Can Copepods look like Ich?

[fuzzygroove]

Uh Oh. I just noticed little white spots on my poor tang. It looks like she might have the Ich, but I've been reading up on something that makes me want to ask for your help to be sure.

There's little white spots showing up on her fins and body. I've read up on ich and the consensus seems to be a QT tank for ALL fish (w/ symptoms or not) and hyposalination. Leaving the display tank w/o fish for 6 weeks so the bastards can die. I'm getting the quarantine tank ready now, but in the meantime I just want to see if it might be something else.

I ask because I've been adding copepods to the tank to feed my mandarin for a while now, and I've heard that there are some parasitic copepods that will attach to fish. Recently the tank has had a lot of particulate floating around even while the skimmer is running.

Is there anything else I should look for before putting my fish through 6 weeks of quarantine?

I have:
55 gallon corner reef tank w/
- cleanup crew (1 camel shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, hermits, snails)
- mandarin dragonfish (goby)
- maroon clown (no white spots)
- sohal tang (2 weeks new to the tank - eating nori and pellets, about 4". I think I might have brought the ich home w/ her)
- live rock, sand and SPS/LPS

I'll try to grab a picture but I haven't been able to get a clear shot of the white spots yet.

Could it be anything else?

 

[RicksReefs]

copepods don't attach to fish and parasitic isopods are much, much larger (1/4" or so).

your probably right in that the sohal brought the ich in with it and it's also likely that it will continue to be stressed out in your sized tank and give you constant problems.
and I doubt a mandarin will survive 6 weeks in a bare, no prey tank.

good luck though.