Pleco Might Have Ich - Help

Hi,
please help!!! Up until a week ago I had a 70L cold water tank with 5 various types of goldfish, one weather loach and a plec. The 3 fantail goldfish started sitting on the bottom of the tank and showed signs of fin rot. I changed 25% of the water and used the normal medicen made by Interpet for fin rot as the instructions suggested. By Tuesday this week there was no improvement and the fantail fish were now loosing scales and looked blood spotted around what was left of their fins. I rang the local aquarium supply shop and they suggested the fish were immune to the Interpet medicen and to try something called PimaFix whaich they had just got in from America and was ment to be really good. (I am in England) They also said that it would be fine for the plec and Yoda the weather loach. I changed 50% of the water and then added the PimaFix as instructed - without the carbon filter as before. Yesterday - Wednesday - there was still no improvement and the water had turned cloudy and really smelt - the PimaFix smells like tea tree. I added another dose at 6pm (it says one dose daily for 7 days) and by 11pm the large fan tail and 2 smaller ones were dead. This lunch time I came home from work and one of the tiny gold fishes was dead. I now am left with very small goldfish who looks ok physically but is sat on the bottom of the tank and one large goldfish who looks terrible, is sat on the bottom and I think I might have to 'dispatch' later. I have put the plec and Yoda in another tank which has been thoroughly cleaned and has fresh water. I have now noticed that the plec is covered in tiny white spots all over his body and eyes. I have looked on English websites and not found much to help but a couple from America have mentioned Ich.....Do you think this is what my plec has and also is it the same as fin rot? Also what can I do to make him better and not harm the weather loach - who out of all this seems his usual self?? Please let me know if you have any ideas I'm desperate, I have had them for nearly 4 years and have never had a problem like this before. Thanks in advance, Sally

 

HI Minkypoo,

Sorry bout your fish. What happened or changed recently to stress your fish? Have you recently introduced a new fish to the tank? Just trying to figure out the cause. Are you doing partial water changes on a regular basis? Sounds like you have some really big and dirty fish in an overcrowded aquarium. Here are some things you could try:

1. Do a thorough gravel vacuuming while changing 25% of the water in the tank.
2. Slowly increase the water temperature to 85 deg F or 29.5 deg C. Increase the temp SLOWLY, like one degree every four hours.
3. Increase the aeration in the aquarium. The higher temps will cause your dissolved oxygen levels to drop so you'll need increased surface agitation. Airstones will do the trick or if you can increase the flow rate of your filter that will also help.
4. Get rid-ich and follow the directions exactly. You will probably need to treat your aquarium for a week or longer.
5. Do those 25% water changes with gravel vacuuming every couple of days.
6. Monitor your water parameters for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate because the use of medicines may cause your aquarium to re-cycle.
7. If you aquarium does re-cycle you'll need to perform frequent water changes until the aquarium finishes cycling.

Also - check out the following links for more information:
https://www.fishlore.com/Articles/SickFish.htm
https://www.fishlore.com/Articles/CuringIch.htm
https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
https://www.fishlore.com/QuarantineTankSetup.htm

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

Mike

 

HI Sally,

sorry to hear about the poor fishies - its a horrible problem. Ich is called White Spot here in England and Pets at Home sell a good cure by Interpet called AntI White Spot. Just keep the water warm and clean and I found they seem to be happier kept without the light on and away from sunlight.
The directions inside the box have a very good description of how Ich works and what you need to do - same as Mike has said previously.
Good luck!

 

I know exactly what is wrong with your goldfish. Your pleco is attacking them. See what the plecos do is they will start sucking on the goldfish's body which will make the scales come off and they start bleeding. Then probley your goldfish got a bacterial infection from missing their scales. Then you started putting medicine that isn't needed and you might have overdosed it to. So I would advise you to either put the pleco in another tank, return it to the lps, or remove the remaining goldfish.

 

Goldfish are cool water fish and your pleco and loach are warm water fish. Warm water fish that are kept in a cool tank will usually get ich. Sounds like your pleco has it bad.
All of those fish are big poo makers and if you weren't doing large water changes(25-50%) each week then the ammonia could have made your fish sick.
I suggest if they pull through you think about keeping them in separate tanks so they all can enjoy the temps they need for good health. Just my thoughts.
Carol

 

Goldfish are cool water fish and your pleco and loach are warm water fish. Warm water fish that are kept in a cool tank will usually get ich. Sounds like your pleco has it bad.
All of those fish are big poo makers and if you weren't doing  large water changes(25-50%) each week then the ammonia could have made your fish sick.
I suggest if they pull through you think about keeping them in separate tanks so they all can enjoy the temps they need for good health. Just my thoughts.
Carol

I'm with Butterfly on this. Also, the general rule that is suggested is one goldfish per 10 gallons of water because they are major waste producers.

 

No actually the rule of thumb for goldfish is 20 gallons for the first goldfish and 10 gallons for each additional goldfish. Because they get up to 6 to 8 inches long each and with all that poop you will need a bigger tank that can handle all that waste.