~~~Ich or Something Else~~~

[Wolf-Keeper1]

~~~Ich or Something Else~~~

Ok I need help earlier this week or last week however you look at it, I noticed white dust like stuff on my cichlids in my 5 foot tank. I've been treating it as ich my rtm seems to have it the worst and now I see it losing some fin. Almost all the fish in the tank have some kind of dust on them but the rtm is the worse. I also noticed a major lost in appetite in almost all of them except the cons. I've been disingenuous the tank with salt and upped the temp to high 80's and been doing water changes. Now my question is, is this ich or something else. I can take pics but you guys won't be able to see it well. I also notice the fish are now hanging out on the top of the tank. Any help, info, or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Betty]

Re: ~~~Ich or Something Else~~~

Have you noticed any flashing -- rubbing against rocks? Is the "dust" definitely white in color?

 

[Wolf-Keeper1]

Re: ~~~Ich or Something Else~~~

Def looks white. And also there is flashing going on. Does ich make them lose fins?

 

[Betty]

Re: ~~~Ich or Something Else~~~

First of all, I am not good with fish diseases! But I don't think ich causes fin loss. It could be ich combined with another problem as well. Have you checked your water parameters lately to make sure nothing is off?

If you've been treating for ich with no signs of improvement and things are getting worse, there are other possible causes.

Try Googling Velvet (Oodinium). Take a look at the images and see if that looks similar to what you have going on. Velvet is similar to ich, but it's described as being more like powder or dust instead of the larger salt-like spots of ich. The color is normally not white though.

 

[Wolf-Keeper1]

Re: ~~~Ich or Something Else~~~

Hey Betty thanks! Searching through some of the pictures it does like like it could be velvet. And reading up on it there were def a number of factors that couldve resulted in my tank catching it. Prior to the first signs I've been lagging on the maintenance of that tank for a number of reasons mainly working alot of overtime so it left me lagged and lazy. But I'm already on the track of clearing it up. Thanks for the link and def a lessoned learned.