# Sand or Ich? Anyone had this happen?



## Teggy (Nov 5, 2010)

Hiya all. I was admiring my fishies today and had a bit of a fright. At first I thought I had Ich in the tank, and was taking close-up shots to post here. Once I saw it zoomed in it looked very much like sand particles clinging to some fish (primarily the large male FSG). I won't bother posting the pics because that's just what they look like, sand particles. Should I be concerned enough to net him (oh boy the prospect of that sounds delightful) and make sure it is only sand?

A couple notes. From day one putting the sand in the tank, the male FSG was getting sand all over his face, which gave me a scare before I knew what it was also lol. The specks on him are few and far between right now, but I see them on his fins as well.

Is this just smaller particles of my play sand (which wasn't put in long ago) floating around and getting on the fish (almost every fish has at least 2 specks)? I do see these particles floating around still inside my tank still. Maybe one of you have had the same thing happen, which would be a relief. I'm hesitant to try too hard to net him just yet, as he's the hardest one in my tank to net and would cause a lot of stress for him (and me :lol: ) I'm sure.


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## Teggy (Nov 5, 2010)

In looking more at the male FSG, I saw one spot that creeped me out (didn't look like sand). I decided I should upload a picture for you guys. I'm getting worried lol, I want to jump on this thing if it is Ich. Here's a shot, clearest I could get.










You cannot see it in this picture, but there is one spot on his top fin (other side) and it does NOT look like sand. Should I treat with salt earlier than later just to be safe? If this isn't ich, I would imagine the 10 day salt treatment wouldn't have any adverse affect on these buggers.

By the way I forgot that I had to replace the heater with a new one shortly after getting the tank, because the water temp was fluctuating so badly (between 75-80). Since the new heater temps have been between 76-77. I know that temperature can be relevant, and I'm guessing the plants that I JUST got the other day, and cleaned very thoroughly aren't the culprit (unless it happens within 24 hours). I got the 2 Acei at a LFS on the 5th this month, and I'm afraid the water from the trip home made it into the tank (I had stepped outside and someone else thought it would be a good idea to let them out of the bag).


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## Teggy (Nov 5, 2010)

After much feaverish searching and sweating about this. I've decided to treat, I've already added 2.5 teaspoons of salt per each 5g and turned the heater to 82f. It was painfully apparent that it was not salt on the FSG. This also makes sense because my fish have been occasionally rubbing their sides against rocks or sand from the irritation. I will be gone all day tomorrow so I figured it's best that I did it tonight so that I can both observe the fish overnight and also so I didn't have to wait until Friday to do it.

Luckily my nitrates and everything are good enough right now that I don't have to change any water until it's time to get the salinity out of the tank I'm guessing.

It's funny I'm so worked up about a simple case of Ich. I'm slapping myself silly for letting it happen in the first place. I've been trying to be so careful. Can I get at least one person to tell me they treated Ich and didn't lose a single fish? I'm sweating bullets at the moment


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## jchild40 (Mar 20, 2010)

I've treated fish half a dozen times without losing any fish. When I purchase from one particular LFS, they almost always have ich.

Before adding them to the main tank, I treat them the way you are right now and have had good luck so far.


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## jchild40 (Mar 20, 2010)

BTW: I have 7 aceis in the quarantine tank right now, a couple with ich! Prob 1-2 weeks they will have a clean bill of health.


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## Teggy (Nov 5, 2010)

Sadly I have no sort of hospital tank yet. My only option at the moment is to treat the entire tank and hope for the best. Thank you for your positive note, sounds like I'll have a tense 1-2 weeks. I'm a huge animal lover and I would hate to see anything happen to any of these. I hate to admit but there were tears involved in the death of our old Jack Dempsey. Heck I had a brown knifefish in the communal tank lay down in his log and just,,,, go to sleep. It was so sad that I'm mad I even thought of it just now. I'm going to go hug my wife now :lol:


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## jchild40 (Mar 20, 2010)

Are they acting normal and still eating?


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## Teggy (Nov 5, 2010)

I am happy to report the large FSG has cleared up most of the Ich, which never got too bad to begin with (thank goodness I've been glued to the fish tank recently). Though it is bittersweet because my Yellow Lab started showing signs of Columnaris. I noticed a small patch of his face missing at *9pm the day before Thanksgiving*. Go figure, that's pretty much how my luck runs a lot of the time haha. Both Acei show small signs of Columnaris as well. Anyways I've been dealing with that the best I can with limited products in my town (had to settle for Melafix and just hope that since I caught it early it will do something), and having no hospital tanks yet to use.

As far as acting normal and eating (for the fish that had the Ich), as I look over now the FSG male is swimming around, he HAD been spending most of his time literally sitting on a rock in the back of the tank. He never stopped eating like a champ though.

All I can do now is hope for the best with this Columnaris, doing whatever I can to help these little guys along the way.


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## jchild40 (Mar 20, 2010)

Columnaris is a terrible illness. I lost 7 aceis by not treating it soon enough with the suggested method (that I found on here). The only way I was able to rid my tank of it was to use BOTH maracyn and maracyn 2.

You may want to post pictures in a new thread to confirm what it is, and then react quickly! It progressed very fast on my fish - a day or two after showing symptoms, they would pass away. And that is with pristine water conditions.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Most likely too late to be helpful on this case but I rarely look in here any more. I would say that you definitely had/have ich. Fluctuating temperatures and new fish are the best ways to get it in the tank. The columnaris or whatever fungus is quite likely the result of the open wounds caused by the ich. Best defense is of course avoiding the ich with a quarantine tank. Next is hitting the ich as soon as it is noticed. Many find high heat and salt work as well as any medicine. I think it will be very rare to find sand sticking to the fins as they are constantly moving. That is also one of the spots where ich is more easily seen than on the body. Worst is when it is inside the gill covers and out of sight but it rarely rests for long. It progresses very rapidly almost as if fish were changing sweaters. Once the wounds are opened in lots of places, it is very hard to save the sick fish from secondary dieases but it can be done.


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## toume (Oct 7, 2010)

The biggest symptom of ich is flashing--when the fish touches down on stuff (like it has an itch).

My fish dig all the time, and all my tanks have sand, so I understand your frustration. I have one goldfish that always has sand on its head. But, remember, ich will start on the fins, especially the tail. If they're digging and it's sand, it's more likely to be on the head. Ich takes time to move onto the body.


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