Does my Guppy have Ich??

GuppyMom32

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A few months ago I bought 8 guppies at the pet store, the first day one of them died, I'm thinking it was stress, but all the others have been fine ever since. But now, I have noticed that one of my guppies has something on the sides and top of his body, and I honestly have no idea if it's Ich or not. I looked up pictures of guppies with Ich and none of them looked like how my guppy looks. I placed him in a separate tank for a few days and treated him with Ich medicine. Then, I placed him back in the main tank. At that moment he looked so much better. But I woke up this morning to him covered in the stuff again. The thing that really confuses me is that he's acting normal and eating. What's going on????
 
First of all; remember that most animals have evolved not to show any signs of illness, as it just attracts predators, and the instinct to carry on feeding as normal is very strong, so you can have very sick fish that act completely normally.

Ich is very distinctive; it looks like tiny, bright white, raised spots. If your fish doesn't have those, then it doesn't have ich.

Could you try and get a picture of the fish (I totally understand if not; fish are notoriously difficult to photograph!), or give us a better description, please? Does the 'something' look white or grey or pink, for instance? Does it look fluffy, slimy or flaky?

It would also help if you could give us some more details on your set up, as many fish 'diseases' are caused by environmental issues. How big is your tank, how long has it been set up and is it cycled? How often and how much water do you change? Have you had the water tested at all, and do you know its pH and hardness?

I'm so sorry for all the questions, but, as always, the more information we have, the better we can help you and your fishes :)
 
A pic will help identify if it’s ich or not. Do the spots look like small white pimples all over? If so then it probably is ich and should be effecting everyone in the tank. Ich is a parasite with a predictable life cycle. If you up to temp to over 80 F it should increase this life cycle. You can medicate during this time. I believe the medicine only works when the parasite is not in the cyst stage (the white pimples). Do this for two weeks and you should be fine. Feed with extra protein like live or frozen food during the treatment period. Ich infects the whole tank not just the fish so if a fish is removed to a hospital tank and treated but the tank is not then it can become infected again. Do a couple water changes with temp matched dechlorinated water and clean the gravel well.
 
A pic will help identify if it’s ich or not. Do the spots look like small white pimples all over? If so then it probably is ich and should be effecting everyone in the tank. Ich is a parasite with a predictable life cycle. If you up to temp to over 80 F it should increase this life cycle. You can medicate during this time. I believe the medicine only works when the parasite is not in the cyst stage (the white pimples). Do this for two weeks and you should be fine. Feed with extra protein like live or frozen food during the treatment period. Ich infects the whole tank not just the fish so if a fish is removed to a hospital tank and treated but the tank is not then it can become infected again. Do a couple water changes with temp matched dechlorinated water and clean the gravel well.
Okay I'll try to describe to you what it looks like the best that I can. I'm looking at the tank right now, specifically the infected Guppy, and I can't see the white spots, but when I get closer and he turns to the side especially I can see them. The whole thing is very weird because I can also only see it if their good lighting is on. This seems weird since in most pics it's extremely clear that there's something on the Guppy all the time. Also, my Guppy's spots aren't pure white. And I don't know if this makes a difference but my Guppies tail isn't clenched or anything.
 
Without a clear pic it is hard to determine what is going on. It could be ich, it could be another type of infection or it could just be light hitting certain scales a different way causing a shimmering effect. Without knowing what is going on it’s hard to say. To be safe, up the temp that can’t hurt guppies unless you have something in there that can’t tolerate that temp. Do any of the other fish have the symptoms. And like flutter mouth asked, what is the tank setup, size, decor, normal temp, and water parameters? And what and how many tankmates does this fish have?

I have a harlequin who has a shimmering scale that when I first noticed I thought it was ich. After closer observation I noticed that the spot would disappear when he turned away from the light.
 
post a pic, it makes identifying diseases a lot easier :)

have you checked the water quality in the tank, eg: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH? if yes what were the results?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?

Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do the water change?

What sort of filter do you have and when was it last cleaned, and how did you clean it?
 
post a pic, it makes identifying diseases a lot easier :)

have you checked the water quality in the tank, eg: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH? if yes what were the results?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?

Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do the water change?

What sort of filter do you have and when was it last cleaned, and how did you clean it?
I just cleaned the tank yesterday, it was around a 25% water change (I do this every week) - I have a 20 gallon long
And yes I do suction out the stuff that builds up in the gravel
I have a Aqueon water filter, I haven't really thought about cleaning it so I'll try that
 
Clean the filter materials in a bucket of tank water. Rinse them out or squeeze them out until they are clean. You might need 2 or 3 buckets of tank water to get them clean.

I would wipe the inside of the glass to remove any biofilm, then do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean each day for the next week.

When things settle down start doing a 50% water change each week instead of 25%.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
 
Without a clear pic it is hard to determine what is going on. It could be ich, it could be another type of infection or it could just be light hitting certain scales a different way causing a shimmering effect. Without knowing what is going on it’s hard to say. To be safe, up the temp that can’t hurt guppies unless you have something in there that can’t tolerate that temp. Do any of the other fish have the symptoms. And like flutter mouth asked, what is the tank setup, size, decor, normal temp, and water parameters? And what and how many tankmates does this fish have?

I have a harlequin who has a shimmering scale that when I first noticed I thought it was ich. After closer observation I noticed that the spot would disappear when he turned away from the light.
Okay I'm gonna be totally honest here, since I just joined I don't really know how to post a pic
 
moderators, can someone help them post a pic of their fish? :)
Yeah I really can't figure out how to post a pic but I just got a really good one, I'm looking at it again and I do think it's Ich. I have to go away for the weekend though. Do you think it will be okay untreated for 2 days? Because I have no other option. Also, Should I treat the whole tank? Even the fish that don't have symtoms?
 
I am the same with pics on here. I just post them on a free image hosting website and copy the link to here.

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If you haven't added any new fish or plants in the last 2 weeks, it is unlikely to be ich (whitespot).

When do you have to go on holidays, in an hour or tomorrow?
If you have to leave today then do a big water change (75-80%) and gravel clean now. If it is a water quality issue the water change will help. And if it's a protozoan infection the big water change will dilute the number of pathogens in the water and should buy you a couple of days.

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What medication do you have?
I don't like adding medications unless I know what the problem is and if it's a water quality issue, or you overdose the tank, you could come home to a tank of dead fish.

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What other fish are in the tank?

You could add some rock salt, sea salt, or aquarium salt at a dose of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20litres of tank water. But if you have wild caught Corydoras or wild angelfish or discus then don't use salt.
 
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I am the same with pics on here. I just post them on a free image hosting website and copy the link to here.

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If you haven't added any new fish or plants in the last 2 weeks, it is unlikely to be ich (whitespot).

When do you have to go on holidays, in an hour or tomorrow?
If you have to leave today then do a big water change (75-80%) and gravel clean now. If it is a water quality issue the water change will help. And if it's a protozoan infection the big water change will dilute the number of pathogens in the water and should buy you a couple of days.

-----------------------
What medication do you have?
I don't like adding medications unless I know what the problem is and if it's a water quality issue, or you overdose the tank, you could come home to a tank of dead fish.
I'm leaving like literally now unfortunately, Although only me and someone else from my family are going so I'm going to make sure that they check in on the guppies. I only have one tablet of tetra Ick Guard. I guess I just have to deal with this when I get home. But I think they'll be okay since the guppy that is infected has high energy and doesn't seem to show any signs of being lethargic. I have to go but when I get back I'll let you know how they are doing :)
 
don't put anything in then and just see how they go. Have a nice weekend :)
 
don't put anything in then and just see how they go. Have a nice weekend :)
So just an update, the infected guppy is back in a quarantine tank and I'm think that I should do a complete tank cleaning. Where I would take all the guppies, water, decorations, and stones out of the tank and disinfect them. To go into more detail, I have a 10 gallon long tank that I would put all of the guppies (including the infected one) in the week that I'm working on cleaning the tank, and while they're in there, I am going to treat them with Ich guard. The only thing is, is that the other guppies are showing no signs of having Ich. But I feel like if one guppy got Ich the others would probably get it. Basically, what I'm asking is, is it okay to give fish Ich medicine if they're with a fish with Ich and have been exposed to it? Or would it just be better if I kept them separated and only treated the one guppy. If not, what else do you think I should do in terms of treating them? Sorry for rambling on
 

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