:help: I've just recently read up on ick, and one of my glass fish has little white spots on his tail and fins. The other fish show no sign, not even the ones that came out of the same tank at the fish store. Since I'm totally new to this hobby, I don't know if I'm just worrying too much, or if it's really ick!!! How can I tell for sure? He acts like he feels fine. He's the most active of the glass fish I have. They are painted glass fish, so could that be why instead of ick? And if it is ick, how do I treat it? And how long until I notice it on the other fish? ANY advice greatly appreciated!!!
Help! I think one of my glass fish has ick!
- Thread starter Mrs. Burns
- Start date
if you see little white spots.. assume the worst, b/c it is most likely ich if the fish is ok, then if you treat now it will probably survive, just follow the steps in the ich article under Orion Girl's article thread in the article section.
i usually follow these steps if i see any disease, as salt and high temps will hurt a lot of stuff other than the protist that causes ich...
i usually follow these steps if i see any disease, as salt and high temps will hurt a lot of stuff other than the protist that causes ich...
Thanks for the quick response! I'm checking that out right now!!! Hey, by the way, why do you say they're not pets? Just curious!
lol i put that up while i was cycleing. its a good idea to not get attached to something that could die soon! now ive been out of my cycle for about a year, but i still think this philosophy applies, as fish, although it is humane to treat them correctly, are very much out of their element in a fish tank (how a dog might be if kept in a underwater bubble) and still susseptible to dieing.
Thank you so much for that article! I hope this works! I started treating it right away. (First tank other than betta.) Just don't want them to die!
The salt treatment won't harm the fish, but another possibility, particularly with glass fish, is a virus. Glass fish are particularly prone to it, and it results in white growths all over the fish when they are stressed. They normally go away, and won't respond to treatment. So--do the salt treatment for ich. If the white spots start changing shape, or get larger than table salt grains, it's probably not ich.
I've had Glass fish for about 6 months and they started developing the same symptoms so I did a little research. The virus that you're talking about is called Lymphocystis. The cells of the fish kind of explode causing a califlower like tumor ususally on their fins or near their mouths. It is a consequence of them being brakish. It won't really hurt them but make sure if they have them on their mouth that they can eat. I had to scrape one off of my glass fish, which was a very weird thing to do. Hope this helps.
Hey, I thought these spots were a bunch of ich in one spot. So is it possible I don't even have ich? I wish I could get a good picture of him. But, if it is Lymphocystis, is there any way of getting rid of it? I would really hate to have to "scrape" this off my fish. He eats fine though. It's not around his mouth. Just on his top fin, tail, and his side fins. But like I said, I guess the spots are bigger than a grain of salt. But I thought it was just a bunch all together in one spot. 
Given the species, I think it's more likely this is a virus. It's similar to cancer sores in humans--the virus is always present, but only flares up under stress. They usually go away when the fish is unstressed, but can take a while.