Ick-help!!

I currently have a 12 gal that had 6 panda Cory's in as the first stock. One had gotten some type of fin rot and died in a temp quarantine tank. I had a betta reserved at a LFS but when I went to pick him up I noticed ick and they said they would treat him and I could pick him up in 3 days but I didnt want to risk it so I got my money back and decided to stock my schooling fish while I wait on shipping a betta from aquabid again. They had just gotten the new fish in Wednesday, I was there Friday (last night). I got one panda cory to cover the loss of my other one and 8 neon tetras. I observed all fish in the tanks where I was buying and fish that were in there longer and saw no signs of fungus or illness so I went ahead and took them home. I was going to drop the new cory and 4 tetras, then set up a temporary 5 gallon bucket and wait a few days for BB to build up and then drop the other 4. While the bags were floating for acclimation and they were under my LED light, I noticed one small white spot on two of the tetras. THANK GOD I inspected them 3 times before I just dropped them in as I've never encountered ick before and have had great luck with all my fish store stock. I took the filter catrigde out of my QT bucket so I'm just running the filter with lots of aeration, heater isn't adjustable so its about 82 in the bucket and put all the new fish in there even though I didnt see anything wrong with the cory it's weird that the bettas had ick I'm worried about their store having an outbreak. I dosed the bucket with 5 ML of APIs liquid super ick cure and it has been about 12 hours since first dose. As per the instructions I will dose the same tomorrow then do a water change. I'm just worried about water params with 9 fish in 4 gallons with no filter? Should I just use prime to detoxify in between doses? When I treated my betta for fin rot I just did 100%WC every day and added the same dose of med in the new water. How long should I treat them for? There were only two small spots so if it is ick I got it early. It's a tidy cat litter bucket as my temp QT lol so I can't see the fish, I'll have to net them into a cup and hold them up to the light to see if the ick went away. Any advice would be great as I'm out of my element dealing with this!

Edit** I should note I keep an extra seeded filter cartrige in both of my established 5 gallons for emergencies like this so I can always run the filter on the QT bucket if anyone wants to suggest keeping them in there long term but I'm not keen on keeping my panda by himself for long

 

Panda corys and neons both like cooler water in the low 70 degree range, so you can remove the heater. Not sure why you removed the filter cartridge unless it contains carbon. Just continue treatment and moniter the fish, some even suggest atleast 2 weeks of ich treatment.

 

Panda corys and neons both like cooler water in the low 70 degree range, so you can remove the heater. Not sure why you removed the filter cartridge unless it contains carbon. Just continue treatment and moniter the fish, some even suggest atleast 2 weeks of ich treatment.

I used the heater because I read that higher temps will speed up the life cycle of the ick so it frees itself from the fish quicker allowing the medicine to be more effective. And I removed the filter cartridge because it has carbon in it and the medicine doesn't specify if it effects the bio filter and I don't wanna risk a backup filter being useless because I used it with fish that had ick

 

Read your post twice and still have some difficulty to oversee the situation hahaha.
First things first : Are you 100 sure it is Ich.
BB establishing in 3 days ? Forget it.
Keeping cycled filters running without fish in?

As said trying to wrap my mind around things. Bettas and neons / pandas aren't temp.compatible btw

 

Read your post twice and still have some difficulty to oversee the situation hahaha.
First things first : Are you 100 sure it is Ich.
BB establishing in 3 days ? Forget it.
Keeping cycled filters running without fish in?

As said trying to wrap my mind around things. Bettas and neons / pandas aren't temp.compatible btw

Sorry about the confusion, I don't want to get into the great compatibility debate and stray away from the main topic of the post. I saw two white spots on two neons that I purchase from my LFS and assumed it was ick because a few days before I went to pick up a betta I had on reserve at the same store and every betta in the split tank had ick, which they acknowledged. They treated the bettas for ick but I got my money back because I didnt want to risk introducing ick to my display tank at home. You know as well as I do that something like ick can spread like a wildfire in a fish store where most equipment is shared, so to play it safe I put all 8 new tetras and my new cory in QT bucket and treated them all for ick as a precautionary. They have been in there for 3 days now using API super ick cure. Not sure what your question is about the BB establishing in 3 days? A user asked me why I did not put one of my seeded filter cartridges in the QT filter, and I didnt because it has carbon in it which would mess with the ick medication. The filters would also be unusable past this point because they would be introduced to the ick. My seeded filters have been in two of my established 5 gallons for months so they are usable in case of emergency. I will most likely put one cartridge in the QT after 3 more days of medication. And keep the new fish in QT for a few more days after that to be safe. I just want general advice on the length of QT before I should introduce the new fish since I only saw two white spots on 2 out of 8 tetras. And if anyone had any luck with the medication I am using. I hope this cleared some things up so you guys can better give me advice

 

The spots on fish aren't the actual parasites (it is a skin/immunitysystem/reaction) of the fish.

So no spots(which could be other diseases / issues as well btw) doesn't automatically mean all parasites are gone.

I'd follow the instructions and wouldn't add other fish for aboit two weeks after finishing. When / if there won't be other spots you're pretty safe to do s

 

The spots on fish aren't the actual parasites (it is a skin/immunitysystem/reaction) of the fish.

So no spots(which could be other diseases / issues as well btw) doesn't automatically mean all parasites are gone.

I'd follow the instructions and wouldn't add other fish for aboit two weeks after finishing. When / if there won't be other spots you're pretty safe to do s

I netted the tetras yesterday and all were spot free, so in hoping that all the active parasites have already released from the fish and are now dead from meds. Technically today is the last day the fish are supposed to be dosed according to the packaging it only says to continue medication if spots persist. I will check the fish when I get home to make sure there are no more spots and will do a 100% WC since they're in there with no active filtration. I will put a seeded filter in there and keep them in QT for another few days to make sure they don't vreak out again, unless someone here thinks I should medicate another few days just to be cautious

 

This is a two part post....one question is help debunkering what is taking out my panda cory population in my month old 12 gal long and the other is a single white spot on my Male betta in a year old 5 gallon. First with the cories, I'm pasting the sick fish template so I can provide everyone with the best details to help you guys help me!

Tank
How many gallons is your tank? 12
Does it have a filter? 95gph canister
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 76F

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? 1x per week, every week.
How much of the water do you change? 50%
What do you use to treat your water? Prime
Do you vacuum the or just the water? Vacuum

Parameters
What do you use to test the water? ApI liquid master test kit
What are your parameters? We need the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.

: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10-20ppm
pH: 7.6-7.8

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? 1x per day
How much do you feed your fish? One hikarI sinking water for 5 corys
What brand of food do you feed your fish?
Do you feed frozen or freeze dried foods?
No
Symptoms
When did you first notice these symptoms? A week after I added the corys
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Tried apI fungus cure for the first cory but he died the first day in hospital
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? First cory was paler in color then the rest but was fine in the tank for a week after introducing them. Then I noticed his spike on his dorsal fin was exposed, like the flesh was rotting away from it. Then he stopped eating and schooling with the other cories. My water params were good so I figured it was mild fin rot and clean water would help resolve on it's own. 2 days later he started getting some fuzzy white fungus on his side, I moved him to hospital tank where he died first night. 2 weeks after the rest of my 5 (4 of which were bought at the same place and time as the one who mysteriously died) were doing great. I decided to buy a panda at my LFS to replace the dead one and 8 neon tetras to stock the tank with too. Got home and noticed one small white spots on two tetras and put them with the new cory in QT with apI super ick cure for 5 days. Didnt see any signs of ick or disease so I acclimated the new cory to the main tank last night. I think being in QT stressed him out, because he was pale and wouldn't eat or move much. He was so listless I decided to move him back to QT which died shortly after. I then noticed during feeding that night one cory has the same exposed spine on his dorsal, and was occasionally flashing on the sand and I saw him scratch a rock once too. Didnt observe the behavior after 15 minutes and I went to bed. This morning he has two small spots of stringy white flesh on the fins in the side if his body, almost like he scraped his own skin while flashing?? He has a small tuft of either fungus or scraped skin on one side of his gills...other side is fine. My other 4 Cory's are completely fine. Hes not as active this morning. I will attach pictures of the first cory with the dorsal fin issue and this new cory. PLEASE HELP. I don't know if its columnaris, early ick? Just fungus? I don't see any white spots on my fish.

Next is my betta...who is in a separate tank. Never had issues with this fish, ever. Last night I noticed one single white spot near his eye, it looks like ick but how could he have gotten it? He has no other spots on his body or fins.


I never cross contaminated any equipment from the QT tank to his....so how could that happen? Water params are always good in that tank and it so happens I have an unintentional shrimp breeding operation going on in there (mushu is so laid back he doesn't even chase the shrimp fry) no appetite issues and I haven't observed any signs of scratching or stress from him.

Thanks for all who read til the end...just at a loss for words.

***first cory pic is the first one that died, second is the sick one now. Note the white exposed spine on their dorsal, odd that it is the same symptom

Someone please help? It looks like maybe fluke worms and I can't find much on treatment for a main tank. Do fluke worms infect the water and substrate? Or can I QT all the fish and treat seperately.....I have no idea what I'm dealing with. If I have to treat the main tank what medicines for parasites don't have dye? please help me!!

 

DoubleDutch any advice?

 

DoubleDutch any advice?

THANK YOU for at least posting to bump this again...I'm losing my freaking mind I've never encountered problems like this before I'm beside myself.

 

What are they fed ?

The red gills are quite worrying.
How is filtrage and watertemp?

 

THANK YOU for at least posting to bump this again...I'm losing my freaking mind I've never encountered problems like this before I'm beside myself.

No problem, Dutch has helped me with cories. I have weird stuff going on too. I had three die in the past from getting fuzzy, treated with various meds like General cure, Kanaplex but they died. My last one showed the same symptoms and I treated 8 days with melafix and he is super great now (knock on wood) for about a week so far. Melafix is just a natural oil, I’m not sure if it helped him or it’s just coincidence though.

 

What are they fed ?

The red gills are quite worrying.
How is filtrage and watertemp?

HikarI sinking wafers, filter is 95gph canister with floss sponge carbon and ceramic rings. Temp is 76

 

What are they fed ?

The red gills are quite worrying.
How is filtrage and watertemp?

This info is in the post.

The cory in the second picture with the sick one also appears to have a whitish area on the tips of it's dorsal fin as well.

I've seen this before but no idea where that post went or what the treatment is.

OP is saying they aren't too keen on dyes, but I personally am thinking meth blue may help even just slightly.

They definitely need more food variety than just one sinking wafer every day.

 

HikarI sinking wafers, filter is 95gph canister with floss sponge carbon and ceramic rings. Temp is 76

Filter is cycled? (sorry if I missed that).

 

Filter is cycled? (sorry if I missed that).

Yup water params are great and constant for about 3 weeks now. I never saw flashing in the previous cory that died. And whatever this disease or parasite is has an incubation period because like I noted symptoms seemed like they took a week to two weeks to develop. The side fins (not sure the technical term but they look like airplane wings LOL) had white hair like things in the same spot on each fin that wasn't there last night. I'll get a better picture when I'm home but that's why I suspected fluke worms. But it may just be that he scraped himself too hard flashing. But the gill issue is making me suspect worms too...but the other 4 are showing no symptoms.

 

mmmm strange. Can't wrap my mind around it.

 

This info is in the post.

The cory in the second picture with the sick one also appears to have a whitish area on the tips of it's dorsal fin as well.

I've seen this before but no idea where that post went or what the treatment is.

OP is saying they aren't too keen on dyes, but I personally am thinking meth blue may help even just slightly.

They definitely need more food variety than just one sinking wafer every day.

I agree on the food comment. I'm waiting to get my tank stocked then I was going to start feeding blood worms twice a week. I have zero knowledge of fluke worms. IF they are and I wanted to treat for them, is it like ick where the entire tank is now infested? Or can I treat just the fish in a QT bucket?

 

Asking myself it could be a protozoan (red gills)

 

My cories are a bit spoiled, (aside from a lack of bloodworms lol)
They get mostly mysis shrimp or cyclops, and a high quality bug bite pellet (contains black worm larvae and veggies)
As well as homemade foods using those same frozen foods.
In total they get a mix of seaweed, romaine lettuce, squash, brussle sprouts, black fly larvae, blood worms, tubifex and spirulina, mysis shrimp, cyclops, algae, and whatever vitamins are mixed in.
They really love the meaty foods way more than the veggie mixes, but they're all good boys and girls and eat their veggies too.

I'm honestly wishing I could get them even better foods, I'd love to use thin slices of white fish.

Variety is not only good for growth, but digestion as well, feeding a fish a single variety of food can cause swim bladder issues sometimes, and of course poor health which leads to a decreased immune system and more disease.

It would be like humans only eating the same thing every day. My aunt consuming almost exclusively mcdonalds proved that as well. She ended up having to have an intestinal surgery because of her poor diet.
She had some bloackage which affected a prior surgery site.
It's very sad how little we all think about diet. And even as much as I think about it, my fish still eat better than I do lol

 

Asking myself it could be a protozoan (red gills)

Is this a bacterial infection?

Does anyone have an answer to whether or not parasites like fluke worms need to have the entire tank treated or just the fish themselves?

Heres my list of possible treatments:

Seachem paragard
ApI general cure
KusurI wormer plus (I guess its labeled for discus but another user who had a cory with flukes said this cleared them up in 2 days) the first two options won't stain my tank, not sure about the wormer plus. If anyone would like to advise me on the medication too!! I really don't wanna tear my canister apart to pull the carbon pad....do you think a month is enough to deactivate the carbon so I don't have to do anything to the filter if I treat the tank?

 

**update**
I got home late from work expecting the worst, but all my Cory's were schooling together actively (they must be hungry, they're rooting around the sand) and I didnt notice the one cory flashing. The white spot on his dorsal fin is gone as well as on his side fins they are just tiny barely noticeable spots, so it's possible he had something stuck in his gills and flashed and scratched himself too hard on some of my dragon stone. Just a theory, I'm not counting my blessings yet as I will test water params daily and watch them like a hawk. My Male betta I included in this post has no spreading of the white spot, no clamped fins, I will test his tank water tonight too but the dummy might have scraped his own head on something too, fish are silly. I'll have to keep an eye on him too. I think I have like aquarist PTSD where it's like doomsday at any small sign of illness in any of my tanks LOL once you learn how sour things can turn you always have that in the back of your head. I can't wait until this 12 is done so I can just sit and enjoy the tank. I swear my cats are much less work!! If everything is well after a few days I will be adding my tetras from QT. I've decided to add all 8 at once as half are tiny juvenilles and probably don't have much of a bioload.

 

HI there!
One (or two) of my cories might have the same. It doesn't exactly look like fungus, but more like "stress patches" to me. He's lethargic but does still move happily through the tank from time to time and chows down on food like he did from day one which makes me very conflicted about treating him. Do you think I should treat him or let it resolve on its own like yours? I'm worried the handling + medicine might stress him out even more.

 

**update**
I got home late from work expecting the worst, but all my Cory's were schooling together actively (they must be hungry, they're rooting around the sand) and I didnt notice the one cory flashing. The white spot on his dorsal fin is gone as well as on his side fins they are just tiny barely noticeable spots, so it's possible he had something stuck in his gills and flashed and scratched himself too hard on some of my dragon stone. Just a theory, I'm not counting my blessings yet as I will test water params daily and watch them like a hawk. My Male betta I included in this post has no spreading of the white spot, no clamped fins, I will test his tank water tonight too but the dummy might have scraped his own head on something too, fish are silly. I'll have to keep an eye on him too. I think I have like aquarist PTSD where it's like doomsday at any small sign of illness in any of my tanks LOL once you learn how sour things can turn you always have that in the back of your head. I can't wait until this 12 is done so I can just sit and enjoy the tank. I swear my cats are much less work!! If everything is well after a few days I will be adding my tetras from QT. I've decided to add all 8 at once as half are tiny juvenilles and probably don't have much of a bioload.

That's great news. More and more these issues seem have to do more with adapting to new / other waterparameters than with an actual disease. "Funny" thing it is often an issue in Pandas (Sterbais often show a different kind of grey layer)

Happy things are going the right way.

HI there!
One (or two) of my cories might have the same. It doesn't exactly look like fungus, but more like "stress patches" to me. He's lethargic but does still move happily through the tank from time to time and chows down on food like he did from day one which makes me very conflicted about treating him. Do you think I should treat him or let it resolve on its own like yours? I'm worried the handling + medicine might stress him out even more.

You'd better start your own thread with some extra info and pics.

 

That's great news. More and more these issues seem have to do more with adapting to new / other waterparameters than with an actual disease. "Funny" thing it is often an issue in Pandas (Sterbais often show a different kind of grey layer)

Happy things are going the right way.

I'm learning more and more about how sensitive these fish really are just by going through things like this. I've found cories don't ship well, they don't deal with QT well unless there's more than 1, and they don't deal well with handling and medication. They're literally like rabbits, so sensitive you could accidentally scare them and kill them of a heart attack haha! Thank you all for the help hopefully it continues to improve

 

I'm learning more and more about how sensitive these fish really are just by going through things like this. I've found cories don't ship well, they don't deal with QT well unless there's more than 1, and they don't deal well with handling and medication. They're literally like rabbits, so sensitive you could accidentally scare them and kill them of a heart attack haha! Thank you all for the help hopefully it continues to improve

Sorry I couldn't be of much help though.

 

HI there!
One (or two) of my cories might have the same. It doesn't exactly look like fungus, but more like "stress patches" to me. He's lethargic but does still move happily through the tank from time to time and chows down on food like he did from day one which makes me very conflicted about treating him. Do you think I should treat him or let it resolve on its own like yours? I'm worried the handling + medicine might stress him out even more.

I agree with double Dutch, you should make your own post and copy and paste the same sick fish template I used in the OP so everyone can better help you, that way the responses you get are actual advice not questions about your tank specs, temp, etc. My very GENERALIZED advice for you (because I don't know what your water quality is...things like that can be caused by multiple factors that must be narrowed down by process of elimination) is to keep a tight eye on the affected cory. If there's any more regression in his fin, if he stops eating and moving all together, or if the patches you see start to turn milky white with slime or like cottony patches I would pick up some medicine and QT and dose him. Be very gentle transferring him and try not to scare him much because I will say in my experience cories get really stressed out being alone, so having to remove one of a shoal and toss him in a bucket by himself is enough stress to kill it. Always dose any medication by half when dealing with cory cats as they are scale less, and if someone tells you to use salt PLEASE DONT because they don't tolerate salt treatments well. I hope you made a post and are getting some more specific advice on your situation.

 

You'd better start your own thread with some extra info and pics.

Ah yeah, sorry for that! I figured since its (most likely) about the same thing I could talk about my own worries too...

I hope you made a post and are getting some more specific advice on your situation.

Thank you for your answer, sorry for hijacking! I hope things will go well with your cory!

 

Ah yeah, sorry for that! I figured since its (most likely) about the same thing I could talk about my own worries too...

Thank you for your answer, sorry for hijacking! I hope things will go well with your cory!

Oh you don't have to apologize to me I don't care! Trust me I was a newbie last year and sometimes I didnt understand the rules on the forums and I didnt realize how seriously some people on these aquarium forums take everything! Sometimes people could be down right snobby and forget that everyone starts somewhere in the hobby lol! I'm glad you found my post trying to search online for an answer to your own problem, we all learn from each others experiences so it's good that it got you here at least!