# Ich?



## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

I finally got my fish today, all look good however the sulfur head has been flashing. I turned on the tank lights and it looks like he might have ich on the top of his head.









I made a quick video, what do yall think?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It does kinda look like Ich though if your substrate is very fine and lightweight it may also be little bits of it sticking to the fish.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

Deeda said:


> It does kinda look like Ich though if your substrate is very fine and lightweight it may also be little bits of it sticking to the fish.


I did have that bout of sand dust but the sand itself is almost 1mm in size and sinks really fast if stirred up.

I really think it's ich. I hate that a few hours on day one I'm already having to up the temp. potentially causing more stress. I have my heater on a controller and can raise it by .1°. I read to shoot for 86°F?? Is that correct? If so how often and how much should I raise it to get to 86?

And is ich already carried in their body and once they're stressed their weakened immune system allows the parasite to attack or is ich from dirty water? The reason I'm asking is Fedex was supposed to deliver them yesterday (Priority overnight by 10:30am) but didn't and today there were 30mins late. Two looked like they weren't going to make it (swimming upside down and just drifting with the current) but almost 4hrs. later and they're all swimming just fine and every single one of them ate some NLS pellets. The sulfur head was not one of the two by the way.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

I wish we could edit our post longer....I'm going to err on the side of caution and treat it as ich.

The plan is to raise the tank temp 1° every 1 1/2 hours until I reach 86°F, then leave it there for two weeks. Is 1°F every 1 1/2 hours a slow enough increase? In all the years I've kept fish I have never had a fish with ich.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Check out This article from the Library on treating Ich using heat or heat and salt.

On another forum, the recommendation is to add salt until it reaches 3ppt (part per thousand) but this method requires you to buy a test strip kit that can measure the salinity of the water. The usual hydrometer for a saltwater aquarium is not sensitive or accurate enough.

I have never had Ich (yet) so can't offer better advice.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

I raised the temp by 1° every 2hrs. to 86°F and finished a little after 2am.

This morning they are all very active and swimming around and all ate like a horse, so the high temp has really upped their metabolism. You would've never known that they were just put in the tank yesterday. The weird thing though is the Sulfur head does not have any of the white spots on him? I saw him flash once today (only fish that is doing that) so if it is ich it could still be attached to his gills so I'm going to keep the high temp for 2 weeks just to be on the safe side.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Sounds good. Don't forget to increase water surface agitation by either adjusting filter output up or lowering tank water to create some splashing.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

Deeda said:


> Sounds good. Don't forget to increase water surface agitation by either adjusting filter output up or lowering tank water to create some splashing.


The larger hole size on my spraybar seems to be doing a great job of oxygen exchange and I don't see any need to adjust it so far. The surface is very agitated. I also opened up both glass half fronts and put egg crate in their place to keep would be jumpers in.

I haven't noticed any difference in breathing and none are hanging out at the top of the tank and or gasping for air, so they're doing fine so far. *knock on wood*


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## withomps44 (Jan 11, 2019)

I think I dealt with something very similar recently with my new batch of Mbuna. One of the fish out of 44 had 2 distinct spots exactly like yours. I too didn't want to deal with this so soon after adding the fish so I kept an eye on it thinking it may just be... "something else". Probably 2 days later and it was on that fish's fins and tail and a little on another fish. So I knew. I upped the temp, added some salt and treated with Paraguard for a week. I also did 30% water changes every other day. The spots disappeared the day after I added the first round of paraguard and none of the other fish are showing any signs of issues. No flashing, not spots, good energy, etc....

Now however I have 2 or 3 with what appears to be internal parasites so I have been feeding metroplex/focus for the last couple days. haven't even had these guys a full month yet but hopefully once everyone is healthy i'll be in the clear.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

withomps44 said:


> I think I dealt with something very similar recently with my new batch of Mbuna. One of the fish out of 44 had 2 distinct spots exactly like yours. I too didn't want to deal with this so soon after adding the fish so I kept an eye on it thinking it may just be... "something else". Probably 2 days later and it was on that fish's fins and tail and a little on another fish. So I knew. I upped the temp, added some salt and treated with Paraguard for a week. I also did 30% water changes every other day. The spots disappeared the day after I added the first round of paraguard and none of the other fish are showing any signs of issues. No flashing, not spots, good energy, etc....
> 
> Now however I have 2 or 3 with what appears to be internal parasites so I have been feeding metroplex/focus for the last couple days. haven't even had these guys a full month yet but hopefully once everyone is healthy i'll be in the clear.


Oh man, that sucks.

So far none have the spots and the one only had them for less than a day. I'm not even sure it is ich but better to be safe that sorry. I'll keep an eye out for internal parasites too.

Hope your tank pulls through!!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


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