# Sick electric blue acara?



## fgcats44 (Apr 30, 2014)

My electric blue acara which I have had for 5 weeks has been less active than usual. He usually swims constantly throughout the tank. Today his has been laying under a rock and barely coming out at all. I tested water this morning. PH 7.4, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 20. I then did a 25% water change. I started to notice poop hang out of his anus about .75 inch long which is not normal for him. I can also see what looks like tiny bubbles on him above is eyes and a few on his fins. He is in a 55 gal tank with 2 keyhole cichlids, 2 silver dollars, 2 austrailin rainbows, 2 glass catfish and 4 Halloween tetras. Can someone help?


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## Ben_dover (Feb 11, 2014)

Its really hard to say what it could be without pics, then again even with pics its pretty hard to diagnose a fish but you have to act fast. Long poop is pretty normal means they're eating right, if the poop seemed see through, stringy and mucousy it could be a sign of internal parasites. But bubbling over the skin kinda sounds like a fungus to me, if you could a share a pic of him that would be awesome.


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## fgcats44 (Apr 30, 2014)

The bubbles are white specs. If I had to guess I would say that it was Ick. I will post pictures tonight when i get home. A few of my other fish have a spec or two on them, but the acara has many of them. Would Ick affect one fish more than another?


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

agree its tough without pic, but your discription sounds to me like ick. yes, it can be worse on some fish than others. u should act fast. add kosher salt and raise temp to 85F. do both gradually. i forget exactly how much salt per gallon, so u will have to look into ratio. good luck


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## fgcats44 (Apr 30, 2014)

I used Ick Gaurd last night and removed my carbon, shall i continue with this treatment and do the raised temp and salt water, or should i only do one of these techniques?


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

one or the other. raising temp lowers oxygen in water as does using meds. if you do both together you may suffocate fish. I would just stick with the path you're on if you already started. it's always a good idea to use some sort of extra surface agitation when treating. this will help to replace oxygen in the water.


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## fgcats44 (Apr 30, 2014)

So *** treated with the ick gaurd and 25% water changes for 3 days and havent seen any results. My acara actually looks like he has a film on him along with the white specs. I have pictures, but you cant see the issue. The pictures dont show what is wrong. Should i be seeing any results yet? I bought a product called melafix also. I havent used it, but i am wondering if i should try something different?


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

do 50% water change and star with salt treatment, adding extra surface agitation. did the ich guard say to do water change every day? its been a while since i ysed ich meds but i think i remember only water change after last day of dosing. if doing daily then i would think u are taking the meds out of water. i never used ich guard i always used kordons rid ich, but prefer salt treatment these days. once again though, this is all based on the assumption that it IS ich that u are dealing with


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## fgcats44 (Apr 30, 2014)

Yes, it said to do a 25% water change before each treatment and to do this every 24 hours until gone. I am not seeing an improvement, which is making me think that it is not ick. I dont know how fast i should see an improvement though...


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

after 3 days u should see improvement. maybe that medication is not good. can u post pics? if it looks like salt in the fish, then its ich. i would get the kordons rid ich or start salt treatment


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## fgcats44 (Apr 30, 2014)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/ You have to look closely on the first and third picture. The "film" i am talking about isnt visible on photos.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

your right. icant see anything in pic. like i said, if it looks like its go salt on it then its ich. if its bigger patches then not ich. good luck.


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## fgcats44 (Apr 30, 2014)

So I just got home from work and he looks 95-100% better! Yay! The directions say to treat until it "persists". How much longer should I treat for and when should I put my filters back in?


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

good. glad to hear it. if it were me, i would probably continue with treatment for 3 day after last visible signs are gone.


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## Vancous (Nov 22, 2016)

Ok I'm not sure if my problem is the same because while it looks like ich none of the other fish in the tank have it. (4 angles, 3 young platies who are surprisingly doing very well, 2 bristlenose pelcos, 1 rainbow shark, 1 firemouth and a assortment of wild snails). The electric blue acara will run up and down the glass then just hide. He has a few white speckles on head and what might be body but it also could just be that's it's a female and not a male. (Females go white for mating). I've had the acara for about 1-2 months now. The tank only has is at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and ~20nitrates. Should I go ahead and treat with salt or what?


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## Vancous (Nov 22, 2016)

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