Ich or Fungus??!! Help!!

[Meniscus]

So it looks like my tank is going through a period of disease right now :thumbsdow
The tricky part is that I'm not sure if it's fungus or Ich. A few of the fish are exibiting fin rot, and almost all of them have some white fuzzy spots on them. The worst is my Chocolate Cichlid, he has quite a few of these. My JD has a couple white spots that stick out pretty far. Now because these spots are sort of white and fuzzy and stick out from the body it makes me think fungus. However it seems to be spreading to all the fish?! :confused:
I was under the impression that fungus wasn't contagious like that, so that makes me think it's Ich. I don't have any pics nor will I have access to any before I need to get this treated.
So anyone have any ideas on what this is? :help2:

[jenBLKAROWANA]

White & fuzzy really does indicate fungus...

http://www.aquariumpharm.com/disease/fishfungus.html

You may want to try:

http://www.uskoi.com/ich-x.htm

or -

http://www.aquariumguys.com/maracyn.html


Hope this helps & good luck!!

Jen

[Meniscus]

See that's what I thought. The only thing that throws me off is how it is hitting all my fish...

[jenBLKAROWANA]

That is weird....unless your fish are fightig and inflicting small wounds on each other...like scales missing, something you would not really notice...I had a africian cichlid tank, and if one had the fungus, most of them got it too, I think it may also stem from "dirty" water...you may want to do a really aggresive water change before you treat your tank too, thats one thing I always did before I treated my tank...I am religous with my water changes, and always have been, but sometmes, it seems like it get dirty so fast with lots of fish!
Jen ;)

[repair]

One word ...Salt, lots of salt and raise the temp. Meds scare me...I'll use them but it seems like I loose more to the meds...although you may be to faralong to get by without meds....I try to get the salt in when I see the fish flashing or any spots apear.

Good luck

[Meniscus]

I have been doing lots of water changes lately. I did 3 20% changes last week. Last night I did a 50% water change and cleaned out my canister filters as well.
I have bumped up the temp to 86, and am going to add salt as soon as I get home tonight.
Meds scare me too, but I think that I am too far along to get by without them. My Chocolate has it pretty bad, and my Balas are getting it. I have heard that it hits Balas hard and fast too. I am just REALLY hoping that I don't loose any fish to the meds...

[jenBLKAROWANA]

That is a bad thought...Although, I have had lots of luck with the maracyn, it works really good, and I never lost a fish to it yet! Just watch the dosage you put into the tank...Everytime I see any sign of fungus...I pop a couple of the tabs in, I never take out the carbon either...and it works!
Good luck hun!!!
Jen

[rweedon]

yeah I would two teaspoons of salt per gallon but I am not so sure I would raise the temp just because if it is the fish beating each other up which there is a slight chance that it could be it would make the fish more aggressive... you can also use fungus guard... I don't like to use meds and have only used it one time but it worked wonderfully...

[repair]

At the 2005 ACA in texas Jack wardley said that ich can't live above ....I think he said 85..so thats what I'm going to try the next time it shows it's ugly head....higher water temps with meds makes the ich go through it's life cycle a lot faster and the only time the meds kill it is when it's hatching in the gravel....thats why I like salt for the fish and ..if it's to that point ...meds to kill it before it gets back on them...read somewhere that ichs life cycle is 2-3 days.

:swear: Ich

[guppy]

If your fish have ich the lowered immune response and small wounds left by the critters can lead to fungus. If one fish has fungus and your tank contains even a few ich freeswimmers they can go wild on that fish due to it's lowered resistance and that can lead to an ich breakout in your tank. Luckily the heat and salt treatment seems to help with both and there are several treatments available for fungus alone including the old standby of a quick(30sec) dip in malachite green solution. Good luck.

[Meniscus]

Well I went and bought some Maracyn today as I have had some success with Maracyn in one of my older smaller tanks. Damn that stuff sure gets expensive when you have a big tank...
Anyways, what I was wondering was how much salt should I add? I was reading another post on here when repair said 1 cup per 30 gallons. I was planning on adding about 1 cup total for my 120. Also, how long should I take to introduce the salt. I was thinking maybe the cup over a period of 4 hours, adding 1/8th per half hour. Does this sound ok to you salt experts out there? :feedback:

[repair]

In my 125 I got some fish from a breeder so I didn't quarinteen them :wall: and the tank got ich started...sooo I had to leave for Texas so I put 4 cups of salt in the tank turned up the heat and left for a week....when I got home everyone looked good...problem solved

You can pour all 4 cups into the tank and by the time it dissolves they won't be bothered by it.....some of my fish will swim in the salt as it dissolves...looks like heat comingn off the road.

[Meniscus]

Wow nice. That is good to hear.

Have you had any bad experiences with that much salt and catfish? I have 2 featherfin syno's. 1 adult, 1 juv. Those are the only fish that I am really worried about with that much salt. I have always been told that salt is a no no when catfish are concerned. Obviously though it is working for you and you have a helluva lot more experience with fish than I do.

Tonight when I get home I will add in 4 cups of salt to the tank. I think I will do it 1 cup per hour though. It definitely does look good though. When I added salt to my 33 the fish swam through that and played in it.

[repair]

Do you know anyone that does saltwater?.....you could ask them if thay have a refractometer and you could measure the salt level in the water...thats how I do it.


http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=CP2111

I think you can get these for around $45 US

[Meniscus]

Unfortunately I don't know anyone that does salt. I will go hunting for one of those refractometers though. Thanks!

[repair]

yeah I would two teaspoons of salt per gallon but I am not so sure I would raise the temp just because if it is the fish beating each other up which there is a slight chance that it could be it would make the fish more aggressive... you can also use fungus guard... I don't like to use meds and have only used it one time but it worked wonderfully...

If my math is right 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon...16 tablespoons = 1 cup so 1 cup= 48 teaspoons

2 teaspoons per gallon would be 250 teaspoons divided by 48 (1 cup) would be 5.21 cups per 125 gal....a little more than I use but would prob work.

Not trying to dissagree...just doing the math....can't help it....you know math major and all :shakehead

[Meniscus]

Well I started medicating yesterday and added salt. The temp is up to 85 - 86. Hopefully everything will work out for the fish.
All the fish are still acting normal, they just have some fungus on them. I am really hoping that I can get through this without losing any of them. We will see!!

[rweedon]

If my math is right 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon...16 tablespoons = 1 cup so 1 cup= 48 teaspoons

2 teaspoons per gallon would be 250 teaspoons divided by 48 (1 cup) would be 5.21 cups per 125 gal....a little more than I use but would prob work.

Not trying to dissagree...just doing the math....can't help it....you know math major and all :shakehead

very good math unfortunately I have had to use these more than a couple times and know them all too well for my larger tanks 48 teaspoons to a cup...

[Meniscus]

Well it seems as though my fish are recovering nicely. The one who was the worst hit was my Chocolate and he is doing much better. No fungus left on him. My Balas are looking good, no visible fungus on them. My JD has one patch left which I am really hoping is gone tomorrow morning. Tonight is the last night that I am medicating. Then tomorrow I'm going to do a 50% water change and bring the temp back down.
Unfortunately in all of this I did lose one of my Yellow Plecos... Which really sucks. I just hope that the rest of them can all pull through.

[repair]

Glad to hear things are on the mend. I would make a couple of sugestions...

#1 when you do the 50% water change I would add 2 more cups to the water so the salt level stays the same.

#2 I would lower the temp but only in the lower 80's

I wouldn't go back to normal untill everyone look good for a week.

sorry to hear you lost one of your plecos but if you look at the meds active ingrediants you will prob find the reason for your loss...scaleless fish handle meds diff from fish with scales.

[I3u11he4d]

So it looks like my tank is going through a period of disease right now :thumbsdow
The tricky part is that I'm not sure if it's fungus or Ich. A few of the fish are exibiting fin rot, and almost all of them have some white fuzzy spots on them. The worst is my Chocolate Cichlid, he has quite a few of these. My JD has a couple white spots that stick out pretty far. Now because these spots are sort of white and fuzzy and stick out from the body it makes me think fungus. However it seems to be spreading to all the fish?! :confused:
I was under the impression that fungus wasn't contagious like that, so that makes me think it's Ich. I don't have any pics nor will I have access to any before I need to get this treated.
So anyone have any ideas on what this is? :help2:
it sound like a fungal infection,in that case I would us Pimafix,this stuff is the s**t.If you have any doubts about whats aling your fish you could use Melafix with the Pimafix at the same time with no problems.These are both alnatural,wont discolor water,harm plants,snails or inverts,change PH or harm your biological filter.You would need to remove any carbon for about a week though.This stuff rocks,Ive used alot of different treatments for afew different aliments and nothing works nearly as well or as easy as either one of these products. :thumbsup:

[Meniscus]

Final update. The fish seem to be all better. I've been slowly bringing the temp back down. It's at 80 now. All fish seem healthy and happy. Thanks for the advice / support everyone! :thumbsup:

[guppy]

Glad it worked out for you.