# small white zits on my piranha ?



## axl49 (Feb 23, 2003)

hello, i have 4 redbelly piranha that were recently moved into an 86g tank. 4-5 days ago. The piranhas now have what looks like small white zits growing on them. You see this on some of the gold fish sometimes, i have no idea what it is, but i'm guessing some type of disease. I never feed my p's fish with these on them. However now my piranha have them, where did they come from?? and why ? It also looks like the skin is pealing off of one piranha, is this a disease too??

is it the end of my piranhas ???????????

hope not!!

troy


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## RhomZilla (Feb 12, 2003)

Sounds like your Ps are begining to have ICK.

Check out past posts on this subject in *Parasite and Disease Forum*


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

ick it is..they probably got stressed out with the move


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## piranha 13 (Feb 16, 2003)

yea they have ick look in the disease forum for help on it.


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## RHOMKILLA (Feb 22, 2003)

I agree with everyone else. Definetely ICK, so treat it ASAP before it kills them. ICK is one of the most common forms of fish diseases. You might want to raise the temp. to about 84-85 deg. add some aquarium salt and get some medication at your LFS.


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## DiXoN (Jan 31, 2003)

yep do exactly what rhomkilla advised this will get red of ick but treat it fast as it can kill
dixon


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## bozley (Mar 12, 2003)

ICK. Only thing I can add is to make sure you get the right kind of ICK guard....they make it for scaled and scaless fish. I had a couple get ICK a while back, along with a pleco during a tank change where I had too much of a water temp change. Used cold for 1/2 while adding hot...live and learn.


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## pcrose (Mar 9, 2003)

Hope you treat your fish and it works so they can demonstrate their beauty once again.


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## WebHostExpert (Jan 16, 2003)

ICK guard works wonders, don't overdose. It will turn the water blue so dont get skeerd.
MAD


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## Netmancer (Mar 10, 2003)

Also you may consider using Maracide for the ick. Most ick treatments require you to remove your carbon from your filter and do water changes while using them, but Maracide does not require any changes in temp, filtration PH, or even water changes for that matter as long as all of your readings are acceptable and nothing is off the wall (eg. high ammonia). Just add one drop per gallon to your tank once a day for 5 days even if the visible signs disappear. Then after that you can do a water change to get rid of some of the green that is put in the water from the medication. Just be careful not to overdose with this stuff though. It contains copper with is poisonous to most species of fish and known to cause cancer in the state of California (says so right on the label). But I suppose if you don't live in Cali, you don't have to worry about cancer.









Good Luck,
Greg


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## rosecityrhom (Feb 3, 2003)

I've never heard or seen Maracide...I guess I'll have to look more carefully around my lfs and get some for just in case. I don't plan on them getting ick but you never know.


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## Netmancer (Mar 10, 2003)

Also after the ick is cured, you may want to consider some anti-biotics such as tetracycline in order to prevent secondary bacterial infections. The way ick works is it buries itself in the skin of your fish, leaving a "pock-mark" so to speak. This pit may get infected, so another good thing to treat with would be MelaFix in order to promote fast healing. Damn, I feel like my new home should be the Disease and Parasite section. Maybe I'll go check that out now. Knowledge comes from experiance and I've been breeding betta splendens for years now, and we all know how sick those poor cup-housed creatures are. Sucks they have to go through that and all, but since dealing with them I have damn near every fish medication out there.


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

It does sound like ick, except for the peeling skin part, which also makes me think of slime desiese (possably a second infection?)
Ick or whitespot looks like little sugar grains over the fish, if you go into any poor local fish shop you will see this desiese on many of their fish.
If this is what you have got, I would suggest that you add some aquarium salt (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons assuming you don't have any in your tank already)
also I would medicate as this desiese is easily killed off with medicines.
The only worry I have is for the "peeling skin" which to me sounds like slime, which in my experiance is much worse than ick, if you can diagnosis it as slime you will need to medicate for this over ick, slime looks like an extra coat of gray slime which covers the piranha, sometimes in patches, it will blister up and even pop, to reveal the bare side of the fish where its scales used to be - it looks horrable, and can be deadly, if this sounds like whay you have, you should medicate with a slime medicine ASAP, raise the temp to help kill off the ick and add salt to also help against the ick, but also to help heal any wounds sustained from the slime illness, if that is in fact what is wrong.

Any pics you can provide would be a good help for the diagnosis of your fish.

Innes


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

Also, check your water parameters to make sure that is in line. Let us know how it works out please.

_Moved to Disease Discussion_


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

Xenon said:


> Also, check your water parameters to make sure that is in line. Let us know how it works out please.
> 
> _Moved to Disease Discussion_


 Good point Xenon, check out the pH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, also a water chang is probbably a good idea.


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## Show_Me_The_Teeth (Dec 4, 2002)

ICH happens from the fish being stressed out. Always half dose meds with piranhas. Piranhas are scaleless fish and also resideinthe tetra famliy will we all know on every med box says to be careful with dosing. Most meds do not evaperate so you must do a water change after each treatment before the next. You do not want to overdose with piranhas. I would never turn my tank up past 84. 85 can kill your piranhas and fungus grows every quickly at this temp. To aviod future ich problems I suggest when doing water changes the water going back in the tank is the same temp as the tank. If you add cold water in the tank you will stress them out, their slime coat starts to come off, and ich is able to attach itself to the fish.

Ich meds- kill the parasites.
Salt- Keeps fungus down and makes the fish breathe hard to get more oxygen in their bodies.
Temp- Speeds up ich's growth rate so it will fall off the fish.

Remember ich is in all our tanks. If your fish is not stressed it will not attach.

SMTT


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## RedDragonFish (Mar 19, 2003)

Or u could possibly add aquarium salt and up the temp to 82-85 and keep tank covered with a blanket let no light get through to ur tank i use this methode to rid my arow and catfish of ick due to they r very sensitive to medications takes awhile longer but is a more natural way of riding ur fish of disease.


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## SnowCichlid. (Jan 10, 2003)

Thank goodness ich is one the easiet diseases to detect and to treat... if you buy the neds they are also the cheapest as well if you choose to go that route


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## nyquil (Mar 29, 2003)

i have two questions, cause my p's just got ick also.

how long does it take for the ick treatment to work? (i bought Ick Clear)
do i just add the normal amount of aquarium salt? (1 teaspoon per 5 gallon)


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

nyquil said:


> i have two questions, cause my p's just got ick also.
> 
> how long does it take for the ick treatment to work? (i bought Ick Clear)
> do i just add the normal amount of aquarium salt? (1 teaspoon per 5 gallon)


 after a few days you should see improvement, and yes 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons (assuming you don't already have salt in your tank)


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## nyquil (Mar 29, 2003)

thanks. how long do i have to keep the carbon out of the filter for?


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

forever







.........or if you want to keep it, you can replace it after you stop medicating or the problem has been cured


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## nyquil (Mar 29, 2003)

i noticed that my oscar is breathing really fast, and the p's are breathing faster than usual. i just did a water change yesterday, and i syphoned the gravel, and they might have been stressed. but does ich make the fish breathe fast?


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

add bubbles & surface movement to your tank - either via an airstone, or a filter and the fish will slow down their breathing


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## nyquil (Mar 29, 2003)

would surface agitation be sufficient? i took out the carbon to medicate the p's, but i dont think that affects the oxygenation. i have a penguin 330 (something like that) bio-wheel, so it should be getting enough oxygen. i'll try lowering the water level a little bit.

does ich affect the piranhas behavior and movement?


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

they may filck and rub, but the easyest way to diagnose is suger grain sized dots on the fish.

however none of these symptems are guarenteed

a handy white spot link


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## nyquil (Mar 29, 2003)

thx. british people are so helpful, jeebus


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