# Almost certainly Ich



## Mettalikatt (Jul 26, 2010)

Hello All! I've had great success with my freshwater tank so far 38g, until I got the new arrivals it seems.
5xNeonTetra
4xLongfin Rosy Barb
2x Opaline Gourami
5-6x Zebra Danio
*4xPictus Catfish*
1xRainbow Shark

The Pictus are my latest and last arrivals, been home about 2 weeks now, noticed no odd behaviours from them at all, eating well, playing nice. Tank sits at 78 degrees, I check the tank thoroughly everyday, never seen a problem.
UNTIL TONIGHT!! It's feeding time, I go to feed them their nightly brine shrimp and my word I have never seen so many white spots on a fish, 3/4 of my Pictus are Completely infested with what seems to be Ich, my neon tetras are exhibiting the same on their tail fins, so far the Gourami , danios, and shark are all clear. I've also noticed a bit of white dotting on the glass, upon further examination it sways with the water, I can't make it out to be any organism. Also, the plants I've gotten with the no snail promise, so much for that.. Found 3 in my cave while inspecting one of the pictus!!! 
What I'm wondering is what method most successful for treating ich. I have a bottle of QuICK Cure, i also have aquarium salt on hand. Any help would be great!!

---Inspected my 10g betta tank aswell, fish are completely fine, no odd behaviour but the same white things are on the walls, and more so in this tank harder to see though w/o a backdrop on it, they seem to be many particles fit together, in almost a domed shape. The chances of that happening in two seperate tanks can't be high. Might be something in my water?


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## Mettalikatt (Jul 26, 2010)

Here are some pictures of the Pictus.








He looks so bad :'(
I managed to grab some pictures of the white stuff on the tank walls, and yes, my camera phone worked better than my 200$ Camera! Not pleased about that!
















Both of these photos are of the Betta Tank, I'm assuming the white things on the walls are the same thig as the big tank, these are more developed though as i clean the large tank's wall everyday.









This is one of the Large tank.

In the Betta tank photos you can see what almost looks like a small star shape, there are dried up white ones all over that look crystallized almost.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

That sure looks like ich on your fish. It seems that some people swear by the salt/heat method and some folks use meds. 

I use meds. because I have some platys and albino cories that are somewhat temperature sensitive so please check whether your fish can handle high temps if you try to use salt method.

Kordon's Rid Ich + works best for me. Be sure to treat the tank for 3 days AFTER you see the last of the spots if you decide to try meds.

As for the stuff on your tank glass - is it moving? Maybe planaria?


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## reishka (Aug 21, 2010)

Definitely looks like ich to me. I'm currently battling it in my tetra tank. 

As for the stuff on your tank... I've never been able to figure out what it is, but I see little white crawly things on the glass in my tank at the same time when my fish have had ich. It'll show up, and then after the ich goes away, whatever that stuff is dies off too. I use Kordon's Rid Ich+, and it's never seemed to have an effect on it. In my tank, it's distinctly different from planaria, but it seems to clear up after the ich is taken care of. Although, from the photo I can't tell if it's the same thing that my tank gets.


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## Calmwaters (Sep 2, 2009)

I agree looks like ick I would treat the large tank for sure. Do the fish in the betta tank have any spots or is it just on the glass?


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## Mettalikatt (Jul 26, 2010)

Both tanks show the white spots on glass.only large tank shows signs of icky.


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## Calmwaters (Sep 2, 2009)

Then I would just treat the large tank the other may not be ick. I have never seen ick on the glass just on the gravel and fish them selfs.


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## Mettalikatt (Jul 26, 2010)

Unfortunately even after positive signs that the treatment was working the pictus pictured above has been found swimming upside down, with no direction at the surface of the water, all white spots seem to be in remission, tetras are look 70% better pictus are still infected though not as heavily. Mr.Pictus is currently in the freezer


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## Calmwaters (Sep 2, 2009)

I am sorry for your lose sometimes no matter how hard we try we can not save them. I hope the others will continue to improve and you can enjoy your tank instead of being worried about it.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

Romad said:


> That sure looks like ich on your fish. It seems that some people swear by the salt/heat method and some folks use meds.
> 
> I use meds. because I have some platys and albino cories that are somewhat temperature sensitive so please check whether your fish can handle high temps if you try to use salt method.
> 
> ...


I wish I would have seen this thread earlier. I agree with Romad, only heat & salt isn't a good treatment protocol for scaleless fishes (like the Pictus is). When you treat with meds and there are scaleless fish in the tank you should only use meds at 1/2 the prescribed strength.
I'm sorry you lost your Pictus. He had a pretty severe infestation of Ich. :-(


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