Is this ich?

[Kirkw12]

My Synodontis Multipunctatus has what appears to be ich. He's in a tank with African cichlids but none of them are showing any symptoms. I already lost 2 multis that had the same white dots. I just wanted to make sure that this is indeed ich and not some other sickness I'm unaware of. I'm currently treating the tank with heat and salt. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[Viktor Jarikov]

Looks like ich to me too.

Ich doesn't occur for no reason. Fish always carry ich but it is kept in check by a healthy fish's immune system. When fish is stressed, the immune system weakens, ich breaks out.

The most usual cause is ammonia and/or nitrite in the water = uncycled tank. Another common cause of stress is bullying, harassing, which your multi appears to have fallen a victim of, judging from its torn up dorsal fin. Barbels may look messed up too.

[Kirkw12]

It's strange to me. Tank is fully cycled and all parameters are looking great. I haven't noticed any bullying or harassment either. He's in with all juvenile cichlids and one pleco. Hopefully I can get him all healed and stronger than before. Thanks

[Viktor Jarikov]

There must be something that stresses your multi(s) that's worth trying to figure out, unless the ich multiplied beyond control on other fish hosts, in which case it might have not necessarily been stress.

Other stress factors can be

-- an illness (may be latent with secondary ich infestation),
-- wrong water pH, hardness, temp,
-- low dissolved oxygen
-- wrong lighting
-- insufficient hiding places
-- fighting for hiding places or for dominance, etc.
-- large fluctuations in pH, temp, etc.
-- wrong diet

Salt and temp is a good approach IMHO. So is Ridich medication based on Malachite Green and formaldehyde.

How do you measure your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

[Kirkw12]

I'm using the api drops. Things in my tank appear much better now. I did the heat and salt treatment for about 10 days. There were no visible signs of ich after about 5 days.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Excellent!

Thanks for the update.