Flicking But No White Spots

[greatfish123]

hmmm its about two to three days since i first this happening. If i wait and add an ICH medication when i see the spots instead of stressing them out unnecessarily, will it be too late and what is a good itch medication.

 

[-germ-]

Did you treat with any meds just before the flicking began?
Are there any marks at all? Particularly look for tiny gold dots or tiny black specks....
You've also got to get that ammonia down, just in case.

 

[greatfish123]

No i didnt treat with any medications before the flicking began. But the fish were purchased a week ago after my tank was cycled and was running smoothly with some black neon tetras.

As far as marks, I dont see any dots at all. (being the orangish color the platies are and the red color of the swortails doesnt help at all ). The only thing I see is the bottom of the frontal area are white and i checked to see if my healthy fishes have it and they seem to have it too. The white is just as if its body color; not like white spots or anything like that.

The ammonia is being reduced. Right now its reading is between 0 and 0.25. Somewhere around .15, I would say.

The fishes are all going about their usual business still. I also read somewhere that the first signs of an infected fish is that its dorsal fins lie low and its fins are somewhat clamped. I checked for these in my fishes, and they dont seem to sport this at all.

 

[poopsydrew]

hmmm its about two to three days since i first this happening. If i wait and add an ICH medication when i see the spots instead of stressing them out unnecessarily, will it be too late and what is a good itch medication.

Well as for it being too late, no its never too late to treat. Now whether the fish will make it is a different thing. I see it as rather treat late than never treat at all. If you dont have any sensitive/scaless species or small fry any machalite green and formalin medication work. Those will be the two active ingredients. This will stain the sislicone on the tank however, a dark blue. You can use any ich medication from a reliable company, many of them wont stain the tank, best just to browse and read the bottle. Please, once again make sure it is ICH before you treat and not a symptom of something else....And once again, the best of luck to you and your fish.

Drew

 

[greatfish123]

thanks for the reply. I think i'll wait a few more days to see if i indeed see any white spots or see f they start to reduce their behavior as i dont want to unnecessarily stress them if they dont have itch. Will Quick Cure serve as a good itch medicine that I could store in my fish medicine kit thanks

 

[poopsydrew]

thanks for the reply. I think i'll wait a few more days to see if i indeed see any white spots or see f they start to reduce their behavior as i dont want to unnecessarily stress them if they dont have itch. Will Quick Cure serve as a good itch medicine that I could store in my fish medicine kit thanks

Your welcome. Im not familiar with quick cure, if it says for the treatment of ich, then your good as long as you dont have sensitive/scaless species (I know I keep saying that but I would rather be safe...). I would do daily water changes until you decide to treat to keep the ammonia down and the water clean, this will also help remove some cysts free flowing in the water if it is ICH. Then follow the directions on th bottle for water changes after treatment. Oh, and if you do decide it is ich you need to up the temp to 82-84 degrees this will speed up the life cycle of the parasite as the only time you can attack it is after it punches through the skin back into the water.That said, it might be helpful in determining if it is ich to up the temp to 80-82 (do it slowly). Its kinda lengthy but I consider this a must read for anyone who has battled or dealt with ich/whitespot...
http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml
Keep us updated! We are all here to help...

Drew

 

[greatfish123]

thanks for the reply and the article.(very informative). Today I saw a white spot on one of my fishes and so i'm pretty sure its ICH at this point. I'll start the entire tank on a course of malacchite green. Will this harm the biological filter also i know tetras require half dosage; how about guppies

 

[poopsydrew]

thanks for the reply and the article.(very informative). Today I saw a white spot on one of my fishes and so i'm pretty sure its ICH at this point. I'll start the entire tank on a course of malacchite green. Will this harm the biological filter also i know tetras require half dosage; how about guppies

Yea tetras are sensitive, but to be honest I would pick up something that you can full dose with. No offense or anything but I dont see the point in half dosing, the full dose is there for a reason, you know? anyway, either use a half dose of the green or get a different one for sensitive fish. Guppies will be fine with a full dose but you need to treat the entire tank. Most products state wether or not they effect the bilogical filtration, usually there is not much impact. At least we have confirmed its ich and you can treat now. good luck with treatment, and I will check on this thread if you need anything...

Drew

 

[greatfish123]

thanks again for your prompt reply Drew. When i went to my LFS and asked for the product, she said that Salt and heat is often the most effective treatment for controlling ich in the beginning. I nonetheless bought the product but havent put it in my tank yet. I've increased the temp to 82F(this wont harm the fishes right?) and increased the salt concentration in the tank.

on a positive note, one of my guppies gave birth

 

[poopsydrew]

thanks again for your prompt reply Drew. When i went to my LFS and asked for the product, she said that Salt and heat is often the most effective treatment for controlling ich in the beginning. I nonetheless bought the product but havent put it in my tank yet. I've increased the temp to 82F(this wont harm the fishes right?) and increased the salt concentration in the tank.

on a positive note, one of my guppies gave birth

Your very welcome. The temp increase is good and necessary. However, I dont think the salt will take care of the ich, I know it does at high doses but I would imagine this stresses the fish. Nonetheless, I know it has been used so feel free to try. Unless you meant you are adding salt and some medication, which I imagine would be more effective. Either way keep a close eye and treat for the whole recommended course, I usually treat for four weeks to be sure. Your fish are in good hands as you are a concerned keeper looking out for your fish. Just remeber to stay on top of water quality and treat properly for the full term and you should be good. Congratulations on the guppy fry, that is always an exciting experience. Let us know how its going when you get the chance...

Drew

 

[danio]

Hope the treatment works out for you.

I had a similar situation after adding 3 zebra danios to my tank. Something didn't look right about the new ones the next day (slight redness, rapid breathing, no eating,) and all three were dead within 36 hours. The morning after that, I found one of my original zebras dead at the surface, and the remaining two darting around and flicking against the bottom. No white spots, just the weird behavior. The water was perfect and I didn't know what else to try, so I started Ich treatment.

It must have been that or a similar parasite, because they improved almost immediately. I took a trip back to the fish store, and sure enough, the zebra danio tank was almost empty, with one of their "Under Observation" markers on the glass. That's what finally convinced me it was worth setting up a quarantine tank for new fish.

 

[greatfish123]

Just wanted to give y'all an update: The white spot on my male swordtail is still there although i think its a tad bit smaller that it was yesterday (or may be its just my imagination)

Also upon closer inspection, I noticed that all of my fish except the swortails have a silvery patch like area near their gills.( is that common). Also the guppy who had given birth yesterday is very sluggish today with her fins clamped a bit. Is that something to worry?

Thanks for all your efforts!

 

[greatfish123]

another update: While the white spots have not appeared on any other fishes, some fishes are particularly flicking a lot(up to 4 to 5 times in a row). Shall I go ahead and start the ich treatment then?

Also will the malchite green and formalin destroy the biological filter and is the stain going to be permanent? Thanks!

 

[poopsydrew]

another update: While the white spots have not appeared on any other fishes, some fishes are particularly flicking a lot(up to 4 to 5 times in a row). Shall I go ahead and start the ich treatment then?

Also will the malchite green and formalin destroy the biological filter and is the stain going to be permanent? Thanks!

The machalite green usually has a minimal impact and is way better than not treating with it. It will permantley stain the silicone and any ornaments. Its really not that bad just makes things a really crystal blue (like you see the "pretty" blue water at wal-mart, because they always have ich...) Yes I would start a treatment immediatley, be careful with your sensitive fishes. Is there any way you can pick up ich for sensitive fish, that way it wont stain tour tank either....Whichever you choose better to treat now before its too late. Im sorry you are going through this, to be blunt, ich really sucks. Keep posting.

Drew

 

[greatfish123]

thanks for following up on this thread closely drew. If you do not min can you kindly suggest a better alternative that wont stain my tank and that i can properly dose with? Thanks,