Help! Is It Ich?

[whitney]

Hi all,

New problem....

Two weeks ago, I added four German Blue Rams to my 30 gallon tank. I've never had so many in my tank before- but I really would like to have a male/female pair and I wasn't able to sex them in the store (I saw no pink bellies, but a couple had very distinct blue in their black dots, and finnage was also questionable). Anyway, the man in the store swore up and down that they'd be fine together....even if they turned out to all be male.....I decided to try it, watch them carefully, and if two paired up, I'd know I had a match. I also set up a 5 gallon hospital tank to use "just in case."

Most of the time, they hide at the bottom of the tank. I've got lots of little caves and plants, so they all have a place to go. They hardly ever stray into open water and always hide as soon as they spot me.

I've never had this before- in the past, my rams have always been brazen and friendly- coming right over to me and following me around the tank. I had chalked this up to them all being male and not wanting to leave their "territories," for fear of being usurped. I'm currently planning out a new 200 gallon tank, so I was going to let it be for a month or so, and move a some of them into the new tank when it was ready.

But today, I noticed that a couple of them have begun to show slight fraying on their fins. It also looks like there are white spots on their dorsal fins and tails.

Today, I saw one quickly rub against the rocks and tick a few times. I've also noticed that he has a couple of very small indentations in his forhead. He also showed some redness at the base of one of his side fins.

I would have liked to take a picture to show you, but they wont stay still in the open long enough for me to get a photo.

I'm afraid it may be ich or hole-in-the-head- but I don't want to unnecessarily stress my fish out and medicate them if it's not.

I had a goldfish tank that became ich infected when I was in college- the white spots those fish had looked somewhat different than these- they were smaller- more distinctly raised and round- and more numerous.

I checked my water conditions with my API kit this morning....Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10. I have the temp set at 80 (this is really one of the only things that has changed recently- I had a single heater in there, but for some reason, it wasn't heating the whole tank, and the temperature around the heater was 80 and on the other end of the tank it was 77...all the fish were crowding around that end of the tank like it was a space heater......so I added a new marineland stealth heater this week to the other side of the tank. The temp the temp on the newly heated side went up three degrees, thus matching the warmer end of the tank.

What should I do? I've got the hospital tank running in case I need to quarantine.

 

[puddle_inc]

hmm, i think maby you need to try some melafix. and are all of them scared or just some?

they may be scared in the new tank. maby they just need time. but get some melafix for the white spot. i don't think it sounds like ick.
good luck, maby some pics of them will help us find out whats wrong.

 

[whitney]

I did add some melafix today....the label doesn't mention anything about white-spot disease though....just that it's good for fin rot.

 

[scrappy]

Bacterial Infections sometimes look like Ich, however they normally show up as white dots to start then turn into a fluffy cotton wool like fungus on the fins and body of the fish. Ragged and split fins is a good telltale sign that its likely a bacterial infection in the water. Your fish will tend to clamp their fins and not generally eat if ill.

Melafix is a tea tree oil based treatment that combats bacterial infections, however it cannot work alone, you had better do a 35-40% water change aswell as using the treatment on a daily basis for at least a week. Another sign of bacterial infections in the water is where a cloudy circle forms on the eye of the fish, looks a lil bit like cateracts. Look out for this as thats a BIG telltale sign of bad bacteria. Melafix helps against this also.

Im well knowledged on this subject as bad bacteria ravaged in my Severum tank only last week. Bacterial Infections spread fast. The main reason I didnt lose a single Severum was the constant water changes I did every day after work for a week. Its settled down now and im very pleased I didnt lose any of my 4 beloved Sevs.

I will admit having previously kept rams, you are looking at a losing battle, they are very delicate fish and tend to go downwards rapidly (probably due to the overbreeding/interbreeding/badbreeding of the German Blues in East Euro countrys).

Try what I mentioned above about daily water changes and possibly change some or maybe all of your filter media (its ok, your substrate will have sufficient good bacteria to compensate for whats lost on the existing filter media).

If it is Ich (White Spot) then i suggest a course of Protozin (another remedy tried and tested by myself), and make sure you follow instructions about using it to the finest detail (and beware its a dye based remedy so dont spill it on your clothes, its royal blue colour, but it wont discolour any water plants or ornaments). Ohhh and remember to take out any carbon based filter media if you have any, otherwise your expensive fish treatments will just get sucked up in it and it wont circulate the tank.

Hope it at least helps a little, and if it doesnt apply this time, at least you'll remember about bad bacteria for if it ever occurs in your tank in the future.