hey guys, i noticed some white spots on some of my hatchets i'm worried its ich my heater only goes to 78 and you can't really set it it stays between 74-78 so any heating ideas? and what about water changes? well here is a couple pictures of my hatchets. i recently put plants in about a week ago, i cleaned them off really well when i got them so i don't know how this happened
i know its kinda hard to see but look at the tail fin.
that looks like ick to me.
first think you need to do is test the water levels. Ick can be caused by stress, and changes in water levels can cause stress. For me, I had a massive out break in my tank with mollies, black neon tetras, x-ray bellies and longnose whiptail catfish.
I slowly (over the course of 24 hours) raised the temp by a degree every few hours till I was at 87 degrees. (the hatchet fish should be able to tollerate at least 85/86.) I'd slowly raise the temp until you get to the prefered level (ick can't reproduce at temps over 85, so they die)... once you get to 86ish... check on them every half hour to see how they're tollerating the temp. if they look like they're really struggling, you may want to lower the temp by a degree or two till they seem comfortable... and make sure they are getting enough oxygen by adding more airstones and lowering the water level to let the waterfall from the filter splash more.
I also added a tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water in my tank. I read that hatchet fish can either be treated with heat therapy or a combo of heat/salt therapy.
I thought it wasn't going to work, but this is day 2 of spotlessness... and I think by Monday I'll be able to start turning down the heat slowly, slowly wean out the salt, and get things back to normal.
And best of all, I didn't lose any of my fish (as I did a while back when I had an ick outbreak and used coppersafe)
but it worked for me.
if your heater only goes to 78, you can buy one that is adjustable and just replace it. They're not that expensive. I paid $20 for mine.
i know its kinda hard to see but look at the tail fin.
