what are the symptoms of ich?

[quick061]

my bass has always been free of parasites but now has got me a little worried. i recently moved him from one house to another and he was very shocky and distrubed from it.

since then it kind of looks like his slime coat is comming off and he seems very agitated, swimming back and forth in the tank, rubbing on the rock, and stretching his mouth open.

i've never seen him so active before and i'm not sure if its just that he's hungry because he's comming out of shock (i haven't put too many live fish in because he wasn't eating them for the past 2 days), if its the new water i'm using with the partial water changes or if its a parasite/disease.

any help would be much appreciated.

[wetmanNY]

With the move, your newly re-set-up tank could be going through a mild cycling. You should test for ammonia and nitrite. Depending on your pH, ammonia could be quite toxic.

You know that Ich look like grains of salt. Unless you've introduced Ich with feeder fish-- very much a possibility if you don't quarantine them-- the ciliate parasite can't generate itself in an isolated aquarium.

[quick061]

ok thanks for the info. i actually know nothing about ich because i've never encountered it before and its got me a little worried.

[wetmanNY]

There are some links to vet school sites that give extensive info on Ich at www.skepticalaquarist.com in the "Health/Diseases" folder.

[quick061]

ok today i just checked on him and there's white stuff that looks like small pieces of cotton stuck to the outside of his gills and some scalles that are bluged out. what is this and how can i teat it?!?!?

also, there is a cycled 80gal that i am going to put him in that is empty right now except for a few plants and some feeder goldfish. so, should will putting him in the larger tanks (from the 20gal he's in right now) help speed up the recovery in the long run or will it just make things worse (mind i've been doing water changes to get him used to the new tap water but i don't know if he can handle the change)?

the other thing that has me worried is that his apetite is way down. at first i assumed it was due to shock from the move, but he ate a few yesterday and acts hungry. but when i gave him the feeders he ate one and went after a few more but wouldn't actually eat them. normally he eats about 5 in the first 10 seconds and then waits a few mintues before finishing the rest off. i just dont' get it.

[Cichlid Woman]

Check "body fungus" on this site: http://www.2cah.com/pandora/Disease.html#External

Does that look like it? Treatment should be listed there.

As far as moving him goes, I would not do anything right now to further stress him. Maybe just treat him with a recommended med in the 20-gal tank.

Good luck, hope your fish makes it.

-- Pat

[Harry Tolen]

How big is your bass?

[quick061]

Originally posted by Harry Tolen
How big is your bass?

just over a foot.

[wetmanNY]

How's he doing now? Was there any detectable ammonia? What temperature is the water? Did you shift him to the big tank?

[quick061]

he seems to be doing much better, thx. i went ahead and moved him to the larger tank (0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, 7.6ph) and he's started eating again after a few days.

the spots or what ever it was on his gills seems to have gone away. there have been some white patchs (about a cm across) that have come on and gone but nothing that stayed for longer than a day or so.

anyways i've refrained from buying every midication known to man and dumping into the tank until i can pin down what exactly it is (or if its still there at all). with his apetite picking back up, no visible signs, and no more scratching on rocks i think what ever caused it may have passed but i'm keeping a close eye on it.