Ich on new neon tetras? 1 dead guppy

[carlyod]

Hey everyone,

My 20g tall just finished cycling and I added 6 neon tetras and 1 guppy on Tuesday. I was planning to purchase 3 guppies (1 male, 2 females) but the guppy tank at my LFS contained a dead fish and a dying one However, a separate tank far away from the dismal guppy tank had one lone guppy along with a bunch of other different fish so I took her (him?) home with the intention of getting two more guppies next week. The neon tetras looked great and healthy. I added them all to the tank after floating them for 30 minutes and then used drip acclimation for an hour and a half or so. Everybody seemed fine and healthy.

My friend fed them yesterday and this morning as I was away for Thanksgiving, but when I got home the guppy was dead at the bottom of the tank. After removing it, I checked my water parameters and everything checked out just fine despite the dead fish (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite). The neons seem fine BUT a few have some VERY small white specks on them which I believe might be ich . It wasn't there on Tuesday, but at least 4 of them have it. I'm thinking of treating with API's Liquid Super Ick Cure. Has anybody had luck with this in the past? I'd rather not raise the temperature because I've heard that can stress out the tetras even more (it's currently set to 78F). Do you think the tetras do have Ich? Please let me know and thanks in advance!



Hard to tell in this image, but you can see very small, very few, faint specks if you zoom in.


Full picture of the tank

 

[OrionGirl]

Can't really tell from the pics. Does it look like tiny cubes of salt? are the fish rubbing?

If it IS ich, then they were infected at the store. This is the last stage of the parasite in the host, so the fish were infected when you purchased them.

I would use salt and heat, with added aeration to increase oxygen. It's far more effective, and yes, might stress the tetras, but no more than medications.

 

[carlyod]

Can't really tell from the pics. Does it look like tiny cubes of salt? are the fish rubbing?

Ugh it's so hard to tell. I think I may have seen one rub its head on the wood once, but I'm not entirely sure. I dosed the second bit of the Super Ick yesterday, so we'll see tomorrow if it's gone. Some of the teeny grains might look less noticeable? It's really, really hard to tell. I'd say the grains are maybe the size of finely ground table salt or maybe even smaller. If it IS ick, I caught it very early (which makes sense because there wasn't anything visible in the tank at the LFS). I suppose if this doesn't work I'll have to try heat and salt next.

Ugh I'm so annoyed. Nothing worse than cycling a beautiful tank, purchasing fish from a "supposedly" reputable store that LOOK HEALTHY, and then having 6/7 have ick and one die within 48 hours -_-

 

[OrionGirl]

Ask about their quarantining process, and if they'll allow you to put fish on hold for 7 days. That gives any ailment time to present--especially if the store doesn't have full quarantine facilities. Most don't, understandably since it's a HUGE resource investment.

 

[carlyod]

Update for anyone interested:

Ick really seemed to blow up across the tank (went from 1 or 2 tiny spots to nearly covering most of the fish within a week). 1 neon died, then 3, then one yesterday (all within the last week)...I've still got one trooper but my guess is that his/her time is limited. In addition to the ick, I noticed an odd abdominal distention/lump/bloat on a few prior to death (sometimes disappeared and fish looked normal before they died, sometimes it remained until death). I don't think it's neon tetra disease because I haven't seen any spinal deformations nor white patches but I don't know...Overall pretty bummed Water parameters have also been stable throughout. Looks like it was just a sick batch of fish Any ideas for next steps? I'd really, really rather not breakdown the tank because I have a bunch of plants that would die, plus I spent a good chunk of money on the eco complete substrate.