My goodness I've had this thing on there for at least a year now and there has been a very light bio load for the past few months,this tank's main function is a growout so there is a fifty percent water change each week.I might miss a week here and there but I would'nt think that that would open the door for such a thing to happen.....I remember being told years ago that there will always be some ammount of ammonia in any system as that is what the beneficial bacteria feed and thrive on.Without it what does the bacteria use.....Again,there are only three fish in this tank with the smallest being about an inch and a half and the largest at just under four inches.They are fed either feeder fish or cuts of fillet,no pellets or flakes so there is not very much organic wastes that gathers in the substrate other than feces which gets vacumed out during water changes....I have only had this fish for three days before it came down with this ailment so I'm knida leaning toward it already having these parasites on it's body when I brought it home,especially since the other two did not appear to have them.It seems to be doing well with the warmer water and salt,I see less of the spots each day I check on it....Thank you and everyone else for your advice and concern and feel free to correct or add to anything that I have said in this post.
Is there another ailment that resembles ich?
- Thread starter krichardson
- Start date
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There will always be a negligible amount of ammonia due to the time it takes for bacteria to consume. But there should never be enough to register on your test kit. Especially with that small an amount of fish and an emperor 400 which has the surface area to house a large amount of bacteria.
If the filter has been run for even few months with fish then you should have sufficient bacterial colonies to eliminate ammonia and nitrites to the point where they don't register on the test. So either your test is wrong or for some reason your bacterial colonies are not working efficiently or are being reduced repeatedly for some reason.
Bacterial colonies can be killed/reduced or made to work less efficiently by the pH dropping too low. So check your pH and alkalinity (kH) to determine if there's some reason it may be dropping low enough to limit your nitrifying bacteria. You said you had a neutral pH, so without enough buffering it may be dropping under 7.0 at times.
You can also kill them off by overcleaning your filter (either replacing or cleaning the biowheels in chlorinated water, or scrubbing them off). And sometimes replacing the blue polishing cartridges can cause a small ammonia spike due to the beneficial bacteria you've removed. This will become less likely over time as each time you replace the cartridges the bacteria will build up more on your biowheels instead.
Another issue could be if you run something like zeolite in the plastic media baskets, thus not allowing enough ammonia to build up for bacterial colonies to consume. When the zeolite becomes depleted you will see ammonia show up due to not building up biological bacteria on your biological media.
If the filter has been run for even few months with fish then you should have sufficient bacterial colonies to eliminate ammonia and nitrites to the point where they don't register on the test. So either your test is wrong or for some reason your bacterial colonies are not working efficiently or are being reduced repeatedly for some reason.
Bacterial colonies can be killed/reduced or made to work less efficiently by the pH dropping too low. So check your pH and alkalinity (kH) to determine if there's some reason it may be dropping low enough to limit your nitrifying bacteria. You said you had a neutral pH, so without enough buffering it may be dropping under 7.0 at times.
You can also kill them off by overcleaning your filter (either replacing or cleaning the biowheels in chlorinated water, or scrubbing them off). And sometimes replacing the blue polishing cartridges can cause a small ammonia spike due to the beneficial bacteria you've removed. This will become less likely over time as each time you replace the cartridges the bacteria will build up more on your biowheels instead.
Another issue could be if you run something like zeolite in the plastic media baskets, thus not allowing enough ammonia to build up for bacterial colonies to consume. When the zeolite becomes depleted you will see ammonia show up due to not building up biological bacteria on your biological media.
Interesting stuff...I am now really curious about these test readings.I try to never bother with the Bio Wheel on the filter but I do clean just about every other part of the filter that I can get to but I will look into these things that you've pointed out.I actually have a carton of Zeolite that has been down in my cabinet for some years but I have never bothered to try it.I have a lot of old medications,test kits,and other things that I need to go through and throw out or replace....Is there a chance that the parasite could have already been on the fish's body but in a dormant condition which was brought into activity possibly by the whole purchase and transfer process?
Velvet is a parasite that is generally present in most freshwater tanks whether the fish are infected by it or not. It will take hold when a fish is significantly stressed, and yes shipping and handling of the fish prior to when you receive it can stress it to that extent. But presence of ammonia and nitrites in the water can also stress it to that point, and some fish are more sensitive to water quality than others, so while all other fish may seem fine one may become infected when stressed due to water quality factors.
So definitely try to figure out why you have ammonia registering, and if pH drops are a factor you need to take care of that by raising the alkalinity (measured by kH test). You can do this by adding baking soda to your water change water (which will not raise hardness) and also adding carbonate based rock (limestone, coral rock, etc.) to the tank. However carbonate based rocks will generally raise your hardness also, which may be an issue if you already have hard water (though that's not likely if your alkalinity is low).
So definitely try to figure out why you have ammonia registering, and if pH drops are a factor you need to take care of that by raising the alkalinity (measured by kH test). You can do this by adding baking soda to your water change water (which will not raise hardness) and also adding carbonate based rock (limestone, coral rock, etc.) to the tank. However carbonate based rocks will generally raise your hardness also, which may be an issue if you already have hard water (though that's not likely if your alkalinity is low).
I think it's velvet. Good Luck, shadowbass has good advice. If it is you will need a parasite medication, I recomend jungle parasite clear.
That's also what I think it is but the higher temperature and salt has nearly eradicated it,another day or so and the spots will be completely gone.I was going to add some Jungle but the salt seems to be doing it's thing..Yeah, Shadowbass knows his stuff and thank you Chicklette.This is a young fish that I think has a lot of potential for beauty.Chicklette;4410703; said:I think it's velvet. Good Luck, shadowbass has good advice. If it is you will need a parasite medication, I recomend jungle parasite clear.
