Tiger Barb Has Ich?

I recently added 6 tiger barbs to a 29 gallon tank around a week ago. I'm not sure how long it's been there, but i noticed a tiny white dot on the tail of one of the tiger barbs a few days back. I didn't have any ich medicine on hand and I have a school of corydora catfish in the tank so I didn't want to put in a dose of salt. I tried to photograph the fish but it was moving too fast and the white dot was too small. Its been about 4 days since I noticed it and it hasn't increased and none of the other tiger barbs have it. The tiger barb in question eats and swims normally and doesn't seem to be acting unusual. The only weird thing I noticed was that the two larger tiger barbs (one of which is the barb with the white spot) has big bellies. Their stomachs aren't wide or thicker than the other but just hang a bit longer (almost the same length as the bottom fins). It doesn't look like dropsy or anything and it doesn't seem to affect their behavior. It just makes their body shape look a bit odd. I didn't think it was a problem and just assumed that they were eating more than they should because of their size, but I felt like I should mention it in case it was related to the white dot somehow. I'm not sure what to do because if the dot is ich, it hasn't spread anywhere else and I might just be over-worrying. This is my first community tank and previously I only kept single fish alone in large tanks (oscars, blood parrots, etc.). I'm kinda paranoid because I've lost more than one fish to ich. If it is ich, I don't want to lose 12 fish, but it's been almost a week and nothings happened. Should I be worried about it?

 

ich is like chicken pocks for fish. It spreads like wildfire if left untreated and seldom does a fish only have one ich spot.

I would watch it and see what develops.

I would consider setting up a quarantine tank in the future so you can either isolate sick fish and treat them or observe them for a few weeks before they enter the main tank.

I know salt is widely used in the aquarium hobby. Salt in my opinion in not tolerated as well as we think by fresh water fish, and definitely not by plants. My preference is medication treatments to water.

 

I recently added 6 tiger barbs to a 29 gallon tank around a week ago. I'm not sure how long it's been there, but i noticed a tiny white dot on the tail of one of the tiger barbs a few days back. I didn't have any ich medicine on hand and I have a school of corydora catfish in the tank so I didn't want to put in a dose of salt. I tried to photograph the fish but it was moving too fast and the white dot was too small. Its been about 4 days since I noticed it and it hasn't increased and none of the other tiger barbs have it. The tiger barb in question eats and swims normally and doesn't seem to be acting unusual. The only weird thing I noticed was that the two larger tiger barbs (one of which is the barb with the white spot) has big bellies. Their stomachs aren't wide or thicker than the other but just hang a bit longer (almost the same length as the bottom fins). It doesn't look like dropsy or anything and it just seem to affect their behavior. It just makes their body shape look a bit odd. I didn't think it was a problem and just assumed that they were eating more than they should because of their size, but I felt like I should mention it in case it was related to the white dot somehow. I'm not sure what to do because if the dot is ich, it hasn't spread anywhere else and I might just be over-worrying. This is my first community tank and previously I only kept single fish alone in large tanks (oscars, blood parrots, etc.). I'm kinda paranoid because I've lost more than one fish to ich. If it is ich, I don't want to lose 12 fish, but it's been almost a week and nothings happened. Should I be worried about it?

Chances are if it hasn’t spread or gotten any bigger than its some random white spot or coloration. If you want you can get ICH-X on hand just so you wont have to be scrambling for it at the last minute if something pops up. I have had the same issue before with a random white spot that just appears and then a week later is gone and doesn’t spread.

 

ich is like chicken pocks for fish. It spreads like wildfire if left untreated and seldom does a fish only have one ich spot.

I would watch it and see what develops.

I would consider setting up a quarantine tank in the future so you can either isolate sick fish and treat them or observe them for a few weeks before they enter the main tank.

I know salt is widely used in the aquarium hobby. Salt in my opinion in not tolerated as well as we think by fresh water fish, and definitely not by plants. My preference is medication treatments to water.

Thank you for the reply! Nothing happened for about a week but I checked this morning and it seemed like 2 other fish had a few more white dots. ._.
We don't have space for a quarantine tank rn, and my parents probably wouldn't see the point of an extra "useless" tank.
I think it is ich, seeing how it has spread now. Is there any chance that it'll go away by itself??? I can't increase the temperature of the tank because of the type of thermometer that I have. I'm worried about the tiger barbs and corydora catfish in particular. A lot of the catfish's fins have been attacked by the barbs so they're already a bit skittish and panicked. Adding ick to the mix is even worse. What should I do? We'll only be able to go to a store at the earliest of Friday evening or the day after tomorrow. It's quite far away, so we'll only be able to make one trip to get a good medicine that has to work. Which one should I pick?

Chances are if it hasn’t spread or gotten any bigger than its some random white spot or coloration. If you want you can get ICH-X on hand just so you wont have to be scrambling for it at the last minute if something pops up. I have had the same issue before with a random white spot that just appears and then a week later is gone and doesn’t spread.

Thank you for the reply! It hasn't got any bigger, but I think it's spread to a few other fish and can now be seen on two places on the barb's body that it started with. Would ICH-X be the best medication for the fish or is there anything else that would work safely for both barbs and corydora catfish?
I have a few dosages of melafix left in a bottle but they didn't work for past fish (goldfish). Should I bother with the melafix or just wait 2 more days to stop by the store to pick up ICH-X? If I start the melafix, I think I would have to continously dose for one week, and I'm not sure I have that much left. Also is tetra aquarium ich guard the same thing as ich-x?

 

Thank you for the reply! Nothing happened for about a week but I checked this morning and it seemed like 2 other fish had a few more white dots. ._.
We don't have space for a quarantine tank rn, and my parents probably wouldn't see the point of an extra "useless" tank.
I think is it ich, seeing how its spread now. Is there any chance that it'll go away by itself??? I can't increase the temperature of the tank because of the type of thermometer that I have. I'm worried about the tiger barbs and corydora catfish in particular. A lot of the catfish's fins have been attacked by the barbs so they're already a bit skittish and panicked. Adding ick to the mix is even worse. What should I do? We'll only be able to go to a store at the earliest of Friday evening or the day after tomorrow. It's quite far away, so we'll only be able to make one trip to get a good medicine that has to work. Which one should I pick?

Thank you for the reply! It hasn't got any bigger, but I think it's spread to a few other fish and can now be seen on two places on the barb's body that it started with. Would ICH-X be the best medication for the fish or is there anything else that would work safely for both barbs and corydora catfish?

I think that’s not to long to wait.

Seachem Metroplex is good for ich

I don’t know if it’s still used because I haven’t had ich in a tank in decades, is methlylene blue. That will do the trick. I keep it on hand for fish eggs.

 

I think that’s not to long to wait.

Seachem Metroplex is good for ich

I don’t know if it’s still used because I haven’t had ich in a tank in decades, is methlylene blue. That will do the trick. I keep it on hand for fish eggs.

My lfs doesn't have most of the medicine you mentioned. It does have a huge jug of methlylene blue but it's pretty expensive and it hard to imagine that my parents would let me buy it. Currently deciding between these two medicines below. Does anyone have any experience with either of them and are they safe for cory doras? They both have generally good reviews (4+ stars) but some reviews are pretty mixed/negative. Are they good medicines for ich and if yes which one should I choose? They also mentioned something about the medicine staining stuff and my gravel is white sand, would it turn it blue?

 

My lfs doesn't have most of the medicine you mentioned. It does have a huge jug of methlylene blue but it's pretty expensive and it hard to imagine that my parents would let me buy it. Currently deciding between these two medicines below. Does anyone have any experience with either of them and are they safe for cory doras? They both have generally good reviews (4+ stars) but some reviews are pretty mixed/negative. Are they good medicines for ich and if yes which one should I choose? They also mentioned something about the medicine staining stuff and my gravel is white sand, would it turn it blue?

do the same thing, go with the API

 

My lfs doesn't have most of the medicine you mentioned. It does have a huge jug of methlylene blue but it's pretty expensive and it hard to imagine that my parents would let me buy it. Currently deciding between these two medicines below. Does anyone have any experience with either of them and are they safe for cory doras? They both have generally good reviews (4+ stars) but some reviews are pretty mixed/negative. Are they good medicines for ich and if yes which one should I choose? They also mentioned something about the medicine staining stuff and my gravel is white sand, would it turn it blue?
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You can order ICH-X off of Amazon for around 13$ or so. API works but it only has one active ingredient that kills ich. ICH-X has 2; malachite green and methylene blue. It’s also helpful for killing fungus since fungal infection have a tendency of appearing where the parasite left a mark on the fish. Don’t use melafix. That’s for fungus. ICK guard is primarily used for quarantining fish.

 

You can order ICH-X off of Amazon for around 13$ or so. API works but it only has one active ingredient that kills ich. ICH-X has 2; malachite green and methylene blue. It’s also helpful for killing fungus since fungal infection have a tendency of appearing where the parasite left a mark on the fish. Don’t use melafix. That’s for fungus. ICK guard is primarily used for quarantining fish.

Thank you! I'll see what I can find on Amazon. I have no idea why I didn't remember it before. ._.