Mystery Ich on Sick Pike Cichlid

[CDNM_Savage]

I got a pike cichlid from my LFS four weeks ago. I wanted it for about a month before I picked it up. I saw that it had what looked like Ich about a week before I bought it off of them. It hadn't appeared to have gotten any worse and none of the other fish in the tank it had been housed in had any signs of Ich. During the first half a week that I had it the temp was at 90F. I dropped it to 88F for the following week. For the next two and a half weeks I have had it at a constant 86F. During that entire time I was regularly medicating the tank with Ich-X, RidIch Plus, API Super Ich Cure, Copper Power Green, and API General Cure. I have also been doing daily siphoning of the tank and adding aquarium salts to the tank and re-medicating after each water change to account for any lost medication. There are three "Ich" spots on the Caudal (tail) fin that I have been monitoring the entire four weeks and they have not gone away or even changed in size. I am starting to think it is not Ich because if there were still spots but they were in different locations that would simply mean I'm not doing a good enough job keeping the tank clean of new parasites, but the spots haven't changed IN A MONTH AT 86F OR HIGHER. I did the copper and API General Cure as an attempt to cure it of any other illness it may possibly be. The fish is eating its daily shrimp/tilapia cuts like a champ and is showing no signs of extreme lethargy, flashing, or stress other than the understandable reaction to being heavily medicated. I am fairly experienced as I also have an Otorongo Stingray, Spotted Gar, and an Ornate Bichir. I have also had fish with Ich before and I have never lost a fish to Ich so I'm not exactly sure whats going on. I tried the heat treatment with salt and medication. I know you aren't supposed to do all three but as long as I keep all lights off except for during feeding then the fish does really well, understanding the circumstances.
Temp-86F
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0

 

[charliebankston]

I've treated ich with all 3 methods too, never lost a fish. Pushed the temp to 90 also. On an interesting note, while they did have ich initially, I kept seeing alot of flashing. I treated for a month like that. $$. Turns out, they had fish lice. Once I treated for that all the flashing stopped. I guess my point is, maybe after all that treatment, he's just got 4 spots on his tail. I'd monitor closely for a week or 2 and see if the spots start to multiply. Good news is you've also cured him of any other ailment, haha!

 

[charliebankston]

*3 spots on his tail

 

[CDNM_Savage]

*3 spots on his tail

Thanks for the response. Yeah, he has spots all over each of his fins but those are the three that I have monitored because they are in a triangle like pattern. It is uncommon for there to be a perfect triangle in nature so they are easiest to monitor. I'll keep at it!

 

[charliebankston]

[emoji106]