Rookie Mistake - Help?

[Heck]

Wow, a lot happened since I had been here. Very sorry to hear of the losses. I need to find time to read the posts carefully before I'd attempt to say something half meaningful. Just a few knee jerks:

What's an ich lesion? Ich starts out and remain looking pretty easy to ID to a naked eye. I associate lesions with a bacterial infection, which may occur secondary to ich, after ich has been observed for a while.

Is your pH stable? What is your KH carbonate hardness, which buffers the pH from sudden and big swings?

Has the start of trouble coincided not only with the pictus, but with the introduction of that unknown driftwood centerpiece?

In mammals, at least, lesion usually means visible disruption/injury to tissue - booboos. I guess I should have said spots. Or dots. I have been using the microscope just to... idk, grasping at straws, I guess.

I have not been monitoring pH or hardness. I misplaced my hot tub test strips (which is a problem for the horses, too, as it's close to Banksy's turn and I need to be checking her milk - new ones are on the way). I have plain old litmus paper in the barn, and I'll check pH with those, but I find the hot tub strips to be more accurate.

The trouble started with the pictus, I think - it was over 2 weeks between the addition of the driftwood and the onset of symptoms, and the pictus were flashing when they arrived - I just didn't recognize that as a sign of trouble.

I'm fairly sure that the driftwood isn't causing trouble, because I put a chunk of it in the Carrot Box on the same day, and the other fish (now up to 7 synodontis nigriventris, 4 hara jerdoni, 8 celestial pearl danios, and 2 scarlet badis) are all doing fine.

 

[Heck]

Back when I was younger in my HS/early college years I had a lot of free time to browser and study up on fish keeping and be very meticulous on how I raised my fish. Of course I don't remember the size of of every microorganism at the top of my head, especially the size of an ich theront, but I do know the general basics of microbiology and more specifically I recall the general information of beneficial and non-beneficial lifeforms. Thus, while I might not remember/know the specifics of what I'm seeing at the top of my head I remember the general tree of life for common freshwater microorganisms which allows me to narrow my online searches.

I'm unsure of what species this is in the 1st video but it looks to be some sort of euglenoid based on movement, shape, and color; maybe a species within the genus Euglena sp?

The 2nd video shows I believe another euglenoid and I believe a large green algae probably within the genus of Volvox sp.

The 3rd and 4th video (I believe a repeat) is hard to identify. It looks like a fluke but the tell-tale markers are not obvious. The shape is reminescent of a leech but there are no microscopic "leech" (in terms microscopic worms in how we view the word in the macro sense) AFAIK. All I can say for certain is that it's a type of microscopic worm but I would need better footage to make a more accurate guess.

Do note that while viewing the microworld is fun and frustrating it is very challenging to ID species 100% without easy access to DNA squencers. Even all my guesses are at best 70-90% as many organisms look and behave very similar (to an untrained eye) under most microscope. You need very expensive equipment and reagents/dyes to get the best quality videos and even then there are a vast number of look alike species. It's best to use it as a tool for confirmation outside of making microbology a hobby.

I am incredibly impressed with your knowledge and grateful for your help. I've always really enjoyed microscopy - really any tools that allow a deeper look like that. There was a time when I really wanted to be a radiologist - seeing inside things is fun. And I'm *this close* to pulling the trigger on buying an ultrasound.

But other than confirming that the Crime Fish actually did have ich, I don't think I'll get deep enough into it to do much with the microscope beyond having the occasional look and going "ew icky."