[kris_leonardi]

I have had ich in one of my smaller tanks before from what I believe is because I over fed it. But I've been paying close attention with my 20 gallon to make sure there is no over feeding. There is actually, from what I can see, no left over food on the gravel at all. My question is, what could be another cause of ich other then over feeding because I have no clue how my fish stumbled upon it. Also, only 3 of my cardinal tetras have it, none of my glow fish or dwarf gouarmies have any signs of it,(knock on wood!) All responses are appreciated.

 

[phil_pl]

The ich parasite is carried by all fish, it attaches to the gills and falls away from the fish when the fish becomes stressed.
It then falls to the gravel, incubates for a few days and becomes free floating. This is when it attaches to the fish and appears as the white specs we see. The problem is by the time we can see the ich on the fish this means that thousands of the spores have attached to the fish.

The only problem is most of the time we don't know what caused the initial stress. In your case my guess would be (based on what you said) that overfeeding caused a spike in ammonia and this led to the stressing of your fish and ultimately to the ich.

 

[susankat]

Ich can also be caused by fluctuating temps. So you need to make sure your temps are stable.

 

[phil_pl]

Ich can also be caused by fluctuating temps. So you need to make sure your temps are stable.

Absolutely!!! Changing temperatures is extremely stressful. How did i forget to say that? thanks for the save

 

[kris_leonardi]

well, I haven't changed the temperature since I've had my tank set up, and I really haven't over fed my 20 gal. So it's probably just from stress levels of some sort.
I've began treating it already and it has cleared up, all most all the way. But thanks for all your responses.

 

[Chickadee]

Ich is what they call a cool water disease and cool water is one of the major causes of the parasite settling on your fish. If the water is not kept at an optimum level of temperature and/or if it is cooled down too swiftly..i.e. sometimes when we cool the tanks during the hot weather with the ice packs, it can cause the parasite to have optimum conditions to attack the fish. I had a betta that was in a 3 gallon tank that I tried to cool off one summer and she got a horrid case of ich from my not watching how fast the temp dropped in the tank. I bumped the temp up above 82 for 2 weeks and we were home free but it was very scary at first. When you move the temperature of your tanks it should always be done slowly like one degree at a time and then wait a while before raising it further. I usually raise my 12 like a degree every other hour and my 25 one every 2 to 3 hours.

Rose

 

[kris_leonardi]

Thanks Chickadee, that sounds like the only reason why I probably have ich. I have my heater on the factory setting of 76 degrees. What would you say is a good temperature that I should slowly change it to? Is 78-79 a good temperature for the fish to live in with a lower chance of getting ich?