velvet..I have my doubts with it working at all on anything [except your wallet]..
Still having issues a month later maybe you should question it also?
Is your silicone still stained?
I have used rid ich plus [NOT herbal] for a long time when needed and no matter how dark I have made my water I have no permanent stains on any of my tanks silicone and I kill ich quick ...

 

[idol1]

herbal meds cant work fast enough. I don't think they work at all.

you cant get the salt level high enough to kill the ick with out killing your fish.

catfish hate salt. your temp should never be over 85F ick will leave the fish at 83 F

 

[Jobin13]

I don't think it's velvet, it doesn't appear to have the "Powdered sugar look".. and the spots are in areas where the ich spots once were. There are only a few spots (Mostly 5 or less but one appears to have up to 10) per fish and the spots are much smaller than the ich spots were. All of these spots are only visible when the fish swims through the aquarium light a certain way... Not like clearly visible Ich.

This is why i prompted the question about scarring.

as for the salt insensitivity, my pleco seems to be doing just fine. all of my fish have appetites as well. so it doesn't appear to be a problem.

I'll do 2x weekly water change this week and keep up with the salt and temperature. if the spots start to come back I'll reassess.