Fin spots, ich or secondary infection?

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


snostorm
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:48 am

Fin spots, ich or secondary infection?

by snostorm

2 of my Shubunkins have small kind of fluffy salt sized spots on their tail fins only, not many maybe 2 on each. One has a slightly split fin. None of the other fish have any spots.

Could this be the beginning of an Ich cycle or could they have a secondary infection or something completely different wrong with them?

I'd like to try some salt and raising the temp but how high a temp (in Celsius would be nice :P) and how much and want kind of salt? I have to treat the whole tank as I don't have the option of a hospital tank right now.


snostorm
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:48 am

by snostorm

Also, they are eating well and aren't clamping fins or anything.


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

Sounds like a fungus infection. Got a bowl? Net the goldise and give them a salt bath or buy a fungus medication and treat the whole tank (second one would be easier)


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

Ich, Ick, White Spot Disease (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis)

Symptoms: Salt-like specks on the body/fins. Excessive slime. Problems breathing (ich invades the gills), clamped fins, loss of appetite.

Ich, Ick, or White Spot Disease is the most common malady experienced in the home aquarium. Luckily, this disease is also easily cured if caught in time! Ich is actually a protozoa called Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. There are three phases to the life cycle of this protozoa. Normally, to the amateur aquarist, the life cycle is of no importance. However, since Ich is susceptible to treatment at only one stage of the life cycle, an awareness of the life cycle is important.

* Adult phase - it is embedded in the skin or gills of the fish, causing irritation (with the fish showing signs of irritation) and the appearance of small white nodules. As the parasite grows it feeds on red blood cells and skin cells. After a few days it bores itself out of the fish and falls to the bottom of the aquarium.
* Cyst phase - after falling to the bottom, the adult parasite forms into a cyst with rapid cell divisions occurring.
* Free swimming phase - after the cyst phase, about 1000 free swimming young swim upwards looking for a host. If a host is not found within 2 to 3 days, the parasite dies. Once a host is found the whole cycle begins anew.

These three phases take about 4 weeks at 70 º F but only 5 days at 80 º F. For this reason it is recommended that the aquarium water be raised to about 80 º for the duration of the treatment. If the fish can stand it, raise the temperature even higher up to 85 º.

The free swimming phase is the best time to treat with chemicals. Raising the aquarium temperature to 80 º F will greatly shorten the time for the free swimming phase to occur. The drug of choice is quinine hydrochloride at 30 mg per liter (1 in 30,000). Quinine sulphate can be used if the hydrochloride is not available. The water may cloud but this will disappear. By reducing the time (with raised temperature) of the phases, you should be able to attack the free swimming phase effectively.

Some aquarists like to use malachite green, but it tends to stain the plastic and silicone in the aquarium. Most commercial remedies contain malachite green and/or copper, which are both effective. ~~ animal-world.com

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/i ... htm#Fungus

best site for information on all ills and remedies

eating well is a very good sign without clamped fins is even better

my best advice is, give the fish one good week before you take any measures...if the fish(s) get worse, then raise the temperature add one teaspoon per gallon of aquarium salt

good site for converting temperatures:

http://walking.about.com/library/cal/uctemp.htm

so at 80 degrees it's 26.66 celsius

keep us posted on your tank, give us a rundown in a week from reading this response, okay?


snostorm
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:48 am

by snostorm

*thumbs up* thanks for the advice I'll keep you posted!


dream2reef
 
Posts: 521
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:19 am

by dream2reef

I've had these spots on my fancy tailed goldfish too He gets them from time to time maybe like a callous like we get they dont take long to heal. Ich is way different then that they are smaller spots and you would have dozens then more and more. As for the temp raise for precautionarey measures not a bad idea or the salt I use plain old kosher salt it's cheaper I never let my salinity go above 1 for I have plants that don't like it much. I know your fish will be fine so I'll look for the "it's gone post". My temps are always around 80 anyways for the "ich" reason. Every now and then I put a few drops of ich treatment in all my tanks randomly and I've not had ich breakout ever well in the 8 months I've been keeping fish anyways.


snostorm
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:48 am

by snostorm

They seem to be getting a bit better, I've been a bit lucky we've had a few hot days here and my tank naturally went to a higher temp for a few days. I've had these fish for maybe a year and half and this is really the only thing that's gone wrong, I'm pretty happy lol. Waiting and seeing, might break out the camera and take some nice photos for ya'll :)


snostorm
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:48 am

by snostorm

Mmm sooo, I bumped the temp up for a few days and will lower it on friday. Didn't add any salt. The fins seemed to have healed better and it seems like they are recovering :)


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

the thing is sno, if you do not add the aquarium salt you probably didn't get rid of the ich permanently...but at least you raised the temperature, for high temperatures will help with any bad bacteria, parasite that gets into the tank

keep us posted


snostorm
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:48 am

by snostorm

I was hesitant to add salt because I didn't think it was ick, there doesn't seems to be enough spots or anything on the body, just some dodgy fins. But never the less, no hurt in trying as they're due for a water change on the weekend.

Fin spots, ich or secondary infection?

12 posts • Page 1 of 2

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