Help Fish Have Spots!

[Xiomarieg]

Hello everyone!
 
This is our second round of fish for our 3 year old. We bought the tank in October for her birthday and did not know much about fish. Well we hadnt know about the nitrogen cycle. I got to trying to fix our tank, but it was too late, our fish ulitmately suffered and died. So just last Saturday unknowingly to me, my husband decided to stop off at the fish store and purchase new fish on his way home. I told him that when we were ready to purchase more fish I would like to test the water again. I have on hand some Seachems Prime, Api masters test kit, some Api stress coat and zyme. My fish are starting to have spots, but no other symptoms. I know this is not a good sign already and would like to nip it in the bud, before they get worse. Please help!!!

 

[AshleyNZ]

Would you be able to describe the "spots"? Do they look like grains of sand, covering the fish? If so, this would be Ich. I would say for you to raise the temperature to 82F, and go out to a pet store (If you can) and purchase some form of treatment. If you can find "Wunda Tonic" I would recommend it, as my fish had ich, and they all survived after I treated them properly. I hope this helps you

 

[Sickbound]

okay this is just a big mess...
Well treat them for ick first. DO a water change (30%) before adding medicine EVERY day. Make sure the water is treated with water conditioner and that it is the same temperature as the tank (1 degree higher is better than 1 degree lower).
RIGHT NOW do a water change in your tank. Be sure to turn off the filter and the heater before you get started.
Use a gravel vacuum (You can get these at petco) and vacuum the gravel. The ick falls off during one of the stages of its life cycle and it breeds in the substrate. The daily vacuuming of the gravel before each treatment will help get rid of the ick quicker. 


Do a TON of research. Right now. 

 

[Ninjouzata]

What are your water parameters? Tank size? Tank inhabitants? Did you get to cycle the tank before your hubby bought fish?
 
Can you get a picture of the affected fish? Don't want to throw meds at them if you don't know for sure what it is. As has been said it looks like grains of salt.
 
Dunno if we have "wunda tonic" in the states so you may want to look for something like quick cure, which can be found at walmart.

 

[Xiomarieg]

Thanks for all the responses guys! I can get a picture here in just a few. I just remember from the last time around it all started with spots and then what seemed to be like rotting skin, then they became lethargic and died. I have a 10 gallon tank and I was sure our cycle was fine since having had no fish and doing everything I was told the last time around to cycle the tank. I just wanted to be able to test the water before adding fish, but my hubby jumped the gun. The spots just showed up today. I will investigate them and post a description of how they look! I'm not sure what kind of fish they are.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Have you read THIS? Just letting the tank sit doesn't cycle it unfortunately.
 
When you get a picture you can upload it here by going to 'More Reply Options' and uploading file at the bottom of that. You can also upload to a photo sharing website such as photobucket and link here.
 
Sorry you're having troubles btw and 

to TFF.

 

[Xiomarieg]

Hello again! Sorry I haven't gotten a picture, just getting home. I am getting my kiddos to bed and then snapping one. Just for clarification, I didn't just let it sit empty. I was told I could cycle it using fish food, water changes and testing. It just has been a several weeks since my last tests that I ran, because I thought we were waiting to purchase more fish. One fish looks like he's becoming lethargic and the scales/skin around his mouth don't look normal.

 

[Xiomarieg]

Here's a pic of one of the sickly fish! I have a couple of these.

 

[Xiomarieg]

Can y'all see the picture!

 

[attibones]

Pictures not on there. Try using photobucket to grt it up.

 

[sawickib]

Yea upload to photobucket copy the img, the one that says its for forums and then paste n here

 

[Ninjouzata]

Hello again! Sorry I haven't gotten a picture, just getting home. I am getting my kiddos to bed and then snapping one. Just for clarification, I didn't just let it sit empty. I was told I could cycle it using fish food, water changes and testing. It just has been a several weeks since my last tests that I ran, because I thought we were waiting to purchase more fish. One fish looks like he's becoming lethargic and the scales/skin around his mouth don't look normal.

Fish food is an awful way to cycle the tank (no offense to you!), as it takes time for the food to break down into ammonia. It also means you can't measure the ammonia you're adding.
Normally you don't do water changes during a cycle, unless you somehow added too much ammonia or the pH crashed. (Someone feel free to chime in if there are more reasons to W/C during a cycle, am not the smartest when it comes to that 

)
 
Can you get us the water parameters? As has been said you can upload the picture to a photo sharing website such as photobucket and link it here. 

 

[Xiomarieg]

One fish down.... I will try again using a photo upload site. I really need to test the waters again. Question, when should the filter be changed?

 

[sawickib]

Dont touch the filter for now while you have ich, esp. if its still cycling. But when you do need to clean it, which should be done monthly, clean the filter media in old tank water, never replace the media, its a waste of money and bad for your fish.

 

[Xiomarieg]

Dont touch the filter for now while you have ich, esp. if its still cycling. But when you do need to clean it, which should be done monthly, clean the filter media in old tank water, never replace the media, its a waste of money and bad for your fish.

How do I go about "cleaning" the filter in dirty water?? Sorry, please explain. My bottom feeder died this morning and some of the fishes spots, seemed to have disappeared while one of my fish seems to be getting worse. I'm doing another water change and siphon tonight, levels are still just a tad high.
To start treating ich I have read to take the carbon filter out?? What does this mean? Also how do I raise the temp of the water??