I think I may have ICH

Is 80 degrees and salt enough or do I need to go buy something OTC?

I only see two spots on one fish, but it's something.

I'd prefer not to kill all of my plants or the bacteria I have in my media...

First, I would try to confirm that it is ich. If it is, 80 degrees is not enough. You should keep your tank at 87 degrees for two full weeks. You can skip the salt, as it isn't needed.

edit: also want to mention that it's not like going up to 80 degrees from 76 is half as good as going up to 87 either. You have to go all the way. Raising the temperature up but not to 87 won't do you much good. Another thing not to do is see the visible symptoms of ich go away and then lower the temp back down before two full weeks is up. Keep it at 87 for the full two weeks, even if visible signs of ich go away after a week.

Be sure to have a very accurate thermometer or at least have two cheap thermometers. Be very careful when raising the temperature slowly. I find that many types of fish die once exposed to 90 degrees or higher. Remember that warmer water holds much less oxygen than cooler water. Try adding an airstone or bubble wand to uncrease flow and oxygenation. If the fish start swimming to the surface or look like they are gasping/breathing fast, then they might die due to lack of oxygen or exhaustion.

Unless the fins are clamped down and the fish is acting weird, it might not be ich. Small injuries often lead to fungal or bacterial infections. Those are easy to treat with no worry about loosing plants or benificial bacteria.

The tank is currently right at 80 with two heaters going. I keep my house fairly cool, so it's work to keep the water 20 degrees higher than room temperature.

I looked this morning and I see spots on three of my fish. One leaf fish on his head and one fin, just a spot overnight on a neon tetra on dorsal fin, and a few spots on one of my corys. None of the fish seem to be acting odd or hurting.

I may need to get a third heater if I'm going to try to raise the temp to 87 degrees. If I took some of my plants out and the media out, could I just use otc to kill whatever it is? Or would putting the media and plants back in just re-introduce the problem?

If you take out the media and plants out for three weeks, then it will be safe to put them back in. If ich doesn't find a host right after hatching they die. Life cycle is usually two weeks in warm water and possibly up to four weeks in chilly water. Three weeks should be good at room temperature. If you can pull out the plants I'd do the same thing and treat the fish quickly since its spreading. You won't have much time before the fish get weak. Once they get weak and stressed, they sometimes don't survive the treatment process.

well crap.

which product should I choose?

I recommend just using the 87 degrees method. You have to make sure you stay right at 87 (too low and the ich won't die, too high and your fish will die), but it is the most guaranteed way of doing it. Make sure it's ich though. You should see very small, white spots on your fish. Larger spots are not ich.

I've tried to get a good picture but have been unsuccessful thus far. I just finished a little over a 50% water change and took the carbon out of my canister filter after being sold Ich Attack. I've got a ton of surface agitation going and both heaters on full blast.

I have no idea if it's ich or not. I have not a trained eye. I did some work and rustled out my large leaf fish and he still has a few spots. He hides most of the time and I don't see any spots on the females. I don't really see any spots on the rest of the fish. I thought I saw one on the dorsal fin of a tetra this morning but when I looked this evening I didn't see one with the spot -- or he could have been eaten during the day and is therefore absentee. My cory fish stay at the back as well and everyone's swimming around so frantically at this point a picture is out of the question.

I was about to type that I don't see any of them rubbing on the substrate when I glanced up and saw one of the cichlids doing it... So what do you think? Temp/this Ich Attack stuff? Both? Neither?

Definitely not both. Do one or the other. And if you can't take a pic, look at pics of ich on fish online, and compare them to what your fish have.

When I look online it seems the fish have a dusted or crystalized look to them. I'm not seeing that at all.

After over 12 hours at work and doing aquarium/bird stuff for over three hours I've got to get some beauty rest before starting it all over again. I'll worry about it again tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.

COCOBIRD wrote:When I look online it seems the fish have a dusted or crystalized look to them. I'm not seeing that at all.

After over 12 hours at work and doing aquarium/bird stuff for over three hours I've got to get some beauty rest before starting it all over again. I'll worry about it again tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.

most of those cases you see online are seviour cases of Ick, but normally when it starts you only see a few here and there. I would go with VeSSe's idea and do the 87F for 2 weeks. If not, I have found that ParaGaurd by SeaChem works excellent IMO. Now if you have no inverts in your tank a medication with copper will work great against Ick, but I would use this as a last resort as copper is a harsh mineral on fish! Also I use a dog de-wormer called fenbendazole that does wonders on Ick, doesn't effect bio, and is safe enough for scaleless/sensitive fish/inverts, highly recommended! Good luck to you, but if you can cure it without chemicals, I would go that route first.

Update:

I have not administered any chemicals into the tank.

This morning I was able to carefully examine my large leaf fish--zero spots. He does now seem to have a bloated stomach??? All three of the leaf fish were hanging out together in the corner, which is odd.

Do not see any spots on any of the fish. Hadn't raised the temp to 87 yet, so can't attribute it there.

The cichlid is still rubbing on the sand, but upon closer inspection, he seems to be digging a hole underneath a piece of driftwood. Is that normal? I was able to look at the leaf fish because they were laying and fanning in this same hole.

Water parameters?

Driftwood will be counterproductive to the health of your African(s). Yes, it's normal for mbuna to dig under objects.