Fish are sick, help!

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FishyWarrior

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Jun 10, 2017
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So my fish have ich now. It's only a little bit and only on 3 fish right now so i bumped up the temp and i'm starting to dose ich attack for my entire tank. It appears very minor at the moment, so i think i caught it really early on, but now i'm noticing things on my minnows. I don't know if it's an injury or another disease or what...It almost looks like the marks that were on my fish that died a few days back, but much worse.

I thought now that my tank was fully cycled that i would be doing great but now all these issues are suddenly popping up and i am so worried for my babies. :(
A friend told me that tap water after a huge rainstorm gets contaminated, and we just had a massive one a week ago...i had no idea that that happens and did a water change this morning and last friday, would that have anything to do with these issues cropping up?

I apologise in advance for the poor quality, they were hard to get pics of from the right angles.

 

myswtsins

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I do see a slight similarity to your rainbow fish that died (link). But it doesn't look like any illness I know of so.....Still have the rainbows, WCMM, pearl gourami, BN and amanos? Do you watch the tank? Notice any aggression, particularly from the pearl gourami or rainbows? I have no experience with pearls but a quick search on "pearl gourami aggression" brings up a lot of hits but I didn't dig too deeply.

Is there anything sharp in the tank they could have hurt themselves on while scratching (flashing) from the ich?

What is your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? How often do you change the water and how much?

BTW the pics are actually quite good, I've tried photographing minnows before, it is not a easy task!
 

FishyWarrior

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I do see a slight similarity to your rainbow fish that died (link). But it doesn't look like any illness I know of so.....Still have the rainbows, WCMM, pearl gourami, BN and amanos? Do you watch the tank? Notice any aggression, particularly from the pearl gourami or rainbows? I have no experience with pearls but a quick search on "pearl gourami aggression" brings up a lot of hits but I didn't dig too deeply.

Is there anything sharp in the tank they could have hurt themselves on while scratching (flashing) from the ich?

What is your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? How often do you change the water and how much?

BTW the pics are actually quite good, I've tried photographing minnows before, it is not a easy task!
yeah i still have all those same fish minus one rainbow. That's what i was suspecting too, that it was the gourami, i hear that they can be a little bit aggressive but that pearls are generally peacefull, which is why i got the one i did. Usually when i watch him he's seems to be ok with the other fish, just hanging out in his cave or behind the plants. During feeding though, i do notice he gets a tiny bit rough, a few tackles into the other fish when they steal his food. Which is why i use an eyedropper to give him his food away from the others when i offer their frozen foods. I watch the tank a lot besides that and don't see any aggression besides chasing others out of his cave.
As for the other fish, they usually chase each other of their own species, but it doesn't normally get violent. The minnows themselves do it a lot, usually when they're displaying at each other.

The only thing rough in my tank are the rocks, which actually might explain a lot if they are itching themselves on them because of the ich..i tried my best to sand down the rougher edges but the surface in general is like sandpaper. In hindsight it doesn't seem like the best option i could've gone with, but it was the nicest and cheapest kind i saw at the fish store.

As for the testing, ammonia and nitrite are at 0, and nitrates are just a tiny bit under 5.
 

myswtsins

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The minnows squabbling is normal behavior. The rocks don't look too sharp, what type is it?

Do a good visual inspection before lights out and then again in the morning. The fighting could be happening at night. Not sure that is the problem but it's all I got. :oops:
 

FishyWarrior

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The minnows squabbling is normal behavior. The rocks don't look too sharp, what type is it?

Do a good visual inspection before lights out and then again in the morning. The fighting could be happening at night. Not sure that is the problem but it's all I got. :oops:
Yeah that's what i figured. Right now they seem really antsy and rowdier than usual, do you think the increasing temp of the tank coupled with the sickness could be stressing them out enough to be injuring themselves? Cause before now everyone was living peacefully with each other for more than a month.
i have no idea what kind the rocks are though since there weren't any labels at the store, just a rack with a bunch of rocks all mixed with each other. But it kind of looks like a white version of lava rock, light but a little bit heavier than lava . And they aren't exactly sharp anymore, they're more just rough on their surface.

I really appreciate the help!
 

myswtsins

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What did you increase the temp to? WCMM are cool water fish 72F being the ideal highest but over a short span they should be ok. Certainly stressful but I don't think that would out right cause what you are seeing.
 

FishyWarrior

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What did you increase the temp to? WCMM are cool water fish 72F being the ideal highest but over a short span they should be ok. Certainly stressful but I don't think that would out right cause what you are seeing.
The temp is usually at a 75.6, i know it's a little high for them but the majority of my other fish need it higher and i heard they can adapt to a higher temp just fine. Right now i slowly raised it up to 85 degrees to battle the ich.
 

fishorama

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You don't have to have the temp so high, it just speeds up the ich lifecycle a bit. So if you lower it, you likely need to go several days longer on the treatment. (are you doing vacuuming in between dosing? That can help too)

I agree with myswtsins, I don't recall seeing those red marks before, but like she said, it could be from "flashing" against rough rocks.

How are your other rainbows doing other than any ich?
 

FishyWarrior

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You don't have to have the temp so high, it just speeds up the ich lifecycle a bit. So if you lower it, you likely need to go several days longer on the treatment. (are you doing vacuuming in between dosing? That can help too)

I agree with myswtsins, I don't recall seeing those red marks before, but like she said, it could be from "flashing" against rough rocks.

How are your other rainbows doing other than any ich?
But don't i want to speed up it's lifecycle to get rid of it faster?

Other than having ich, they're honestly doing pretty well. They aren't as energetic as they were before the outbreak but they don't seem stressed or anything otherwise.
 

fishorama

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I am concerned about the rainbow death you had earlier before the ich. I'm not sure what that might have been, that's why I asked about the others. Sorry, I've had "bad luck" with praecox the 2 times I've had them, never again.

High temps can also allow other diseases to flourish so it's not just about getting rid of the ich as fast as possible. It's also about not letting secondary infections affect ich, med & temp challenged, weakened fish. Ich alone is very treatable if caught early as you did. Keep up your hard work. Good luck! Keep us posted!
 
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