Does my fish have ick?

[coolcomfort]

Your guys responses have really helped me out. I'm not certain it's ich. I'm not too worried about the white spot on his nose. I'm more worried about the white spots on the fin. Not sure what those are.

Here is an updated video. It's really hard to get a perfect video of him, he's very active and appears to be healthy. Please reply with what you can and your thoughts. Thank you.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Still cannot see enough. A close up still picture will likely be of more value.

If it is ich then the dark skinned fish will look like someone sprinkled salt on it. You will just have to wait a few days. Ich is very treatable and not something to panic over. Now that you are watching you can catch it early. Just be patient.

Again consider a quarantine yank for all new fish.

 

[coolcomfort]

Hello; Still cannot see enough. A close up still picture will likely be of more value.

If it is ich then the dark skinned fish will look like someone sprinkled salt on it. You will just have to wait a few days. Ich is very treatable and not something to panic over. Now that you are watching you can catch it early. Just be patient.

Again consider a quarantine yank for all new fish.

The fish are minnows I use as food for my gulper. The only fish in this tank I care about is the gulper. I just bought a heater, and if it looks to get worse i'll be applying heat. The tank is usually hot already, around 75-80 because I live in Texas.

 

[duanes]

Minnows are notorious disease and parasite carriers, so the spots and white on the nose could be a combination of diseases or parasites brought in by them, and transferred to the cat.
If you are going to continue feeding minnows, a quarantine tank where they could be held and prophylactically treated would be a good idea.
In nature one parasite on a fish is an irritant, in the confines of a tank, with constant reinfection, one parasite can easily become an epidemic.

 

[coolcomfort]

Minnows are notorious disease and parasite carriers, so the spots and white on the nose could be a combination of diseases or parasites brought in by them, and transferred to the cat.
If you are going to continue feeding minnows, a quarantine tank where they could be held and prophylactically treated would be a good idea.
In nature one parasite on a fish is an irritant, in the confines of a tank, with constant reinfection, one parasite can easily become an epidemic.

It's hard to get my gulper to eat anything other than minnows. Can I buy frozen dead minnows somewhere?

 

[white specter crayfish]

It's hard to get my gulper to eat anything other than minnows. Can I buy frozen dead minnows somewhere?

just get the minnows and freeze them, you could also try shrimp or some other frozen food tied to a string

 

[coolcomfort]

Thank you for all your responses! Really comforting to know that people out there really care about others fish.

I have made the conclusion that it probably isn't ick. He still has the 2-3 white spots, but they don't seem to be growing or getting worse. Does anyone suggest me getting rid of them? Or should I just keep things the way they are?

I really hope this fish lives but I won't get too attached because I know how the fish game works. Will wait a couple more months before I get a more attached feeling.

 

[coolcomfort]

Here is a closer video I managed to get of the side. Spots are very small, almost impossible to see. He ate another fish today, not sure if fish are going to eat when they are sick or not.

Offside question, if I freeze my minnows does that prevent diseases when using them to feed?

 

[kno4te]

Doesn’t look or sound like as it’s not spreading and multiplying. Would just watch and not treat. Spots are over the gill plate too. Gulpers have sensitive skin. Would add some tannins to the tank as the gulpers skin is a bit irritated and like from stress.

Freezing minnows would help to reduce chance of pathogens surviving to infect the gulper. Still think if u starve it a few days it should take some pellets and frozen fish.

 

[skjl47]

if I freeze my minnows does that prevent diseases when using them to feed?

Hello; there was some discussion about feeding frozen fish a bit ago. Seems at least one forum member thinks it depends on how cold your freezer actually gets.
I do not recall what the cold temp threshold for killing parasites and disease was suggested to be but think it was at or near 0 degrees F. Not just cold enough to freeze water at 32 degrees F.
You might want to do some independent research.