fish itch?

Question

What does the itch disease for the fish look like? I just bought an angelfish last night. She is white and small. She appears to be healthy to me! She is eating and swimming around but I did notice on her tail she has a white dot. Its not off the skin or anything. I just am a new fish owner and worried that something could be wrong. What do you think?

Answer 1

Ich is indeed small white dots of the fish. Here's a picture of a female betta with ich.

http://www.fishjunkies.com/images/ich1.jpg

Normally even in the first stages you see more than one spot on the fish. If this is ich it will spread very quickly to other fish and other parts of your angel. You should get ready to treat for ich just in case. The best treatments for ick in a tropical aquariums are:

Change a large portion of the water, about 50-60% while cleaning the gravel very well.
Clean the filter and change all the media but leave out the carbon.
Add 2 tablespoons of salt per 5 gallons of the tank.
Raise the temperature to 88-90 F. Raise it slowly, about 1 degree per hour. You may need to add an air stone or two depending on the type of fish and how heavily the tank is stocked. Treat for at least 7 days after you see the last white spots on any of the fish. After the treatment return the tank temperature to normal.

OR

Use a good ick medication as directed on the bottle. Try to find a medication that used Malachite Green as the active ingredient. (CAUTION: Malachite Green is a known carcinogen. Be careful not to get it on your skin!) Quick Cure is a good choice.
Change 25% or more of the water daily being sure to clean the gravel as you do so.
Continue the treatment for at least 7 days after you see the last white spots on any of the fish. After the treatment, return the carbon to your filter.

This will work and will remove the ich from your tank.

MM

Answer 2

Ich would look like a small raised bump, like those on the loach in this photo: http://www.kattsundco.com/aquaristik/krankheiten/bilder/ichthyo_schmerle.jpg

Treatment info: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

Raising temperature to 86-90o (do slowly, a few degrees an hour) will speed up the life cycle so treatment can be effectinve more quickly. Treat at least 10-14 days (and a minimum of 3-5 days after you no longer see the spots on the fish), no matter what the medication instructions say - otherwise you're risking reinfection.

If you use medication, something containing both malachite green and formalin is the best.

Answer 3

If it doesn't go away on its own, use the saltwater treatment magicman116 described. I've used that method for years with success. If that doesn't work see if a local store specializing in fish would be willing to examine a sample and give you a diagnosis(ich has a distinctive horseshoe-shaped nucleus). Fungus and bacteria can also cause white spots but they are less common. Medications can be useful but know what you are medicating instead of just dumping chemicals into the water.

Answer 4

Symptoms:
Small white spots resembling sand

Fish scratch against rocks and gravel

In advanced stages fish become lethargic

Redness or bloody streaks in advanced stages
Treatment:
Raise water temperature

Medicate for 10-14 days

Reduce medication when treating scaleless fish

Discontinue carbon filtration during treatment

Perform water changes between treatments

If it goes thought this once it is less often to happen again.

Answer 5

one advice a freind of mine shared with me and i been doing it ever since, when you buy your fish, watch and examine every fish in the tank for any scratching or any signs of ich for a good ten minutes, no dead fish and i also ask the lady there if she can test the water quality in front of me so i will know that the tanks are well maintain and the water levels are perfect, they might get mad and some might be happy to do it, i was lucky when i told her to test it she told me i was the first one to ever ask them too, not sure if anyone thinks this is a good idea on buying fish, but if im spending money for a fish i want to know if the tank it comes from is healthy

Answer 6

Like sugar or salt crystals they sort of shimmer in the lights. it's a terrible cycle.

Note I lost an entire stock on my 100 gal aquarium to ich {itch} I caught it early and followed the fish shops recommendations to the T and still lost my fish. If you have invertebrates put them in an isolation tank before using the medication as the copper will kill them.

Answer 7

if its just one white dot i think you might be too worried -- just in case you might want to go ahead on stock up on meds -- maracide by mardel is good stuff. you can get cheaper if price is an issue. its also good to do frequent gravel vacuums and add salt for ich. ich spends 1/3 of its life on your fish, 1/3 in the gravel and 1/3 swimming waiting to attach itself to another fish. i think i killed a little angel with too much salt once so i am kind of iffy on salting angels.

here is one pic of ich -- its on the tail --

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/data/556/21695Ich.jpg

this one is a little trickier but if there are a couple spots its probably ich --

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/29312Fish5a.jpg

Answer 8

fish itch

Answer 9

I believe the disease is "Ich" not 'itch'.

This website describes it better than I could:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ich.htm

Answer 10

here is a website that explains everything about angelfish diseases and the treatment that comes with it

http://finarama.com/diseases/

hope that helps
Good luck