A Question About Ich

[goat585]

I have two tangs in a quarantine tank that I have been treating for ich. I have been using hyposalinity method and it seemed to rid the fish of the ich. On one of the tangs throughout the treatment period it had one larger size white dot that will not go away. It is about the size of a pen tip. It is in the same spot and never did go away. In the last 2 weeks both of the tangs have these large dots all over them and the tank is still in hyposaline conditions. I have a couple of clownfish in with them and there is nothing on the clownfish.

Is this a different form of ich(hypo resistant variety) or some other parasite?
Do I need to treat with copper or try some other method?
The fish are eating well and are active.

Thanks for the help

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Is your SG at 1.009? Are you using a refractometer? Yes, it could be something else, a type of fluke or Copepod but they should have diminished in numbers with the Hypo. Could be Lymphocystis. I would not add copper at this point.. If the fish are eating and behaving normal, just continue on with the hypo..You could maybe add an antibiotic, secondary infections often accompany ich.

 

[goat585]

The tank is at 1.009 and has been for 5 weeks. I am using a refractometer. What is Lymphocystis? The one dot has been there since the begining of treatment and has not gone away. Now there are more. I don't think that this is the usual variety of ich

Thanks

Tom

 

[Rondelet]

Can you post a picture? If the spots are larger than Cyrtocaryon cysts and, more importantly, stay in the same place for a long time (which means they are not falling off), my guess is they may be Lymphocystis lesions. Lymphocystis is a virus and is quite common in marine fish, and mostly brought on by stress. Often you will see it with new introductions, and then when fish settle down is often resolves on its own. As it's caused by a virus there is not much you can do, except reduce stress. If this is in fact lymphocystis, my guess is that the tangs are being stressed from the hypo treatment resulting in the outbreak of lesions.

 

[goat585]

Thanks for the information. I have unfortunately dealt with ich a couple of times and this does not look like it. I am going to post a picture Tonight.

Thanks for the Help.

 

[goat585]

I put a couple of pictures in my gallery. They are not the best quality but hopefully they will help.

Thanks

Tom

 

[Rondelet]

Tom,

Nice try but, unfortunately, no cigar...The pictures are too blurry to tell much. Did you use a flash? Doing so can sometimes help to freeze the image. I might suggest that you take a very close look at your fish and then do some searching/reading online about lymphocystis as there is a lot of information which should help you to come up with a differential diagnosis (aka best guess).

 

[goat585]

I will try again tonight and see if I can't get a better picture. I have not yet been able to master the art of picture taking. I am in the process of raising the salinity of the tank and treating this as it is lymphocystis for now. I should find out pretty quickly if it is ich once the salinty is back to normal. From everything that I have read online I think that it is lymphocystis.

Thanks for the help