Probably Ich. Maybe Fungus?

[Whesker]

Hi, everyone. Second post, and this is a tad worse than the first...

My fish has some sort of illness. Looke like little *fuzzy*-ish spots on his lips and right eyelids.

There is a picture attatched. Follow the link.

Water conditions:

Ammonia: 5ppm (working hard to get this down. I had a massive failure, in which I accidentally baked my biofilter with chlorine whilst also not changing an old carbon filter)
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
pH: 7.3
No salt in water. See fish list.
Temp: 76 F

http/s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb293/P...ictures1020.jpg

If you need more info, just ask for it. Fresh water test coming up tomorrow night.

 

[WILDER]

Can't make much out in the pic.

How many gallons is the tank.
How many fish and which type.

How big are the spots are they bigger than a grain of salt.
What colour are the spots.
Any redness to the spots.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Any excess mucas on the fish.

 

[Whesker]

10 gallon tank.
Two balloon mollies.
Three Julii Corys.
Three ghost shrimp.
One molly fry I got from a neighbor, and a velvet wag swordtail fry. I'm not putting too much stress on keeping these two alive, if it means reducing dosage.
Bigger than a grain of salt. Although they may just be ich spots close together, I can't tell.
Spots are white. Possibly gray, it's hard to tell on a black fish.
Spots have no redness.
Afflicted fish not flicking, to my knowledge. May be opening/closing his gills a lot. Sits on bottom, but comes to the top when he's begging for food. I do feed them enough, the balloons are just attention fatties.
No excess mucus.

I've started a 50% dose with Malacide, and raised the temperature to 82 F.

Did a big water test before first dose, to keep the ammonia and stuff low whilst my tank recycles. I accidentally killed my biofilter with chlorine. At a poor time. Although this stress may have been what brought out the disease.

I'm half-strength dosing because of the cory cats and ghost shrimp. If I lose the latter, it's not really a big deal to me. But I'd rather not fry them with meds.

A hospital tank is not really an option for me. I'm strapped for cash, and setting up a new tank is like 100$. Also, the rest of the fish might still be infected. And the new tank wouldn't be cycled.

Thanks for all the help!

~Wes

 

[WILDER]

So you are already treating for whitespot.

 

[Whesker]

Well, I had JUST added it when you posted that last bit. I went to my LFS, and there was a girl there who told me it was either some kind of parasite or ich/white spot.
She said that it had happened to her, so I took her advice and started using Maracide.
I was supposed to add two capfuls every other day. I did only ONE capful on the first day. This is day two, with another dose tomorrow.
The molly appears to be healing. He's no longer developing white bits, and the one on his lip is gone. The one on his eye has receded significantly.
My ghost shrimp didn't even die!

Now, another question:
Maracide is Malachite Green, and Chitosan.
IS this safe with Cory Catfish? Or should I keep doing the half dose?
I'm supposed to do it for 5 days, which is 3 doses.
If I do half, do I continue the medication for longer?

Thanks so much for you help,
~Wes

 

[WILDER]

Just half dose with the corys yes.
Good luck.
Best to treat whitespot another week once spots have gone.
I would remove the shrimp as you could lose them.

 

[Whesker]

It's definately improving. I'm still combating a cycling issue, and this medicine isn't helping.
But the black molly is now almost visually healed. I know that the Ich parasite can be almost invisible, though.
I'll medicate until... November 5th? How's that sound? Again, it's a half dose every other day. And I've got my heat up to about 83 now.
It's weird. My thermometer is really old, and I'm not sure if it's accurate. I'm gonna buy a new one on Wednesday. My heater, which is FOR a 15g, is set higher than the thermometer is reading.
In theory, shouldn't the water be WARMER than the setting of the heater, if the heater's too big? Or is the temperature setting THAT vague?

Thanks again so much.
~Wes

 

[WILDER]

In summer months the water can be warmer than the heater setting.
Also the house heating can raise your temp.
Just make sure it not over by 2 degrees.
Make sure there enough aeration with the med and high temp.

How are the shrimps.

 

[Whesker]

The shrimp are actually completely healthy. I'm surprised, as I though the Maracide would kill them.
I medicate on the 3rd and 5th, and putting carbon in on the 6th. But if they Ich parasite only lives for, like, a day in warm water, shouldn't I be able to stop medicating? Cause I'd really like to stop medicating, in case the shrimp won't make it for that long.

~Wes

 

[WILDER]

Have the spots gone.
Usually you treat another week after spots have fallen off.
Its up to you if you do that with having the shrimp in the tank.