My GF brought 3 guppies home from PetsMart & put them in her 55 community tank (some guppies, various tetras, gentle 3 spot gourami, dalmatian molly, 2 long fin brown BN plecos, 3 L144's) after quarantining them for 2 weeks (no dips or baths, just observation).
Her tank broke out in what looked like Ich. using Kordon's Ich-Attack (double dose) & raising her temp to 80 for a week, only helped briefly, but they continued to get worse. the white spots got fuzzy & bigger & evenly peppered a couple of the weaker fish. on them (guppies & a neon tetra) some spots merged with other white spots (definitely fungal looking). she did a dose of triple sulfa, discontinued the Ich attack & switched to Pimafix after going back to Pets-mart & finding out they had an Ich & fungal outbreak there. oh, and i dropped a crushed clove of Garlic in. she lost 2 of the L144's, a neon tetra, & a guppy (the guppy had a chunk of flesh rot & fall off its back & it died... Columnaris?). as of now, a guppy has a couple small patches left, and the rest cleared up 3-4 days after switching to Pimafix. the guppies got a saltwater dip (1tbsp/gal). the gourami & molly didn't get spots, and the longfin bushynose plecos got a few spots that cleared up quickly.
A few days before all that started, my tank's heater was unplugged for 3 days before i caught it (room temp is 70F). over a week later, a few days into the Ich mishap, I noticed my L144s were evenly peppered with small spots that i assumed was Ich, but it looked more orange. I started raising the temp, and was about to do an all-out Ich war, when i got the news of the fungal warning from PetsMart, and did Pimafix instead, & kept temp at 81, looking carefully to see if it's ich or not. [Edit] during treatment, the plecos started hanging out near the surface and occasionally going up for air. I added a 2nd AC70 filter and an airstone. 3/4 of my L144s have died & the 2 calico BN's are completely covered in the stuff, worse than the L144's were.
1. Water parameters
a) Temp: 78F(25.5C) normally. raised to 81F (27C) preparing to fight Ich
b) pH: 7.6-7.8
c) GH: hard water (i'll update soon)
d) KH: hard water (i'll update soon)
e)Ammonia: 0.25ppm, Nitrate: 30-40, Nitrite: .
f) Water change frequency: 25% weekly
2. Tank set up
a) Size: 85 US Gal (48x18x22 inch)
b) Substrate: 2.5 inches of pool filter sand, a bit of crushed coral
c) Filtration: 1 AquaClear AC70, filled with sponges
d) Furnishings: 20 inches total length of bulky mopani driftwood, coliseum decorations.
e) Tank Inhabitants: 22 young , 3 juvenile yellow mbuna hybrids, 2 juvenile yoyo loaches, 3 Common , 2 calico , 1 , 1 young
f) How long has it been set-up: about 1 year
g) When was the last new fish added: 3 months ago
h) Foods used and frequency: algae wafers & pellets every 2-3 days (enough to nibble on for a full day), a little generic flake 2-3 days, cucumber/courgette slices every other week, and the occasional nibble of New Life Spectrum.
3. Symptoms / Problem description: fungal looking spots all over the L144's and the calico bristlenoses. the brown BNs have a couple spots, and the non-ancistrus seem to be untouched. one electric yellow mbuna lost a large chunk of skin off its forehead. several plecos are getting a bit of fin rot.
4. Action taken: increase temp, saltwater dip (30 seconds 1 tbsp/gal), triple sulfa, pimafix.
