Rainbow fish Help!

[Kookyxogirl]

Hello I am hoping someone can help me. I have a planted tank that has been fish less for 3 months. All my parameters were perfect so it was time to order my favorite fish..I just received 12 Turquoise Rainbow fish yesterday and they today they have some white spots and also around their mouth it looks like ich but I’m not positive. I’m waiting to hear from Petsolutions in the morning hopefully but I’m hoping there is something I can do now. I did a 50 % water change and raised the heat to 78.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thank you in Advance

 

[King puff]

I would read up about the ich life cycle. Basically, an ich parasite or trophozoite bursts from a cyst found on the skin, gills, and fins of a fish. The trophont forms a protective shell called a tromont where it multiplies inside. These will lay about your aquarium until they burst. When there are laying around, it is a good time to vacuum your gravel. do this every day. When the tromont bursts, it releases thousands of new tomites that will swim around to look for a fish host. the Tomites will infect a new host and the cycle will start again.

Good ways to treat ich are NOT medicines. The best way and most safe way is doing it naturally. Raise the temp to 83-84 for two weeks. Do frequent water changes and vacuum the gravel VERY well during the water changes to make sure your getting all the tromonts out of your tank.

 

[Kookyxogirl]

Hello and thank you for your advice. I just noticed your reply lol
I remembered I just posted my question every where online & got all kinds of advice..good & bad..I have learned a lot since then! Definitely learned a lot from reading and experience!
Happy Holidays!

 

[Colin_T]

Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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There is no point raising the water temperature to 78F unless you know what the problem is. If it is whitespot (Ich), the warmer water will simply make it grow/ spread faster. You need to identify the problem and then treat.

If it is whitespot, you need to raise the temperature to 86F and keep it there for 2 weeks.
Before you raise the temperature, do a 75-90% water change and gravel clean the substrate. This will dilute most of the parasites from the gravel and water and help slow its spread.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, do not clean the filter if it is less than 6 weeks old. Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water and re-use it.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels in the water.

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Rainbowfish regularly damage their nose/ mouth area when newly imported or put into a new tank. They swim into objects and the sides of the tank and get a fat lip. This normally heals up within a few weeks and doesn't need treating.

Before you do anything, post pictures of the fish so we can confirm the problem. If you want to do anything before that, do a huge water change and gravel clean to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Do not add medications. You can treat whitespot by simply raising the water temp to 86F and keeping it there for 2 weeks.

 

[Kookyxogirl]

Hello,
My post was from Jan 2018! I just found it & wanted to say thank you.
I have learned a lot since then, mostly by reading & definitely experience! I have had fish since I was a child.
I did end up losing those fish but they were sent to me sick and the company did there best to help me safe them.
Thank you for your advice, hopefully it will help someone.

 

[Colin_T]

If you or anyone else gets rainbowfish, add some salt to the tank as soon as you get them. Salt helps reduce problems with rainbowfish and helps them calm down quicker. It also helps reduce bacterial and fungal problems that are sometimes found on newly imported fish.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt or swimming pool salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Keep the salt in there for 2 weeks then water change it out.

That level of salt is fine for all freshwater fish, shrimp, snails and plants, and will not affect the filter bacteria.

 

[Naughts]

If you or anyone else gets rainbowfish, add some salt to the tank as soon as you get them. Salt helps reduce problems with rainbowfish and helps them calm down quicker. It also helps reduce bacterial and fungal problems that are sometimes found on newly imported fish.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt or swimming pool salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Keep the salt in there for 2 weeks then water change it out.

That level of salt is fine for all freshwater fish, shrimp, snails and plants, and will not affect the filter bacteria.

Good tip @Colin_T , thank you as I plan on getting dwarf neon (praecox) next week.
If I quarantine for a month will they need salt in the quarantine tank and then the main tank?
I'm aiming for 8 in a planted 180 litre tank with neon tetra and trilineatus corydoras. Thanks.

 

[Colin_T]

Put salt in the quarantine tank when you first get them.

Don't bother adding salt to the display tank after they have been quarantined.

 

[Naughts]

Great, thank you for the help.