OH NO! My fish have............ICH!!

I do not understand. The Black Neon Tetras that inhabit my 55 gallon have come down with ich. I do not know why. My ammonia is at zero, my nitrites are at zero, and surprisingly my nitrates are at zero. My ph is at 7.4 and I feed them accordingly with a robust diet. For some strange reason my BNTs, after owning them for about 3 weeks. I am worried for my fish and want to know what is the best treatment for them. Please, only meds as a last resort. This is my first time with this disease.

Zero nitrates is almost impossible, so maybe your test kit is not working properly. If that is the case, it could be giving false zero readings for nitrite and ammonia.

Some fish diseases and parasites take a few weeks to show symptoms. Thus it's possible that the Tetras had been exposed to the ich parasite before you bought them. It's also possible that the shock of moving them from a wholesaler to the aquarium shop then to your fish tank has compromised their immune systems.

In any case, a number of ich medications are on the market. I've never used them, but other people have used them very successfully. If you do medicate, be sure to follow the directions exactly. You should also remove any charcoal based filters, because they can filter out the medications.

Please keep us posted.

I am probably going to buy an ich medication but I have heard that tetras are really sensitive to it. Also The tank is heavily planted so I wouldn't think that zero nitrates are impossible. I did the tests two more times and it still reads the same things. It is not the dipping strip kind of test, it is the *add this amount of drops* one. I have also heard that salt acts like a medication. Has anybody had any experience with this?

Salt does sometimes work, but it's too easy to put in too much, and table salt contains additives like iodine. Kosher salt, I believe, is pure sodium chloride. It's probably better to treat ich with a commercial medication. If the Tetras are really full of ich, medications may not work.

The zero nitrate is still puzzling, because most tap water has some nitrate. If the reagent (drops) is old or if it was exposed to heat it could be bad. Some aquarium shops will test water for free, but they'll also try to sell you stuff.

Haha of course they will try to sell me stuff! By any means, is 7 months for the test kit considered "old"? I have never exposed the test kit to heat and my house stays pretty cold with the a/c on in the summer.

Oh yeah I also remembered that I purchased frozen bloodworms from the Hikari brand. Surely all parasites would be dead right?

Seven months is not old for a test kit, but who knows how long it sat in a warehouse or store? Maybe there is a date stamp somewhere on the kit. The whole point about the water test is that most of the time when fish get sick, the cause can be traced back to a problem with the aquarium environment. Of course, your Tetras could have already been exposed to ich. I read that most aquatic environments contain undeveloped diseases and parasites and that the immune system of a healthy fish has no problem fighting them off. Of course, the immune system can be weakened by moving the fish to a new environment. That's why I like the drip acclimation method.

That time I did not use the drip acclimation method but now I do. Are otos sensitive to meds? Because they are in the same tank as the tetras.

Everything in the aquarium will be affected by the medications. That's why it's important to follow the directions and avoid over medicating.

As for the Hikari blood worms: I think Hikari products are very good, but some aquarists avoid blood worms because they think the worms carry parasites. I don't share that opinion, but I prefer Hikari frozen brine shrimp. Almost every day, the large fish get adult brine shrimp, and the little fish get baby brine shrimp. All frozen foods should be well thawed before feeding.

he may want to say that his nitrite value is zero..yes blood worm is not good because it cause not only parasites but also fish can grow rapidly and show its colour in case of frozen worm.so our advice is give frozen worm to your fish..

One of the standard treatments for ich is to raise the temperature to about 90 degrees and add salt at the recommended therapeutic levels. I don't know how hot your tetras can take it for the recommended two week time though. Treatments really only kill the adult parasites so any eggs can hatch later and reinfect your fish. This is why you usually need to treat for so long. The important thing is to get your fish's immune system healthy so they can fight them off themselves.

Should I feed the tetras more high end food such as spirulina and such to raise their immune system? I do not know what the recommended level of salt is for my tank and also I cannot do salt seeing as I have otos.

Spirulina is an algae that is good for plant eating fish. If the Tetras are sick, they probably will not want to eat. Anyway, lack of food is not their problem.

On a box of aquarium salt, they recommend a rounded tablespoon for every five gallons. They also caution that it does not evaporate, so the only way to remove the salt is through partial water changes. Just remember that you're dealing with freshwater plants and animals that can have a bad reaction to too much salt. I use the stuff to hatch brine shrimp.

I hesitate to recommend any specific treatment, because it may not work. If the aquarium were mine, I would gradually raise the temperature and do 20 percent partial water changes several days in a row. That's just one opinion, and it's biased against aquarium medications.

As soon as the food hits the water the tetras are the first ones there. I am also biased against medications too. Minds think alike. The raise water temperature thing and doing partial water changes is what I am doing right now.

This is probably a weird time to say this but I posted pictures of my 55 gallon. If you want to take a look just drop by my profile.

If the Tetras are hungry, the ich parasite may not be bothering them too much. Let's hope they can fight it off.


After looking at the photographs I have to say that is one impressive aquarium. I wish all my aquariums looked that good.

Thanks. Yeah lets hope for the best.

I also remembered that I fed the fish live mosquitos, mosquito larvae, and mosquito eggs before they got the ich. Could these be the culprit? The larvae and eggs were obtained from collected rainwater because it rained for days on end here in Florida so I wouldn't think the source is polluted. I would also catch mosquitos with a fine net.

After testing my water for ammonia in my 20 gallon, it read 0 so I am starting to believe the reagents are old. I am planning to buy a new kit.

Almost any live food, plant or decoration collected from the wild has a strong potential for introducing diseases and parasites. Some aquarists raise their own live food; you can find starter cultures on Aquabid.com.

Oh man, I just wanted to provide my fish with live food and look at what I've done! Well My tank is at a temperature of a stable 88F but my fish aren't changed much.

If they're acting OK it may just be a matter of waiting.

hi

Just an update on my Tetras. My Tetras have considerably less white dots than before visible on their bodies. I am still keeping my temp. at 88F because I know that the parasites reproduce and are invisible during this period.

grea,continue the same treatment untill the white spots vanish...

I am finally starting to turn the heat down and I think I have eradicated the Ich. There are absolutely no white dots on my fish now! Thank the person who came up with water changes!