# Problems with Ick? and pH please help fast



## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

The other day I began to notice that my pH was constantly dropping. I did a water change thinking that would help, but in the past few days my pH (which is usually a bit high, around 7.5) has dropped to 6, and now to 5.5 today. My pH is usually good so I don't check it that often, my ammonias are 0 and nitrates are 0 as well. The only reason I checked the pH was because a few days ago my male Pineapple Swordtail died. Over the previous days to his death, he seemed to be getting weaker and weaker and struggled to swim. I finally found him wrapped around my filter intake. There were no signs of dieases on him before or after his death. It was strange because all my other fish seem to be doing fine. None of them seem lazy or show any signs of stress.

Now today I was looking at my fish, and I saw that on one of my six neon tetras, there were large white spots on the red part of his tail... about two on one side and one on the other. The spots are about the size of his eyeball. My first thought was that this was ick, and I needed to treat it, but I didn't think it could be after looking at my tank data because my temperature has been constantly around 78-80 degrees. After looking at my fish my carefully I noticed on another one of the tetras that it too had these white spots, but only it was in a line down his tail almost about millimeter and a half long and another spot near the center of his body. It looks as if they are losing their red tails and its just becoming like their silver underbody.

I went out and bought both parasite meds and ick meds, pretty generic brands though. My questions is, what could be causing my pH drop, and how do I fix it. And also, what is the diease (if any) on my neon tetras, and what should I do about fixing it. 

Thanks again for all your guys help.


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## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

I am having trouble with ick right now too. I have it on one of my cories. Right now I'm using quick cure to get rid of it. It supposed to only take 2 days. All you have to do is take your carbon out and add the drops. Since you have tetras you need to add only 1 drop per 2 gallons since you have tetras instead of the regular 1 drop per gallon.
http://www.petco.com/product_info.a...+products&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&fl=0&x=wrt


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

Well I have more than just tetras in my tank... so I don't want to hurt the other fish with the medications. And I don't know if it is Ick yet, maybe the tetras are just losing their red tails to their silver bottoms.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

It sounds like your neons have neon disease. No, I didn't just make that up. Neon disease, or Pleistophora, is caused by some nasty little microsporans which find small tetras especially suitable hosts. Neons get this the worst, but it can quickly spread to other tetras in the tank. There is a distantly related organism which many other tetras carry, but it doesn't cause disease. The shiny gold color of Gold tetras, for example, is caused by these things, which is why wildcaughts are shiny but tankraised are dull.

As for a cure for this, there really isn't a good one. You can of course try things like antibiotics and acriflavine or quinine or a cocktail of these, but the spores would only be vulnerable when free-swimming, and the way they GET freeswimming is to burst out of the fish's body in the vehicle of an exploding cyst.

I've been noticing a lot of fish in stores have been having this problem lately, so I'm ready to guess that it's your trouble. The worst news is that once it gets into a tank, it's pretty hard to get rid of as long as there are any fish, especially tetras, in the tank.


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

I will try my best to get rid of the pleistophora, but are they harmful to the tetras? And will they bother any non-tetras in the tank. My neons are the only type of tetras in the aquarium. 

Also does anyone have a pH solution?

Thanks again.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Yes, they're very harmful to tetras, but usually not a problem for most other fish.
As for you pH, I have to say that I'm still trying to figure out that one. pH falls normally, but a plunge like that is just plain weird. You're not adding CO2 to the tank are you? Adding anything else? Any plants? Circulation/aeration? Is anything clogged, or rotting? Does anyone else work on this tank besides you?


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

Nope, I'm on the only one who works on this tank. The tank is heavily planted but there are only low maintence plants in there. I don't have any CO2 injections, and the only things I add now are the fish foods. The circulation and aeration have been pretty good and the current seems to be fine. I just did a full tank clean and scraped out the filter with all the gunk that was inside of it a week ago. It wasn't clogged, just needed cleaning. Other than that all I can say is my tank is running the same as it was a few months ago, I just don't understand my pH drop. I'll keep an eye on it.

Thanks.


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