Disease Identification (Ich?)

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BadBrad

Black Skirt Tetra
MFK Member
Mar 21, 2018
55
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United States
686CE5C1-6367-47B5-86E1-D03C1B892F9A.jpeg C6BCC913-9019-486A-9716-CECB090BEFC9.jpeg EDB70E47-8DCC-4AA1-AAF3-74733CB6817D.jpeg Okay I will post several pictures of one of my new Silver Dollars (2 weeks in the tank). I suspect this may be the beginnings of ich but I am not so sure. The spot is white but appears to be a little larger than ich spots. Also no other fish in the tank appear to be affected at all. Also, the Silver Dollar with the white spot continues to act normally. The only exception is that I have noticed that he was spending a lot of time int eh back of the tank last night. What do you think?
About the tank:
It is a 65 gallon community tank with 6 silver dollars, 1 Corey cat, 1 alge eater, 4 zebra danios, 2 tiger bards, 2 austrailan rainbow fish. The water parameters are: pH: 7.6, Amonia: 0, Nitrogen, 0, Nitrates: 5 ppm. Water changes are done on a regular schedule at 50%. The fish are fed on a regular schedule (2X day in the AM and PM). The tank does not receive any direct sunlight and is kept normally at a steady temp of 77 degres. Being a community tank the aggression is minimal to none. The tank is well filtered with a Penguin 350 and two sponge filters.
I know that Silver Dollar fish are prone to ich infections but this just might be something else. I noticed this one spot last night after feeding the fish. I took a few picture (I will attach). After I noticed the spot I upped the tank temp to 82 degrees F. Tonight when I get back home I will up it again to 86 degrees F. Just in case it is ich I will begin adding salt to the tank (2 teaspoons per gallon?). The tank is already well oxygenated and filtered so I won’t have to make any adjustments there. Now that I think about it I believe I will do another 50% water change (cleaning some of the substrate also) before adding the salt and upping the temp. After the water change I will add the salt and up the temperature.
Okay, any other suggestions of what this might be if it is not ich? Any other suggestions of anything else I can do such as garlic? Anything would be appreciated?
Also, know that I have been caught without a hospital tank since my tank is currently being rebuilt due to a leak (caused by age).
About the pictures: The spot that I am referring to is just below the dorsal fin. The other spots in the water are just food debrie that was stored up during feeding. These spots were not visible with the naked eye when I took the picture. Again I was not able to see white spots on any of the other fish in the tank and the fish are all behaving normal. What do you guys think?
 
Hard to tell if it’s ich. The key is it should be getting more and more spots. Can be cautious and treat in the meantime.

Increase the salt to total 3tsp per gallon. Can do it in small amounts, 1tsp per gallon x3 at 6hrs apart, so the fish aren’t too bothered by the large one time of salt. Keep it this way with heat for 3 weeks and should be gone if it’s ich.
 
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Hard to tell if it’s ich. The key is it should be getting more and more spots. Can be cautious and treat in the meantime.

Increase the salt to total 3tsp per gallon. Can do it in small amounts, 1tsp per gallon x3 at 6hrs apart, so the fish aren’t too bothered by the large one time of salt. Keep it this way with heat for 3 weeks and should be gone if it’s ich.
Yeah I was planning on doing a water change, bumpy the temp up slowly and start adding salt. I like your suggestion of doing that slowly as well. Thanks for the input. Hopefully it is ick and I have caught it early enough to wipe it out quickly.
 
The problem with bumping the temp, is that if it isn't ick, but instead, something bacterial, higher temps can make bacteria more virulent, increasing the bacterial population.
The reason you raise the temp with ick, is higher temps speed up the ics life cycle, so treatment is more effective, getting the protozoa when it is vulnerable..
I cured the bad case of ick below, by adding the proper amount of salt.
Bringing salinity to 3ppt (parts per thousand), but I did not raise temps using the proper salinity.
 
The problem with bumping the temp, is that if it isn't ick, but instead, something bacterial, higher temps can make bacteria more virulent, increasing the bacterial population.
The reason you raise the temp with ick, is higher temps speed up the ics life cycle, so treatment is more effective, getting the protozoa when it is vulnerable..
I cured the bad case of ick below, by adding the proper amount of salt.
Bringing salinity to 3ppt (parts per thousand), but I did not raise temps using the proper salinity.
Yeah that is a good point. I am starting to believe that it’s not ich but bacterial. Raising the temp and increasing the salt content has little to no effect. The fish all continue to do well though. So moving slowly with all of my changes. I have a scheduled water change tomorrow. What would you suggest I do to treat bacterial infection? I am without a hospital tank at the moment so I will have to treat the whole tank. Thanks.
 
If bacterial, but you don't know if its gram neg or gram pos bacteria, then a broad spectrum antibiotic effective against both.
The thing is, you won't know without a lab test.
And it could also be viral, and if so, nothing but water changes, and low stress environment are the only reliable treatment.
Until you know for sure, inundating with random meds, is iffy at best.
 
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