German Blue Ram Ick/ich?

[cooledwhip]

I bought two German Blue Rams from a US farm in Florida, not the asian farm where there are so many antibiotics, etc.
 
I got them in on thursday, they have been in my 20 gallon SUPER PLANTED so far. They have been acting normal, and I know the pH is a little high. Tank mates: 2 Dwarf neon rainbows, 8 threadfin rainbowfish, 2 blue mystery snails, lots of RCS, albino BN pleco. I spotted some white specs on him and I'm getting scared because I don't want my other fish to get sick, Should I move my GBR with the spots on it out of the tank? 
 
Ive had all the rainbowfish for about a month or two. The RCS are breeding like mad. I just upped the temp but I'm scared to do meds because I don't want to kill my plants or stain my water.
 
 
Here is a picture of him:
 
http/imgur.com/a/QnJNv

 

[cooledwhip]

Bump. REPLY

 

[francoistaljard]

I use bio-elite range of meds. They are safe on plants and shrimp and almost impossible to overdose.
And they do not stain water or mes your bio filter up.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Byron]

My preferred treatment, on the personal advice of Neale Monks, is increased heat and aquarium salt.  I raise the temp to around 85F, and add aquarium salt at the level of 2g per litre; one level teaspoon is approximately 6 grams, so that treats 3 litres.  You can calculate the tank volume and convert litres/gallons if necessary.  Maintain this for two weeks, with the normal water change(s) and add sufficient salt for the replacement water only at each water change.  
 
If the fish can manage, raising the temperature to 90F alone is believed by many to kill ich, but not all fish can tolerate this for the two weeks.
 
I see no problems with increasing the temp to 85F and using salt with the fish mentioned.  I cannot say much about the shrimp, but if memory serves me the salt is less damaging than any medications using copper.  This applies to many sensitive fish too.  I have even used this heat/salt method with my wild caught corys, pencilfish and loaches, without any losses and no sign of discomfort.
 
There is very little benefit to removing the spotted fish now; by the time you see spots, ich has been around for several days, as it normally will first attack fish in the gills where it cannot be seen, and later externally on fins and body.  Fish that are in good health sometimes can fight it off.  Chasing fish around the tank with a net adds considerable stress to everyone in the tank, and this can easily set off a real outbreak of ich.
 
Byron.

 

[NickAu]

 
My preferred treatment, on the personal advice of Neale Monks, is increased heat and aquarium salt.  I raise the temp to around 85F, and add aquarium salt at the level of 2g per litre;

Thats how I did it , Minus the salt,
 
I treated Clown loaches with heat only, I raised the temp to 86F and within 24 hours I couldnt see ant spots on my fish then I kept the temp there for 7 days, Worked like a charm.

 

[cooledwhip]

Me too, I turned the heat up to like 85-90 and there are no spots anymore, just a little duller color. Fish looks fine, but the two GBRs are kinda agressive. They are juveniles, about a half an inch long, and I see them charging at eachother and confronting eachother every now and then. Luckily my tank is VERY heavily planted so I have some time before I need to move them out.

 

[Byron]

Me too, I turned the heat up to like 85-90 and there are no spots anymore, just a little duller color. Fish looks fine, but the two GBRs are kinda agressive. They are juveniles, about a half an inch long, and I see them charging at eachother and confronting eachother every now and then. Luckily my tank is VERY heavily planted so I have some time before I need to move them out.

 
This probably means you have two males.  But it is possible that a male/female would still not bond and push each other.  But more likely they are both males.
 
By the way, the common or blue ram (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) is a warmer water fish that should be maintained no cooler than 27C/80F, and a degree or two warmer will not hurt.  Iriatherina werneri (Threadfin Rainbow) will have no problems with this, but the same cannot be said for the Dwarf Neon, Melanotaenia praecox, which should be kept cooler, around 24-25C/74-77F.
 
When kept cooler than the 80F+, rams will be weakened and the lifespan is shorter.  Weakening unfortunately means less hardy, and disease can be more troublesome.
 
Byron.

 

[mark4785]

If the white spots are the size of grains of salt you are dealing with white spot, and would concur with the advice above in that you need to higher the water temperature to around 30 degrees C. You would then want to add a malachite green based treatment.

 

[Byron]

If the white spots are the size of grains of salt you are dealing with white spot, and would concur with the advice above in that you need to higher the water temperature to around 30 degrees C. You would then want to add a malachite green based treatment.

 
This is one treatment, and one that used to be popular (as was methelene blue), but not all fish will tolerate malachite green.  Characins for example should never be exposed to this.  If something beyond heat alone is indicated, salt is generally much safer for fish in general as there is less internal disruption than most medications can cause, and it tends to be very effective.
 
Byron.