dancingbird

I just got my 2 gold dojos a few days ago. They seem to be doing fine, but the other day I found a white dot similar to a pimple so it looked like on the side of my one of my dojos! it didn't quite look for ICH to me, so I called the pet store where I bought him and they said that it could be ich due to temp changes, for me to raise my temp from 73 to 78 degrees F. I thought 78 is a little high and haven't raised it. Today I cant find the white dot on him!

Could he have scratched it off, was it ich? Anyone have a similar thing happen? If they do get ich, what's the best med to use?

thanks!

aquarist48

Good morning. Congrats on the new jojos! Hard to say exactly what the white dot was. Keep your eye on things to see if any more appear. Should you start to see and out break of ICH (it will look like the fish has been sprinkled with salt) raise your tank temp to 84 or 85 degress. ICH cannot survive in temps (for the most part) over 82 degrees. Leave it there for two weeks. Do a vacuuming every other day to remove spores that have fallen off the fish. If it is severe then I would consider using meds for treatment. "RID ICH" is one. I'm sure some other people will list other meds as well. Good luck and let's hope you don't get any more white spots!

sirdarksol

It sounds like it may have been ich.
This isn't the end of the world. Ich lives in almost every body of water. It's only a problem when it overwhelms fish, which usually can only happen when the fish is stressed.

Now, the dojos may be stressed because of the move (even though they prefer lower temps, the switch from the warmer pet store water to your cooler water will be a temporary stressor), so definitely keep an eye on them and, as aquarist said, watch to see if they (or any of your other fish) get any other white dots.
You may want to check your water parameters, and if anything's out of line (ammonia or nitrite over zero, or nitrate over 10-20) do a water change with a fairly thorough gravel-vac (not deep, just thorough, and be careful not to hit any submerged dojos).

dancingbird

ok, thanks for all your advice and help. I'll keep a close eye on them. thats all i have in the tank are my two dojos. Haven't decided what other fishies to get with them. I do have 2 guppies and a oto in my other smaller tank that i may bring over after awhile and then use that tank for a hospital one.

When raising the temp, do you do it gradually or all at once?

I have the standard gravel in the tank right now and realized about their likes to burrow so bought some finer sandy gravel. I haven't put it in yet, trying to figure out a good way to vaccum it during water changes.

How do you guys vaccum such fine gravel? i'm afraid it'll get sucked away during water changes. LOL

aquarist48

Dancingbird if you need to raise the temp in the tank for ICK treatment do it gradually over the course of the day. You never want a sudden temperature change in your tanks. I have river rock in the bottom of my tanks so I don't have the worry of my gravel/substrate being sucked out. Someone else will give you some advice on it. If it's actual aquarium gravel from the pet store, your vacuum will only suck out the dust and not the gravel itself.

dancingbird

Ok that's what I thought. Thanks for all your tips and help.

sirdarksol

Even light substrate like sand or EcoComplete won't come up when you vacuum (unless you do a really deep vacuum), so don't worry much about that.

For the sand, did you get something that was loach-friendly? The Tahitian Moon stuff has sharp edges and cuts the little guys up. It will often say on the back of the bag "not for use with loaches) or something like that.

dancingbird

it's what you put in koi ponds. I think the petshop where i got this sand must have divided it up and bagged it themselves cause there's no print on the bag. The guy knew i was getting it for my loaches so i'm hoping it's ok.

sirdarksol

If it's good for koi, it's probably good for loaches. Koi are bottom-feeders, too. Maybe not quite as much as loaches, but enough that harsh sand would probably be rough on them, as well.