Trouble In Fishy Paradise

After about a year and a half of fish keeping, it had to happen eventually. But there's something wrong in my larger fish tank.

I noticed about a week or two ago that my bleeding heart tetras weren't eating, or were eating very little. I had initially attributed this to the fact that they were restless due to me removing one of their decorations that they hide under (It had served it's useful life and was just totally falling apart). Then I replaced that but still no change, making me think it was food related. But I tried a couple different types of food and still nothing.

A couple days ago, I noticed that one of my tetras was totally gone. I only seemed to have 4 left. I started to suspect that the real culprit was a diseas. Probably Ich, although they weren't breaking out with the telltale spots. They did seem like they were losing their apetite and breathing more heavily than they had in the past.

Then I came home last night to discover that one of my tetras was swimming aimlessly at the top of the tank, it's skin covered in what I think are white spots. So I think Ich is pretty much confirmed here. The little guy is probably going to die as there isn't much I can do to help him now…but I've started treating the tank for Ich in an effort to attempt to save the rest of the fish. Hopefully it really is Ich because it loosks like he's got a fungal infection too, which could be the main cause of the problem or it could be just a secondary effect due to how weak he is.

Only thing I can do is just sit and wait it out, really. Hopefully most of them make it through ok. This being my first fish emergency and all. I want to do what I can to save them, but I also don't want to over medicate because that will make the problem worse.

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