Diggly

Hello,

I am new to these forums!

I have had my fish tank for around 3 months now and about a week ago I noticed ICH on 1 of my Green tiger barbs and albino tiger barbs. I treated the ich and none of my other barbs seems affected (I have 8 barbs in total).

I have noticed my Albino hasnt eaten for about a week (my green tiger started eating small amounts about 2 days ago) and they are both at the top of the tank hanging around the plants. the albino looks like its puffing out its gills when breathing and it looks like there are bubbles or white spots behind its gills on the inside.

ammonia and nitrite is at 0 they are all still small (my pleco is 2 inches and is an albino bristlenose so shouldnt grow past 4 inches) and my featherfin syno is about 3 inches - I am upgrading the tank in about a month to a 40 gal or more if i can afford it but for the sizes of the fish for now I dont think the tank is over stocked (2 of my barbs arent even an inch long yet!!)

There is no algae on the glass as the pleco does a nice job!! But I dont know if that would affect the barbs anyway!! I also have a nice large piece of bogwood in the tank as I heard it can help reduce pH levels.

I dont think its the tank or the setup as all the fish are fine apart from those 2.

Any help or advice really would be appreciated.

aquarist48

Hello Diggly and Welcome to Fish Lore. Sorry to hear that you're having some problems. First can you tell us how you treated for ICH please. Below is a link you may find very helpful concerning ICH.

Ich: An Old Cure for an Old Disease

What we recommend the most is raising your tank temperature to 85 degrees and leave it there for two weeks. ICH cannot survive in temperatures over 82 degrees Add an air stone as warmer temperatures require more oxygen. Do several gravel vacuums during this two week period to remove ICH spores that fall off the fish and into the gravel.

You are correct that driftwood can help lower the pH over time.
I hope you can resolve your fish issues soon. Best of luck and enjoy the site. Lots of great information and friendly people here.
Ken

Diggly

Hello,

Problems are to be expected with a new tank I guess!

I treated them using Interpret anti white spot treatment which seems to have gotten rid of the problem (apart from the spots I can see in the albinos gills )

aquarist48

Diggly the spots in the gills are probably ICH as well. I think most of us have experienced what your fish are going through. I recommend to go ahead and increase your tank temperature and follow the steps above in post #2
I'm sure you'll get some more responses as well. Hang in there it will get better
Keep us posted on the progress.
Ken
ps I'm not familiar with the White Spot treatment you have mentioned. Keep an eye on your water chemistry ammonia, nitrites and nitrates as this chemical may have an effect on your readings and cause a mini cycle.

ABCDemily

Welcome to fishlore! I personally don't like ICH meds, certain scale-less fish don't do so well with them. I'd raise the temp to 31-32C, add an airstone as there is less oxygen in hot water, and gravel vacuum every day, soon you'll have the ICH under control.

Good luck!

Diggly

I admit I probably should have done some more research before buying the ich med!

I will keep you all updated thank you for the help so far!

aquarist48

Anytime Diggly! We're here to help the best we can
Ken

paul the shark lover

also try using super ich cure. its a good fast acting ick medicine. use it once every 48 hours and then change 25% of the water. also plecos are gianormus wasters that might be one of the reasons. when I had my bristlenose pleco I had to remove him and put him in a smaller tank just to getmy big tank cleaned because he made a mess of it! then when I put him back after cleaning I come downstairs in the basement an hour later and the tank is as messy as my closet(disaster zone, was trapped by closet avalnche once). so I ended up taking spike(my bristlenose pleco) back to the fish store. you might wanna try that. also how often do u gravel vac ur tank and how many galons is it currently? hope I helped also welcome to fish lore

sorry made a mistake: after using the super ICH cure medicine twice in a 2 day span seperation you should change 25% of the water

Tony G.

Welcome to fishlore! hope it cures soon!

Diggly

My pleco just keeps herself to herself and doesnt make a mess of the tank that I have noticed (I am guessing it is a her due to not many bristles but as it is still a young pleco I am guessing I will have to wait and see!) and she just generally hangs onthe side or driftwood.

I have put the temperature up and added salts as suggested and 1 of my fish unfortunatly died but the others have definitely perked up!

I havent got an airstone but I have positioned my filter so it breaks the surface of the water will that be enough?

ATKINSON

Sorry for your loss

aquarist48

Hello Diggly. I think the way you have your filter positioned should do just fine. Sorry to hear that you had a loss. Glad to hear you bumped up the temperature. Keep us posted. Fingers and fins crossed here for a full, speedy recovery.
Ken

paul the shark lover

sorry about ur barb diggly, its hard to take a fish loss especially a pretty fish like a barb, a clown loach, or an angel. its upsetting. and when ur pleco gets big(how big is it now) u might wanna take it back to ur LFS because ive seen adult fully grown bristle nose plecos and thier monsters their like huge. plus all plecos are big big big wasters especially when their bigger. btw can you upload some pictures of ur tank so we can see them please? that would help. heres a link to recent uploaded pictures I took of my fish: http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/me...fish-tank.html
next week Ill add more after im done taking back the bala, the ruby shark, the clown loach, and the 4 otos. btw september 8th is the first day back at school i start grade 8 . more home work and projects though . ok ta-ta for now

jdhef

Actually Paul, Bristle Nose are one of the few Pleco's that don't get really large. I believe they max out at 4 to 5 inches.

paul the shark lover

yes but ive seen adult ones at my lfs there still pretty big. u think its small until u see it. but ur right 4-5 inches but its still big

Diggly

Nice Fish Paul!

I have an albino Bristle and they max out at 3 - 4 inches, it is about 1.5 inches now and I am upgrading my tank (or asking my bf nicely ) in about 2 - 3 months anyway to the biggest I can afford - I would love a 100 gallon lol but I think I need to get used to smaller tanks first!

Good news on the barbs they have stopped hanging round the top and have started eating so I am remaining positive and when I am sure it is disease free I will probably buy 2 more barbs. I dont like adding 1 fish at a time Ithink its just me though I like them to go in with a friend lol!

paul the shark lover

same I like fish going in with friends to. and thanks my fish and tank are nice. im 13 and I got skillz!!!!! and diggly ur a girl right?

Diggly

Yes im a girl.

Just a quick question I dont really want to start another thread - does anyone have any Kuhli loaches I have 3 and they are pretty cool but I have rad they need to be in bigger groups, does anyone have a magical number?

paul the shark lover

um for a loach im probably guessing the same like a barb 5 minimum for a school

Lucy

Three is a minimum, you could get more since they like their own kind and don't carry much of a bio load
Keep on eye on them, they're peaceful and sometimes don't do well with aggressive fish.

Diggly

dont worry I monitor all the fish and do as much research as possible .

They love sleeping under the big bit of driftwood I have and a couple of the caves. I might get 3 more tomorrow as it seems to be 2 of them together and 1 on its own - the barbs dont seem to bother them at all but I am keeping an eye on it.

Lucy

I think they're pretty cool looking!