If my fish sometimes get white solid patches on them and turning the light off makes it worst what is this?

Question

It doesn't form it little circles like ich. It comes in patches that cover about an eighth of the fish and freezes up their fins.

Answer 1

It's simply coincidence that turning the light off appears to make it worse. Ich is little white polka dot spots. If this disease is white patches, it's not ich. It's probably fungus, maybe columnaris. They look virtually identical. The only difference is that, with columnaris, the fish has little white threads around the mouth that wave in and out as the fish breathes. Fungus can be caused by rough handling that damages the fish's skin, sudden change in temperature or poor water quality. You need to put your fish in a hospital tank, get the water cycled quickly by using spring water, not distilled, spring water, add some stress coat and get the ph to the level it should be for your type of fish. Get the water to the proper temperature and filter/aerate the hospital tank as well. Then you need to get an anti-fungal medicine, such as Jungle Fungus Eliminator. Ask for help finding something or read the different packages of medications. They say what they treat. You can also treat with a .3% salt solution; which translates to a scant 1 tsp of salt per 1 gallon of water. Use aquarium salt. Do not use table salt. Columnaris is a bacterial disease and should be treated with Maracyn 1-2. As these diseases affect the fish internally, you should also feed medicated food such as Metro-Med. You need to treat the fish as soon as possible as these diseases can progress quickly and kill the fish. It can take a long time to rid the fish of this disease, so patience, dedication and persistence is important. You also need to assess your tank to determine what the cause may be. Test your water. Make sure your tank is the right size for your fish load. Make sure you have proper temperature, filtering and aeration. Good luck!

Answer 2

That's strange, is it like a fungus on the fish. It is most definately NOT ich. You people need to find out what ich really is. Ich is little salt crystal sized paracistes, nothing more, nothing less. Quit diagnosing ich for everything and quit giving answers if you don't know jack.

Answer 3

You didn't say what fish you had. Some fish can control the marking and shade of their scales and actually become more pale when they become sleepy and switching off the light makes them lose more of their colour. I had a snakehead and he'd be covered with pale grey pathces when he went to sleep. By morning he's have his dark bold stripes again.

Answer 4

I feel like the disease is just progressing, not that the light off made any difference. Turn the light back on and watch what happens. I would bet it continues to get worse. Sounds like ich to me. See the link for a quick and cheap way to get rid of ich that works, I have used it.

Answer 5

It sounds like ick to me too. This is very serious. It must be taken care of immediately or the fish will die very quickly!