Ick Outbreak? Again!?!?!?

[ThatAquaristChick1234]

Hey guys. I bring sad news. I have noticed my red wag platy in my community tank has white spots which im almsot positive it is ich. He is in treatment, and i plan to sperate all the other fish in there and treat them as well, as i know ich is agressive. but how is this happening??? The tank has a 40 i fliter (its a 20 gal long) not over stocked, cleaned regualry, and water stats are perfect! what am i doing wrong!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Have you recently added anything to your tank? It may have come in with it.

 

[ThatAquaristChick1234]

I added a kuli loach but had no indication.

Im putting them all in quartine with treatment. I love these fish so much and i dont want them

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Unless they have the ich, don't treat them. Treatment stresses them out and can sometimes kill them. Wait to see if they start showing signs and then (and only then) you should treat them.

 

[ThatAquaristChick1234]

ok. ive already quartined them all, so im only treating the loaches and re wag ATM. My tank is destroyed so they may be in quartine awhile.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I had a terrible bout of ich start with a platy.  I recommend keeping the fish that you suspect started the ich breakout separated longer than the other fish to be sure the source of the outbreak comes to an end.

 

[ThatAquaristChick1234]

ok. I am going to try to re cycle my tank this weekend, then re introduce asap

 

[ThatAquaristChick1234]

The red wag platy and mickey mouse platy did no make it

 

[Meeresstille]

Once an infected fish is introduced to a tank then the whole tank is at risk of being infected. Sometimes ich can hide in the fish's gills and you won't know your fish is sick until one of those parasites attach somewhere more visible.
 
If in fact your platies had ich, then you need to treat the whole tank. Ich cysts will hide in the substrate so taking your fish out and treating them separately is only going to work if you don't put them back in the tank until any ich parasite swimmers have hatched and starved to death because there was no host to feed off. That takes at least 14 days! 
 
In the meantime you have to remember to feed the beneficial bacteria in your filter with ammonia so you don't lose your cycle!
 
What do you mean by recycling your filter over the weekend? 

 

[ThatAquaristChick1234]

It must ahve come from a loach then. my tank and fish were great untill i added that loach. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Probably... but as Meerestille states, there's really not an 'infected fish' - the infection is in the tank.  Quarantining isn't going to do a thing once the infection is in the tank.  If you have a QT, in the future, you will want to quarantine new arrivals for one to two weeks before introducing them to the main tank.  Then and only then do you add them to the main tank.
 
This serves two purposes:
 
1 - you drastically reduce the odds of introducing a pathogen to the main display.
 
2 - if the fish do need treatment, the volume of the QT is generally far less than the main tank, so you don't have to use as much meds, nor do you need to change such a large volume of water should the treatment call for that.

 

[ThatAquaristChick1234]

ok. he was isolated for a week

 

[Meeresstille]

Some people quarantine for 4 to 6 weeks before they add any fish to their main tank. That is especially beneficial if you have expensive fish in your tank. You don't want to take any chances with those! 
 
I've added fish after 3 weeks of quarantining them and still ended up with a sick tank. It pays to be extra careful!
A few more weeks and the illness would have shown then!