Ick Help!

[JustAnotherFishLover]

Hey guys! This is my first post here but I have seen every one of Corys videos and have learned so much from him which is why when I realized I had a problem I knew I could ask for help here. So my problem is ich, I have gotten it in one of my tanks (out of three, so far atleast) I watched videos and read a lot of article about it and most of them say that it usually spreads pretty fast but I havent seen any spreading since I noticed it yesterday in only 2 fish. I pay very close attention as well so I know that the white spots just came up yesterday. Right now I have all my fish in an 8 gallon quarantine tank with a sponge filter and an air stone and some things to hide in also with no light because they seemed pretty stressed when I got them from the tank. I have a heater in my aquarium (fishless) right now that is trying to get up to 94 degrees to make the ich reproduce and then hopefully die off since there are no hosts for them to get onto.  My quarantine tank with the fish also have a heater but it is a preset one that I can not turn up so I will be getting another one once I can get the meds to treat them... which brings me to the whole point of this post. I was going to do what Cory says to do when you have sick fish and do the trio. Well my paycheck did not get filed apparently this week so I did not get paid and wont get paid for another 2 days. I have Fungus Clear made by JUNGLE. But am very hesitant to use it. I guess I would like to ask a couple of questions I have and would also like any input. 

1. Is Ich and Stress Ich the same thing? If not, then is there a separate treatment for stress ich? Water parameters have not changed at all for weeks, but this is a new tank within the past couple of months. But has been cycled for at least 2 months due to the fact that all the sponges and everything was moved over from their previous tank. I am not sure what could have caused stress due to the fact that nothing has changed. 

2. If it hasnt gotten any worse and hasnt spread to any other fish since yesterday then does that mean its not ich? Also, theres only one spot on one corydora and only three spots on a tetra. Would ich be more? 

3. Is there anything else I should be doing before medicating them? 

4. Has anyone used Jungle Fungus Clear before? If so, experience please?

5. Should I wait to do anything until I can order the trio, or should I do this and then also still get the trio  and do that? 

6. I lied in question number one and said nothing has changed. Something did change but about a month ago. I added Ottos a month ago and did not quarantine. I was very concered about my ammonia level rising because of all the die back on my newly heavily planted tank. Which the plants are doing great now and the Ottos were the ones who cleaned everything up great. 

7. I know I messed up not doing a quarantine but I cant change it now. That being said, can it be from the Ottos if :

         A. None of the Ottos have it. 

         B. It has been a month since they got to my home and no signs have shown until yesterday.

Sorry for all the questions guys, if you cant tell I am freaking out a bit. I just love my fish and want to help them as much as I can.

Parameters:

20 Gallon Long

Nitrates 40 

Nitrites 0

Ammonia 0

Ph 7.0

Gh Soft

Kh Low 

Temp: 78 F

Occupants:

Corydoras

Otos

Tetras

Clown Pleco

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Edited May 5, 2021 by JustAnotherFishLover
more info

[lefty o]

without seeing it, hard to say if it is ich. but ich is ich whether caused by stress or any other reason. ich looks like someone sprinkled salt on the fish. my own personal opinion is the tank with the fish in it, dont go crazy cranking up the heat. a few degrees if at all. salt can also be used against ich if you dont have access to ich-x or other ich treatment.

Edited May 5, 2021 by lefty o

[H.K.Luterman]

94 degrees is really, really high! I wouldn't chance making it so hot, the most I would raise the temperature when treating Ich is 85, but just the low 80s would be enough to shorten the Ich life cycle. I would use salt, as Lefty o said, if you can't get Ich-X.

[JustAnotherFishLover]

Thank you for the quick responses! I am definitely not raising the temperature to 94 with the fish in it it. I was going to go to about 82 with a new heater. I just have one that stay at 78 right now thats why I said I was going to try to get it to raise up a bit. 

It does not look like someone sprinkled salt on them at all. There is one dot on the corys fin. and then on a tetra there is three separate small dots. That is all. Does that sound like something else? 

Thanks again for the help. 

& Sorry for the no pics, I tried to get them into quarantine and settled as quick as possible and didnt even think about taking a picture. Quarantine is not clear either 😕 

[JustAnotherFishLover]

Thank you for the quick responses! I am definitely not raising the temperature to 94 with the fish in it it. I was going to go to about 82 with a new heater. I just have one that stay at 78 right now thats why I said I was going to try to get it to raise up a bit. 

It does not look like someone sprinkled salt on them at all. There is one dot on the corys fin. and then on a tetra there is three separate small dots. That is all. Does that sound like something else? 

Thanks again for the help. 

& Sorry for the no pics, I tried to get them into quarantine and settled as quick as possible and didnt even think about taking a picture. Quarantine is not clear either 😕 

Oh and about the salt, is that Marine salt ? & Will using salt be okay on my albino corys? I have seen some article of it being no good for them. 

[quikv6]

I think Ich-X is the way to go, but I would not do them with the other 2 in the trio....due to the daily waterchanges that Ich-X requires when treating for an active infection. You would just be taking the other meds out during the waterchanges, which wouldn't be effective.

Ich can show up as 2 or 3 dots one day and be way more a day or two later, after the parasite has multiplied exponentially. So even though there are only a few dots now, it could definitely be ich.

[Samanthabea]

Aqarium salt and heat at 86 for a week at least do it gradually though with the heat not sure about the salt and the fish being compatible

Edited May 6, 2021 by Samanthabea

[Samanthabea]

This is what I used 4 bucks

[JustAnotherFishLover]

Okay thank you everyone for your help! If anyone has anything else to add I would like to hear it, and I am going to keep you guys posted on what I end up doing and what works or doesnt! I have gotten a lot of advice from you guys and a couple other forums so I am going to put it all together and see what I seems to be the general consensus and roll with it. Thanks again everyone! 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I've had Ich in two different tanks at different times. The first time I used API Super Ick Cure and heat (84 degrees), daily water changes due to the heat raising ammonia from faster decay as well as speeding up the ich cycle so be aware of that. The 2nd time I treated with Seachem Paraguard and no heat. Both times I was succesful, both times I medicated until it was 7 days AFTER the LAST of the spots were seen. So there are many ways to see the light at the end of the icky tunnel. 🙂 Good luck!