Iron waffle

My dwarf gourami has tiny white dots on his tail and fins, I thought it was food bits but its not going away. He's acting normally but he's not going to the surface for food anymore, he only eats bloodworms and shrimp pellets at the bottom. All the other fish are perfectly healthy although my kuhli loach has some white sores as well. I think this might have been from a move that stressed them. I did a 50% water change and it's still there. What should I do? In case you're wondering... ammonia/nitrite/nitrate 0,0,19 pH 6.3

capekate

Hi Gilbert,
It sounds like your D.Gourami has ICH. You can raise your tank temp to 85-86* for two weeks and it should kill the ICH. As far as the sore on the Loach, that may be a different matter and should be treated with some water treatment that has some aloe in it.

clinton1621

White sores could also possibly be columnaris, which is most often seen first in gouramis and scaleless fish (the loaches) take a look at the symptoms on this thread.....

Columnaris.... need a little advice

Iron waffle

Thanks, I will do that. the white dots are on the glass also, So it might be that. Is the ich contagious? Do i have to remove the other fishes or add something else? Thanks for your help.

clinton1621

UGH..... White (very small) stringy spots on the glass are the first sign of columnaris, ich treatments will not work.... in fact raising the temps will make the columnaris worse.... definitely read the symptoms and treatment part of the thread I gave you, as this can kill all your fish in a matter of days!

Iron waffle

But they aren't stringy, they are probably just sand particles or food bits from the shrimp tablets. I read up on columnaris, I definetly don't have that. The temp is now at 82*

Iron waffle

One last thing, How is it that the other fish are perfectly healthy and acting normal and just those two are sick? After all, they have always been in the same aquarium.

capekate

Hi Gilbert, without seeing any photos, but by what you are describing, I still think that it is ICH. And raising the temperature will kill it off. The stressed or weak fish will get the ICH first,and thats probably what is going on right now in your tank. Eventually all your fish can end up with it, as it is contagious.
I have never noticed ICH being on the glass tho. Are you sure that it is not tiny air bubbles you are seeing stuck to the glass? Those tiny air bubbles from a fast moving filter and air stone can and does at times, get stuck on the fins of fish and can appear to look like ICH.
Have you researched photos of ICH on fish yet for comparison?

Iron waffle

Yes i have seen photos of fish with ich(gouramies, loach), if so, then this is a VERY mild case, I count exactly 14 dots only on his fins. It's been 3 days and no new dots. He is eating again so I hope it's just a false alarm. Still, I have taken the precautions of a 40% water change every 2 or 3 days and temps to 84*

EDIT: how do you get pics on the site? do they have to be in a certain size, file or format?

clinton1621

I'm glad its definitely ich... columnaris is not fun and not as easy to treat, sorry if I added any confusion but without pics its hard to diagnose with just symptoms because so many illnesses can present the same way. You didnt mention exactly how many dots there were before, but 14 tiny dots on one fish definitely sounds like ICH. If you want to post pics you have to click on 'manage attachments' when you are posting, it will tell you the maximum file size on there... I believe jpeg images are 488kb max

Edit : if you upload some pics, try to get some of the stuff on the glass and maybe we can help with that.... planaria, hydra, algae, and sand/food particles would all be possibilities though.

DarkRevoultions

Hello Gilbert,

Try and raise the tank temperature up to 84-86ºF and it should kill off the bacteria after a few days or weeks.

Iron waffle

Well, he's been dead for 3 weeks now, but thanks for your interest