What should I Do???

[tttnjfttt]

Something is wrong with many of my fish, and I'm not sure what....

BACKGROUND: Thursday night I changed my tanks from gravel to sand. I put my tiger barbs in a clean 5 gal bucket, but the project took longer than expected and the water got pretty cold. When I put them back in my tank, they were very pale. I instantly added some salt as well as stress coat to their water.

THINGS I'M SEEING:
*Itching/scratching - Starting friday morning, I saw a fish itching himself on a plastic plant, but i was late to work, and didn't get a chance to set up the quarentine tank. Friday afternoon, it seemed to have stopped, so i did nothing, leaving town till this afternoon, and unfortunately I have seen some scratching still.

*Gold Specs? - When looking at the black stripes on my tiger barbs (danios won't hold still long enough for me to look closely at them), I am seeing some gold specs almost between their scales, especially towards the back of the fish. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. They are VERY obvious when I shine a flash light on them.

*White stringy poo - discusting I know, but this isn't normal, and i'm pretty sure its coming from more than one fish. My fish mainly eat flaked food, but on occasion, I give them frozen bloodworms and also peas (shells removed).

*In general, the fish seem to be acting relatively normal, minus the scratching. They eat, and any time they see me, gather excitedly up at the top of the tank.



WATER STATS:
ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - ?
pH - 7.4
temp - 79

This is a 20 Gal tank, 5 zebra danios, 7 tiger barbs. Last fish added about 2 weeks ago.

 

[FishEnthusiast]

The gold specks sound like velvet, but it is hard to say without seeing the fish. Other symptoms of velvet include lethargy, not eating, clamped fins, itching and scratching, and sometimes it looks like they are having a seizure in the water. Velvet is treated the same way as ich as it is an external parasite.

I am not familiar with white stringy poo, but have the understanding that it could be caused by either an internal bacteria infection or internal parasites. I am not sure how to treat these.

I am not sure where you should go from here as it sounds like you may be dealing with more than one thing at the same time. I would wait for someone with a little more experience to give you some advice.

 

[simonbrown403]

yes sounds like velvet you should be able to buy a remady over counter for that,

the white stringy po is ether worms or intestinal flagellates

 

[fishwatcher]

I believe the Parasite Clear tabs will work on the itching/scraping and possibly the poop, and Fungus Clear tabs should work on the velvet (if it is that). You can use both together, too, but I;d probably just treat the parasites first, then the fungus. Also, do some water changes/vac. That always helps.
Good luck!