I started off with 10 Harley Quinn Rasboras. About half have died over the course of a month. I started treating for ich by raising tank temp to 82 and adding aquarium salt. I bought ich x and treated for a week. Seemed to look better after the first dose, but continued to have spots. Switched tactics to treat for epistylis (dots weren’t flat and seem to protrude from fish having a fuzzy looking texture). So I then bought kanaplex and dosed the tank directly in the water. Turned the temperature down to 75 degrees. I have dosed the tank twice and the last dose will be tomorrow at 2pm. It says to dose no more than 3 times. What should I do? The guppies have shown some flashing but show no visible signs of the disease yet. I am at a loss as to what to do. I’m about to give up and quit all together 😭
Water parameters are good. TIA!
Posted by Slow-Worry-6112
4 Comments
This sounds more like epistylis/bacterial, not ich (raised/fuzzy spots). The issue now is treatment stacking, you’ve used heat, salt, ich meds, and antibiotics.
That stress can kill fish faster than the disease.
Pick one path and stick to it: continue Kanaplex, keep temp 75–77, add aeration, and do frequent water changes.
Don’t go back to ich treatment, heat can make this worse.
Also vacuum the substrate, this type of issue is often tied to a high bacterial load even if parameters look good
The guppy flashing is likely stress from everything going on?
Good luck to you!
I think you’re on the right track treating with kanaplex. Maybe wait till your last dose and see if things start improving? Is there a reason for turning the temperature so low. I think tropical fish usually prefer 78 degrees or higher. Hope you get some help I know how disappointing it can be when you try to do everything right and you still lose fish!
These fish might not have ich, but what is known as “stress ich”. Think about it like breaking out in pimples vs a dermatological issue. If your tank has real ich, it would spread to all the fish fairly quickly and you would see dozens of spots, not less than a few (5-10) on all fish.
I’ve found new fish (especially rasboras/danios) often get “stress ich” when being added to a new tank.
The fact their flashing according to you makes me think something more along the lines of Gill flukes. I had this when I added loaches to my tank from a big box store. I treated with a prazi-met medication and they stopped flashing within a couple days.
Given you’ve treated for ich and had no results, id recommended treating for Gill flukes. They’re similar to lice and very common among fish sold in bulk. Flashing is a common symptom.
I was told by the pet store that these fish were hardier. I have also lost quite a few in the beginning of my fish journey. Apparently they are very sensitive to the smallest changes. Won’t be getting more of them.