Ich or velvet?

[Big Jay]

Ok, so I lost my troop of 4 CL's I had for 3 years after introducing an infected (didn't know, obviously) Fei Fang/Flagtail into my aquarium. I assumed it was ich based on the white spots. I started immediately with raised temps, quick cure (which worked for me in the past), and turned the lights off/removed carbon. Followed as I have in the past to no avail. Eventually all the CL's die. Oddly, it rotted away some of their fins shortly before they keeled. i know it wasn't a water quality issue (tested, changed 25% every 3 days).

Now all I have left is one L200 pleco. He seems to be eating. Eating well actually. I'd like to treat the tank with salt.

Planning on doing 1 tsp per gallon every 12 hours to assess his tolerance. I'd like to treat him in hopes of saving him and the tank so i can start over.

Any thoughts? Could this have been velvet that got my fish?

 

[Lupin]

Any pics? If the white spots look well defined, it's ich. Powdery and blurry white would be velvet. Point a flashlight on the fish and see if there is golden sheen appearing on their skin.

 

[Big Jay]

Any pics? If the white spots look well defined, it's ich. Powdery and blurry white would be velvet. Point a flashlight on the fish and see if there is golden sheen appearing on their skin.

I can't see any spots. It's very hard to tell since he's a L200. His natural color is green with gold/lime colored specs.

I did some reading and copper is a no-no with plecos. I've read that Velvet is susceptible to salt. Little more resistant than ich but still can be beat back with it.

Would you go the salt method with those factors?

 

[Lupin]

I think you need to recall the white spots you saw on the clown loaches and the fei feng. Were those spots in powdery form or well defined white spots, the size of grains of salt?

 

[Juxtaroberto]

I don't think ich can affect most plecos' armor... but it can affect their gills, so they might have it even if you can't see it. Good luck...

 

[Big Jay]

I think you need to recall the white spots you saw on the clown loaches and the fei feng. Were those spots in powdery form or well defined white spots, the size of grains of salt?

It was tough to tell. The fei feng seemed to have larger white spots on his fins. Clowns had smaller white powdery coating all over their bodies.

 

[Lupin]

It was tough to tell. The fei feng seemed to have larger white spots on his fins. Clowns had smaller white powdery coating all over their bodies.

Interesting. That doesn't sound like ich to me. Velvet I think. Ich would be a much easier issue to deal with. Bah! If it's velvet, then Mardel's Coppersafe is the best way to go.

 

[Big Jay]

Interesting. That doesn't sound like ich to me. Velvet I think. Ich would be a much easier issue to deal with. Bah! If it's velvet, then Mardel's Coppersafe is the best way to go.

He seems to be eating and doing just fine now. I have about 2g of salt per litre in the tank at the moment. Would you add the copper as well?

 

[Lupin]

What's the pH? I forgot to ask that as copper and other heavy metals are more toxic in acidic water.

Maybe hold off copper for now and let's see if salt will help improvements. Give it a week of salt treatment. Don't forget daily water changes.