Help! White spot on my cichlid, fish looks itchy.

[b4b4m]

Hi All,
Can I get advice on how to fix this problem? Some of my fish has white spots on them and they seem itchy which make them scrub to the coral sand sometimes. I just noticed the white spots 3 days ago.
I have 55 gal with about 20 fishes there mostly male peacocks. I just check the water perimeter is all good.
PH is 8, Ammonia is 0-0.25ppm, Nitrite is 0, Nitrate is either 5 or 10.
Please help me. Thank you!

 

[Digital]

Looks like ick to me.

I've tried the 86F plus salt treatment described here before with great success. the meds at stores have never worked for me.

I think you should treat your whole tank, not just that one fish in isolation. if it is ick, the whole tank has it and can kill everything in the tank.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

 

[b4b4m]

Thanks for your reply. Do I have to remove any of my filter media when I use the salt? like the bio ring and seachem purigen?

 

[b4b4m]

Also since this is my only tank....can I put the salt directly into it or should I put only the affected fish into different tank (I have to buy) ?
Appreciate your opinion.

 

[Becca]

Look for Aquatic Life Farm's ( Frank Cowherd ) instructions on creating a saturated salt solution. It's available online and has instructions on dosing, etc.

Start with a good gravel vacuuming and a big water change.

Raise tank temperature to above 86, but try to make sure it stays below 90.

Treat the whole tank and keep temperature elevated for at least a week after you stop seeing symptoms.

It will look worse before it starts to look better because the heat speeds up the life cycle of the organism that causes ich.

 

[jonclark96]

The article on cichlid forum is worth the read. Remember that the life cycle is a week or two depending on temperature. Keep up treatment for the whole time, or it may come back.

 

[b4b4m]

Thank you so much Digital, Becca and Jonclark. I just bought the salt and put the heater on....will start the process gradually. Thanks again

 

[Digital]

Thank you so much Digital, Becca and Jonclark. I just bought the salt and put the heater on....will start the process gradually. Thanks again

Update?

 

[b4b4m]

sorry yes it worked. Thank you so much