GT is sick, or I have an overactive imagination. Please let me know which one!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

justonemoretank

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 30, 2009
2,162
0
0
42
Virginia
1. What is the size of your tank? 75 gallons

2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used. Ammonia --0, Nitrite -- 0, Nitrate -- 10, pH -- 7.0, KH -- 2

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water? Freshwater

4. How long the aquarium has been set up? 2 years.

5. What fish do you have? A Green Terror (Silver Saum).
How many are in your tank? 1
How big are they? 7 or 8 inches
How long have you had them? Only a month and half or so.

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)? No.

7. What temperature is the tank water currently? 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium? Yes -- two different varieties of Anubias on Driftwood - 4 plants in all. Driftwood is Malaysian, from LFS. Driftwood and plants added on Halloween.

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity. Marineland C-360 -- Cleaned once per month -- 360 gallons per hour.

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)? A little powerhead.

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)? Not much sunlight. Light is on from 10 A.M. until 10 P.M.

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate? Water change was done on November 3rd. I do 30% water changes bi-weekly. I do vacuum substrate.

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule? Hikari Cichlid Gold and Hikari Cichlid Staple. He gets feedings of five or six pellets of each alternating, one in afternoon, one in evening.

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish? He has tiny white specks on his forehead, as well as specks in his side fins. From time to time, I notice his poo is clearish or whitish; other times, it is perfectly normal-looking.

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis. I have not yet treated. I just noticed it tonight.

So, this sounds kind of like ich when it comes to the specks. However, he's been in this tank, alone, for a month and a half... that kind of confuses me. And no flashing or heavy breathing. The specks are just on his forehead and his nose, and on his fins on the side. I have tried taking a photo of both; the specks are too tiny to show up on the camera. They are incredibly tiny. However, he has never been in that tank with other fish, and he definitely didn't have these symptoms at the LFS. What else makes tiny, tiny white spots? I've never seen them move, either. And I watched him for a while tonight.

As for the poo, yeah, it sounds like internal parasites, but is it normal for the poo to look good one day, and bad the next, and then good? Like I say above, I've only had him for a month and a half. I got him from an LFS, so I have no idea about his past.

Just FYI, he's still eating well and acting normally.

So, it sounds like there COULD be 2 things going on here, but I'd love to hear ideas on what you all think is wrong and how I should go about treating if it's necessary. Thanks to everyone in advance.


__________________
 
Hmmm...Do you have photos of the affected areas? I wonder what these specks are. It sounded a lot like ich to me.

As far as the poop is concerned, white stringy poo can be an indication of stress, internal parasites or simply a discharge of the mucous membrane from the intestines. Does it look thin or thick?
 
Here are some photos. As I said, they are very, very small, but I think there is at least one good photo of the ones on his head, and then there's at least one where, even if can't actually see the spots on his fins, you can at least see that it looks grainy. Also, looking at these photos, I believe his side fins are just a little ragged.

As for the poo, when it is clear-white color, it is less thick than when it's normal. When his poo is normal, it's a pretty hefty size... the white-clear poo is about half the thickness of normal.

IMG_1156.JPG

IMG_1154.JPG

IMG_1150.JPG
 
Ick looks like grains of sugar stuck to the fish. It looks smaller than that. Do the white spots appear to be on top of the scales or part of the scales?
 
Definitely on top, when it comes to his body. However, when it comes to his fins, it almost looks like they're sort of part of the fin, or between the layers of skin, or something. I'm not sure how to describe the ones on his fins, except to say that they give the entire fin a grainy appearance.
 
I wouldn't worry about it unless his behavior or appearance changes. My oscars sometimes get white bumps on their fins that come and go. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? Dosent seem like enough to medicate or change temp
 
LOL thanks.
 
I really really think it could be, but where did it come from? Before he was in this tank, there was a Betta in there for about two months, keeping it cycled. When we bought him and added him, we took the Betta out. Added Dr. Tim's One and Only to make sure the biological filter could handle a larger fish, and gave the Betta his 5 gallon back. The Betta doesn't have it.

My other thought was maybe I transferred it to the tank on a net or something, or even on my arms if they were wet while we were cleaning multiple tanks, but none of my other fish have it either. We've had no new additions to any of our tanks in months, other than Frank the GT solo in his 75.

So for it to be Ich would be totally confusing, but I'm willing to deal with it!
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com