I have a serious ich problem. Need help!

[mel_20_20]

The flashing, rubbing against the decor, and rocks, etc., surely indicates they still are infested with some kind of parasite.

Do you see anything that looks like a tiny bug on them, such as fish lice?
They can look sort of like green spots, but I think you would have noticed them before.

I'm not very experienced with parasites, I'v treated my tank for Ich in the past, and It was a resistant strain of Ich. It took 28 days to defeat it. It was something like 18 days before all the specks dropped off and so I went an additional 10 days beyond that. I used heat and .3% salinity.

You've just started the salt yesterday, so I think it's going to take some time to clear this up. I thought The V's post was helpful.

Alright these are the possibilities as I see it.

"Chilodonella - a protozoan parasite - the quick cure should work on it. So I doubt it is this one.

Oodinium - a protozoan parasite - Salt treatment + quick cure should work on this one. I lost 200+ guppy fry to an outbreak of this pathogen. Took me two weeks of blue water to finally clean it up. I had a total of 3 outbreaks before I finally medicated it up daily with malachite green for two weeks. Interestingly it only seem to affect the guppies.

Ich - still not ruled out because the pictures are not clear enough to see. Salt treatment should take care of the problem."

"...infection of the wounds is pretty much a given at this point. Feeding a antibiotic food would be beneficial.

I think The V has summed it up. Either you have the very resistant Ich, or Oodinium, or both. If the Quick Cure is not harmful to the Pleco, then I'd do both salt and the QC, unless someone with more experience chimes in on this.

It's altogether possible there is another parasite involved, but I'm not sure how to tell, so I'd try to go on the assumption that it is Ich, and other unkown parasites that will hopefully be sensitive to heat/salt and QC.

An antibiotic food would be a good idea, if you can get them to eat it.* There are gel foods, or pellets that have antibiotics. I'd see what your lfs or pet chains have and try to get them to eat it. A penicillin gel food would be good, or Jungle Antibacterial pellets (they're tiny) would be good.

*Based on your earlier description of areas that looked like infection, however, if no signs of infection are visible at this point I'd hold off on the antibiotics.

 

[duragon]

Alright, new numbers are in after the 75% water change:

pH: 7.6
Ammonia: .25 (still)
Nitrite: .50

They still aren't going down.

 

[mel_20_20]

Man... that's rough. I'd just keep it up, and use extra Prime each time. It's keeping the water safe for your guys. Your ammonia should go to 0 pretty soon, and the nitrite you will have to deal with for a few more days, probably.

Can you do a full tank shot?

 

[duragon]

You mean drain the whole tank? It might be possible.

One of my guppies (which has white spots) is just sitting on the bottom in the corner not moving much. Every now and then, he will act like he swimming into the corner, and he will just swim and swim right into the corner of the tank, then rest back on the gravel... is he just tired, or is that a bad sign?

 

[mel_20_20]

I meant a full tank photograph. I think he just doesn't feel well. Hopefully he will feel better soon. You do have extra aeration in the tank, right?

 

[mel_20_20]

Do you see anything else on the guppy, that seems abnormal. Any filminess, or cottony patches, any red blotches or streaks, any redness at the base of the dorsal fin, caudal or pectorals?

 

[duragon]

A 115gph filter is my only means of aeration. The poor little guppy isnt looking good at all. I dont see anything on him with the exception of 2 white dots on his tail and 3 white dots on his dorsal fin. Its hard to see redness as hes orangy/red.

Here is my poor guppy.

 

[mel_20_20]

The tank is very pretty. I'm so sorry that little guy is feeling so poorly. I hope he/she can hang on.

 

[mel_20_20]

A big part of the problem is that the tank hasn't cycled yet. You said the tank was about 3 or 4 weeks old. The beneficial bacteria that break down ammonia, and then nitrite have not been established in your tank. It can take weeks for this to happen.

Once you have a large colony of nitrifying bacteria then your ammonia will be at 0ppm and nitrite at 0ppm, and you will see nitrate levels rising.

You already have some nitrate, so things are moving along. I think that you may have been overfeeding (I was guilty of that, too, they always look hungry, lol), and
not vacuuming the leftover food, and the poo and debris as thoroughly as needed.

Your tank is a 16 tall, and you need more horizontal distance for the numbers you have, so a 16 long (if there is such a thing) or a 20 long would be better for your occupants.

The pleco will need to be rehomed, I'm sorry to say. If you don't this will really take a toll on him.
He will be stunted, and will be stressed, and it will shorten his life, but that's for another day.

Did you say that you started an antibiotic? If you did, what is it?

 

[mel_20_20]

You might drop the wate level down a couple of inches so there will be more splash as the water comes in. Warmer water holds less O2 so extra aeration is needed, and will help them feel a little better.