Is this ich

[tomatobloke]

Ok so my corydoras have gotten these white spots and have had them for about a week but I haven't seen any major outbreak in my tank/ no white spots on any of my guppies and the specs have been limited to only a few corys, the white dots kinda seem to be off and on because i saw one cory with a bunch of white specs and then the next day there were only a few. I haven't seen any behavioral changes and the fish don't seem to be acting strange at all. I have the temperatures set to 80 degrees F and have ich medicine ready just incase but im just curious if this could be something else instead before I force ich medicine into my tank. Could this just be debris, or something else? Is it ich?

 

[Byron]

I can't tell. Newly acquired fish have just gone through the most extreme level of stress possible for a fish, so it is common for ich to break through their natural defenses. I tend to leave new fish alone and if this is ich it may clear up. Ich is caused by stress, the parasite obviously has to be present and undoubtedly was in the store tank and now probalbly in your tank, but if the fish are not under stress they will deal with it. I would lower the temperature a bit, as 80F is too high for any Corydoras species long-term, and this alone causes some stress.

If all is well, fine. If not, and it is fairly certain that ich is involved, increasing the temperature to 86F for two weeks will kill it without any medications; increase surface disturbance if you do increase the heat.

Almost all medications will cause more stress to cories so using them only makes things worse. Partial water changes more frequent than once weekly might be advisable; if you do, for the first couple of changes just siphon out the water from the top of the tank and add the conditioned fresh water, don't go charging around the tank as that is more stress.

Welcome to TFF.

 

[Metalhead88]

It looks like it may possibly be the start of ich.

It is something to monitor for sure. Do your research on safe treatments

If you observe more white dots on the fish, it is likely ich and you should begin to raise the temperature.

 

[tomatobloke]

Ok thank you both for the advice ill be sure to monitor them over the next couple of days and update this post if I see anything confirming my suspicion. Usually when I do water changes I tend to gravel vac as well, but I'll just gravel vac every now and then and listen to your advice on siphoning from the top when just doing my weekly water changes. I'm sure it freaks my corys out seeing the tube of death stalk them on my substrate every week lol. I have Ich-x on hand and what I've heard it tends to have pretty positive results, but I'll take the advice to avoid putting chemicals in the tank and just up the water changes and tune down the temperature to reduce their stress until whether or not I can confirm my suspicions.

 

[SanDiegoRedneck]

Ok thank you both for the advice ill be sure to monitor them over the next couple of days and update this post if I see anything confirming my suspicion. Usually when I do water changes I tend to gravel vac as well, but I'll just gravel vac every now and then and listen to your advice on siphoning from the top when just doing my weekly water changes. I'm sure it freaks my corys out seeing the tube of death stalk them on my substrate every week lol. I have Ich-x on hand and what I've heard it tends to have pretty positive results, but I'll take the advice to avoid putting chemicals in the tank and just up the water changes and tune down the temperature to reduce their stress until whether or not I can confirm my suspicions.

If ich and from 1 pic looks like it. ACT NOW!!!. watch video on YouTube by Primetime aquatic called "how to treat ich in fish and clear infection fast complete guide." He has 2 masters degrees and explains stuff in a scientific way.

I gravel vac by my corys weekly!!! Don't get nasty substrate because your afrade of ich. That's NOT the reason

 

[SanDiegoRedneck]

Ok thank you both for the advice ill be sure to monitor them over the next couple of days and update this post if I see anything confirming my suspicion. Usually when I do water changes I tend to gravel vac as well, but I'll just gravel vac every now and then and listen to your advice on siphoning from the top when just doing my weekly water changes. I'm sure it freaks my corys out seeing the tube of death stalk them on my substrate every week lol. I have Ich-x on hand and what I've heard it tends to have pretty positive results, but I'll take the advice to avoid putting chemicals in the tank and just up the water changes and tune down the temperature to reduce their stress until whether or not I can confirm my suspicions.

P.s. turning down temp will hurt you.

 

[tomatobloke]

P.s. turning down temp will hurt you.

Ok thank you for the advice I will check out the video you mentioned

 

[Byron]

Ok thank you both for the advice ill be sure to monitor them over the next couple of days and update this post if I see anything confirming my suspicion. Usually when I do water changes I tend to gravel vac as well, but I'll just gravel vac every now and then and listen to your advice on siphoning from the top when just doing my weekly water changes. I'm sure it freaks my corys out seeing the tube of death stalk them on my substrate every week lol. I have Ich-x on hand and what I've heard it tends to have pretty positive results, but I'll take the advice to avoid putting chemicals in the tank and just up the water changes and tune down the temperature to reduce their stress until whether or not I can confirm my suspicions.

Just to be certain it is clear, the suggestion to only siphon water and not vacuum the substrate was for the next day or two. This can allow the new fish to settle. Beyond that, yes, the once weekly water change can vacuum the open areas, and you should change 50-70% of the tank once weekly.

Do not use any of the so-called treatments like Ich-X with cories (or most other fish if it comes to that). Heat at 86F for seven days will kill the parasite, but two weeks won't hurt just to be certain. In very stubborn cases, one or two might slip through, but if the fish are not stressed they can easily deal with this. After all, ich occurs in the wild and no one is out there dumping chemical concoctions in the water, and the fish deal with it. If they couldn't, there would be no fish left in the tropics.

Any and all chemicals/medications do cause stress to fish. Their use should be carefully controlled, and only if absolutely necessary shoudl they be used.

 

[SanDiegoRedneck]

Just to be certain it is clear, the suggestion to only siphon water and not vacuum the substrate was for the next day or two. This can allow the new fish to settle. Beyond that, yes, the once weekly water change can vacuum the open areas, and you should change 50-70% of the tank once weekly.

Do not use any of the so-called treatments like Ich-X with cories (or most other fish if it comes to that). Heat at 86F for seven days will kill the parasite, but two weeks won't hurt just to be certain. In very stubborn cases, one or two might slip through, but if the fish are not stressed they can easily deal with this. After all, ich occurs in the wild and no one is out there dumping chemical concoctions in the water, and the fish deal with it. If they couldn't, there would be no fish left in the tropics.

Any and all chemicals/medications do cause stress to fish. Their use should be carefully controlled, and only if absolutely necessary shoudl they be used.

Bit in the wild ich has somewhere to go. You have glass box, you have to deal with it.

 

[tomatobloke]

Just to be certain it is clear, the suggestion to only siphon water and not vacuum the substrate was for the next day or two. This can allow the new fish to settle. Beyond that, yes, the once weekly water change can vacuum the open areas, and you should change 50-70% of the tank once weekly.

Do not use any of the so-called treatments like Ich-X with cories (or most other fish if it comes to that). Heat at 86F for seven days will kill the parasite, but two weeks won't hurt just to be certain. In very stubborn cases, one or two might slip through, but if the fish are not stressed they can easily deal with this. After all, ich occurs in the wild and no one is out there dumping chemical concoctions in the water, and the fish deal with it. If they couldn't, there would be no fish left in the tropics.

Any and all chemicals/medications do cause stress to fish. Their use should be carefully controlled, and only if absolutely necessary shoudl they be used.

Ok thank you, but I have two questions, Should I gradually raise the temperature or immediately set it to 86? And is it bad to have my temperatures set that high with my cherry shrimp in the tank or will they be okay?

 

[Metalhead88]

Just to add in, the medication you have should be used only in desperation as a last resort. It will kill the ich, but possibly the fish as well. Other options are far better.

 

[SanDiegoRedneck]

Ok thank you, but I have two questions, Should I gradually raise the temperature or immediately set it to 86? And is it bad to have my temperatures set that high with my cherry shrimp in the tank or will they be okay?

do research on each of your tank inhabitants n plants. But yes over day or so raise. I don't raise that high due to some plants I have. When I had ich I used ich x and salt

 

[Metalhead88]

Ok thank you, but I have two questions, Should I gradually raise the temperature or immediately set it to 86? And is it bad to have my temperatures set that high with my cherry shrimp in the tank or will they be okay?

Gradual. I'm unsure about the shimp.

 

[SanDiegoRedneck]

Watch video I said from Primetime aquatics. About this. He has 2 masters degrees on this and explains ich in detail. Now I will bow out with my recommendation of information.

 

[Byron]

Bit in the wild ich has somewhere to go. You have glass box, you have to deal with it.

If fish succumbed to ich, they would all be dead. They fight it off. They can do the same in the aquarium, many of us have seen it more than once. Stressing out fish is the problem. Fish willnot contract ich if they are not seriously stressed. Stress is the direct cause for 95% of all aquarium fish diseases. The pathogen obviously must be present, but it is the stress that weakens the fish's immune system and allows the fish to succumb.

Another thing to keep in mind is that ich can be present in many of our aquaria but fish develop a resistance/immunity to it. It only takes a serious stress incident for the ich to become serious because the fish are then not able to deal with it.