Glass Catfish White Spots

[CrackFox]

Hi, I've had my glass catfish for about 4 days now. At the moment I only have three. I plan on getting three more to make up the numbers since I know they like to be in bigger groups (they only had 3 left in the petstore at the time)
Anyway, I'm cycling my tank with tetra safestart. I did fishless cycling for a month and ran into lots of problems, however I think it did some good and my tank is in pretty good condition.

One of the glass fish is much smaller than the other two and has white blotches on its body. I remember seeing some when it was in the petstore but I think they may have multiplied. The fish itself is acting ok, a little shy but he's very keen at supper time. He also swims about quite happily at night with the other two. The other two seem fine and look very healthy. I'm keeping an eye on all the nitrite/ammonia/nitrate levels and they are as follows:

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm

I know ammonia should be 0 but I'm cycling with Tetra Safestart which keeps the levels unharmful until it cycles.

What can I do? Is there something I can buy to medicate the fish, is it something that might clear up on its own or does it mean imminant death?
Like I said, the fish is acting healthy and has only just recently started fighting the others for food, its not acting like its sick but I have no experience with tropical fish diseases. Please advise.

*Please don't complain about there only being three. I will add more once the tank has had more time to mature with the SafeStart, hopefully 1-2 weeks.

[imma24]

When you say "blotches" do they look like grains of salt or do they cover more area than that?

What temp is your tank at?

Whether or not you are using Safestart, you are still cycling with fish in the tank.

[CrackFox]

When you say "blotches" do they look like grains of salt or do they cover more area than that?

What temp is your tank at?

Whether or not you are using Safestart, you are still cycling with fish in the tank.

This is not an actual photo of mine but this is about the closest I can liken it too. Although the spots on mine don't look as aggressive. I'm reading that it could be Ich and may be treatable.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2302/1...d22453d9_b.jpg

My tank is at 25c at the minute.

I know the dangers of cycling with fish but i'm testing the water everday and as I said, the fish had signs of these marks on it when I was in the petstore, so I don't think it's been brought on by my tank.

[CrackFox]

Another question. The catfish is still showing signs of sickness. I read that it could be white spot disease and i've been treating the tank with medicine for it. However upon further research, i've concluded that it's probably a bacterial infection of some sort. I've read turing the heat up often kills this type of stuff.
I'm just worried that it might harm my glass catfish if I do.

I have glass catfish and glowlight tetra in the tank at the minute. I read glowlight actually like higher temps than my tank is currently at (25C/77F)
so I'm more concerned about the catfish.

All the other fish are doing great, no signs of stress or sickness. One of the glowlights is currently fat with eggs so maybe the temp increase would lead to fertalising. Not really ideal since my tank isn't big enough for another litter but hopefully it wont happen :p

Is it ok to turn the temperature up to around 82F to help my little catfish get rid of the disease or is it dangerous to do so. Also, if I can how should I do it, gradually increase the temp 1 degree, every couple of hours so it doesn't cause shock?

Thanks

[RylandVT]

My glass cats do just fine in my 80 degree tank and the temp sneaks up a few degrees in the summer so I think you'll be fine with a gradual increase in temp if you needed to do that.

[imma24]

Another question. The catfish is still showing signs of sickness. I read that it could be white spot disease and i've been treating the tank with medicine for it. However upon further research, i've concluded that it's probably a bacterial infection of some sort. I've read turing the heat up often kills this type of stuff.
I'm just worried that it might harm my glass catfish if I do.

All the other fish are doing great, no signs of stress or sickness. One of the glowlights is currently fat with eggs so maybe the temp increase would lead to fertalising. Not really ideal since my tank isn't big enough for another litter but hopefully it wont happen :p

Is it ok to turn the temperature up to around 82F to help my little catfish get rid of the disease or is it dangerous to do so. Also, if I can how should I do it, gradually increase the temp 1 degree, every couple of hours so it doesn't cause shock?

Thanks

First of all, to my knowledge, heat doesn't fertilize eggs - I wonder if you think it will lead to spawning between 2 fish?

I agree with the above poster - if your fish have something that heat will help, than doing it gradually is the key - however, if you are already using meds, then increasing temp at the same time is dangerous because both methods remove oxygen from the water - I wouldn't do both - if meds appear to be working than stick with that and follow the directions on the package.

Also, it also won't help if you are medicating for something if you don't really know what it is.

[ddavis1979]

I would lean towards a bacterial infection as well. I dont know about your store, but at my pet smart, glass catfish are pricey and sensitive to water conditions. I would not get those until your tank is finished cycling.

Many diseases that fish get are simply brought on by a compromised immune system due to stressed fish, stressed for any reason. If fish are happy their immune system will defend from many diseases.

I know that its tough to accomplish, but if you can, closely inspect the fish at the fish store before buying. If you see signs of trouble then dont buy them. risking infection to the rest of your tank is not worth it.

As far as fighting infection goes, I find the best cure is to raise the temp to 82-84 degrees and add some aquarium salt. (but in many cases its too late for the fish). Some pet stores also recommend adding melafix. I tried this once, but the smell of it was in my house for weeks, and it freaked me out some. plus my filter has activated carbon mixed in the filter floss and that removes the effectiveness of most medicines, so I didnt continue treatment. But putting a small dose of that in your tank to help shouldnt hurt anything either.

Let us know how things turn out for you.

[CrackFox]

Thanks for all the advice. The catfish is still covered in white smudges, I think they have started to cover more of its body. It's swiming around normally and it's always the first one to eat when the food is added. It's acting healthy which is good. The other fish are fine, showing no signs of illness or stress. The catfish has been sick for 10 days now since I got him, and who knows how long before hand. I would have expected to find him dead long before now but he doesn't show signs of weakness. It's the strangest thing. It's also been 10 days since I started the fish-in cycle with Tetra Safestart. The cycle is no where near finished, checking the water levels everyday and the readings are more or less always:

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0-5ppm

I'm medicating the tank for bacteria and particularly fungal infections. It says to dose every 3-4 days as long as symptons persist. It's been two days since I dosed and it doesn't appear to be making much difference. I'll continue on and hope for the best.

[ddavis1979]

I think this is a large reason that the fish-less cycle is recommended. Your full focus needs to be on getting the tank cycled.

When you have the small bio load of a few fish paired with the stress the fish are going through with an uncycled tank and then chemically treating the tank and doing water changes to try to save the fish, then the cycle really has a hard time completing. If you are treating bacteria or fungus with a chemical product, then you could be hurting your cycle, and if you have charcoal in your filter, then putting the chemical in there is useless to begin with.

Some people may disagree with me, but here is how I did it and it worked for me. If you insist of going with a fish-in cycle, after adding de-chlorinator (prime) then stock your tank to 60% of your final stocking goal. Add your good bacteria (full dosage) , then every few days add a 20%-25% additional dosage to your tank. Then dont mess with anything, no chemical additives, no water changes, no substrate cleaning until the cycle is complete. If you go crazy and cant resist doing a water change, MAKE SURE TO DECHLORINATE! I do a double dose of Prime, and only cyphon water off the top, dont suck up the good bacteria in your substrate, and only do about 25%.

You may lose a few fish, thats going to happen with a fish in cycle. But if you got a cheap fish from petsmart or petco, you can always take it back. I would recommend a hardy fish like danios, barbs, or larger tetras. Small cardinal and neon tetras do not work. Lamp Eye and Black Skirt Tetras do very well.

Hope this is helpful!

[imma24]

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0-5ppm

I'm medicating the tank for bacteria and particularly fungal infections. It says to dose every 3-4 days as long as symptons persist. It's been two days since I dosed and it doesn't appear to be making much difference. I'll continue on and hope for the best.

Does the medication indicate whether it might affect the biological filter? If it does, than that means you are trying to fight an illness as well as not growing any bacteria in your filter because the meds are killing everything off - hopefully that's not the case.