Brook or Ich?

[Staisman]

Please help to identify what is it?

The fish is in QT tank, developed little dots on the fins first, then it spread everywhere. Fish color is very pale and I can see blemishes on the skin.

And what actions to take? I am setting up second tank to do TTM if it's ICH, also added ICH-X to the water.

 

[microlady]

It looks like ich to me. The TTM method would probably help this fish out faster than meds.

 

[Staisman]

Here I made some better pics, now it looks like a velvet to me

 

[snorvich]

Describe fish behavior please.

 

[Staisman]

Describe fish behavior please.

Fish swims normally but has heavy breathing

 

[snorvich]

Fish swims normally but has heavy breathing

Flashing? Reclusive behavior? Hanging near water returns?

 

[Staisman]

Flashing? Reclusive behavior? Hanging near water returns?

I killed him by fresh water dip for 3 mins.

 

[snorvich]

I killed him by fresh water dip for 3 mins.

What purpose? It has no value for ich.

 

[Staisman]

I thought in case of a velvet I would do fresh water dip and moved him to another tank with fresh salt water. Well it didn't work. I always was skeptical about fw dips.

 

[Staisman]

Why people recommend this method of it kills fish?

 

[lespaul339]

Sorry for your loss. Did you make sure the temp and PH matched the tank water?

 

[microlady]

Ich can look that bad at advanced stages. He might have been a goner anyway since the tissue damage can affect osmoregulation. I'm sorry. I lost a yellow tang a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Staisman]

Sorry for your loss. Did you make sure the temp and PH matched the tank water?

I did match temp but not PH.

I feel very bad for killing him *( no more FW dips for me.

 

[snorvich]

Fresh water dips, if done properly, are excellent for diagnosis of flukes. They also provide temporary relief (but not cure) amyloodinium (velvet).

 

[tassod]

Looked like my fish recently that died...this was most likely brook and probably too far gone to save anyways. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[mattcoug]

OP - make sure you sterilize that tank and equipment.

I recommend to use this as a learning, and get yourself prepared so you can do things like formalin dips at a moment's notice. If this was brook, you could have done a formalin dip and you would see an immediate dramatic improvement. But you have to know what you are doing and be ready, own all needed supplies, etc. It is harsh, hard to do right, but does save fish lives. In my experience, a formalin dip is less stressful and more beneficial on the fish than FW dips, for everything except flukes.

 

[snorvich]

OP - make sure you sterilize that tank and equipment.

I recommend to use this as a learning, and get yourself prepared so you can do things like formalin dips at a moment's notice. If this was brook, you could have done a formalin dip and you would see an immediate dramatic improvement. But you have to know what you are doing and be ready, own all needed supplies, etc. It is harsh, hard to do right, but does save fish lives. In my experience, a formalin dip is less stressful and more beneficial on the fish than FW dips, for everything except flukes.

I agree. Hence the modified tank transfer protocol which uses a formalin dip in between cycles.

 

[Staisman]

Do you think fish had it hidden inside and something triggered it? Fish was in a 10g QT for 2 weeks, I had ammonia spike last week and was doing 50% water changes everyday. I have HOB filter rated for 50g and air stone. I Noticed some white spots on the fins two days ago.

 

[lifeoffaith]

Tangs are notorious for Ich. It did likely have it, and the stress of the ammonia and what I personally would consider a small QT tank for a tang, brought it out.

 

[mattcoug]

Fish often have only a few parasites when you buy them, but when put into this condition(small tank, water quality issues), the parasite population will exponentially grow. Every 4-7 days, ich population can multiply by 256. So in two weeks, for each single parasite the fish brought in, you now have a potential of 65,536-16,777,216 parasite babies feeding on your fish.

Of course not every parasite baby survives to eat the fish, and a healthy fish has an immune response to kill more. But a small tank means the parasite babies don't die in the empty open ocean, they will mostly all hit their target, and with bad water quality, the fish's immune response is lowered.

-Matt