Does my tailspot blenny have ich?

[JaneG]

Hello! I am making this topic just to be extra safe. I have had my tailspot blenny for 1 week in my tank. I know it is stupid of me but I did not set up a quarantine tank as I bought him from an extra reputable LFS. He was supplied from QualityMarine and given to me immediately after being shipped (right out of the bag). He hid a lot on the first day, of course, but I could see him just fine, kind of scared of the cleaner shrimp but doing OK hiding in a crevice. He was pretty skinny but has fattened up quite a bit. Anyway he didn't eat for the first 2 days or so because the jawfish's eating intimidated him I believe. He later started to graze on the algae in the tank and is now eating nori well. However, these past 2 days or so I have noticed something odd: he is (what appears to be) scratching himself or "throwing himself" (especially his sideish area) on the rocks. It's hard to describe - it's almost like he propels himself forward for the rock and ricochets off it. This happens in generally 2 places. He is doing well other than this and is becoming less and less shy every day. He is not holding his fins close to his body and is not acting lethargic, grazing a lot on the algae in the tank. He's eating better than ever and I cannot see any white spots on him nor is he going up to the surface for air. My cleaner shrimp has left him alone pretty well so I don't think he sense anything and my other fish aren't acting abnormal. Is this just a weird tick or should I take him out and treat him for ich?

Edit: I've been watching the tank and my jawfish went out of his burrow and hit the sand (which has crushed coral so it is scratchy) aswell!?!?! He's still acting the same other than this but now I'm quite freaked out

I just fed and he was just as hungry (even trying to bite the end of the eyedropper for food asap) and active as always.

Edit edit: The jawfish hasn't done it again and is displaying his normal behavior. Am I paranoid or is this a real threat? Everyone is eating well... and I cant find any spots. ><

 

[JaneG]

Bump! I know it hasn't been a long time but I'm really worried and want to start treatment asap if I need to. :sad2: Any help is REALLY appreciated

 

[JaneG]

Im thinking of setting up a 5 gallon QT tank as I have heard that ich isn't as contagious until white spots appear. I would only move the tailspot...Is it ich? Am I too late? Id like some input before I do this. Thanks all. I've done another 10% water change.

 

[JaneG]

I'm sorry I keep posting but I just feel kind of frantic about this. This is my first tank and I don't want to screw things up - and I feel attached to this fish and don't want to kill him! Could it be flukes or something else? Should I try to do a FW dip?! :sad1:

 

[JaneG]

I know how horrible this is in a nano but I have a plan of action and I would like some input on it. I will be feeding vegetables and mysis soaked in garlic juice (from chopped garlic). I plan on feeding a variety of foods for the fish twice a day. I'm going to do water changes 10% daily as well for water quality and in case anything else happens. I just fed twice for today (half hour intervals) and he as well as everyone else ate very well. He ate mysis for the first time, too, which I guess is a good sign. Thus far he has only eaten chopped nori. If that fails and he starts to show progressive symptoms, I am going to put the fish in quarantine and treat with copper or hyposalinity. I will then upgrade everyone to a larger tank that I was planning on getting anyway. Thoughts? I am still considering a fw dip but I would prefer not to. He is still scratching. Sorry for all the posts - I just have no idea how urgent this is...

 

[cougaran]

Moving to a qt wouldnt be a bad idea, but just remember that whatever he had your tank most likely has, I dont know what size or how many fish you have in main. QT/hospital tank is still a good idea, but you will have to leave your main free of fish for 8 weeks to insure that all fish parasites are gone... You can go with a fw dip or formaline dip on the transfer from main to qt. FW make sure 3 to 4 min w/ PH match and temp match. You can also do a fw bath on its own for temporary relief for the fish and possibly delay the diseases onset if you dont have an available QT. In QT its up to you for hypo or cupramine. Cupramine has its good and bad and so does hypo. Without any visible signs, except scratching, it can be hard to diagnose, which may make cupramine a better choice. Then again cupramine can be hard on sensitive fish, which im not sure of without researching.

 

[JaneG]

Moving to a qt wouldnt be a bad idea, but just remember that whatever he had your tank most likely has, I dont know what size or how many fish you have in main. QT/hospital tank is still a good idea, but you will have to leave your main free of fish for 8 weeks to insure that all fish parasites are gone... You can go with a fw dip or formaline dip on the transfer from main to qt. FW make sure 3 to 4 min w/ PH match and temp match. You can also do a fw bath on its own for temporary relief for the fish and possibly delay the diseases onset if you dont have an available QT. In QT its up to you for hypo or cupramine. Cupramine has its good and bad and so does hypo. Without any visible signs, except scratching, it can be hard to diagnose, which may make cupramine a better choice. Then again cupramine can be hard on sensitive fish, which im not sure of without researching.

Thank you for the response! I am having a hard time to pick whether to move or not and to dip or not. If I dip him and it is something like flukes, I'm pretty much cured! But if it's not, I stressed him out and will make the ich or whatever else probably worse.

Do you think what I am doing is fine - just keeping him in and feeding 2x a day w/ garlic and with daily water changes? I do not have a QT tank set up but I could set one up probably pretty fast. I just turned off the tank light and he swam to his regular sleeping spot.
I received him straight from the bag from QualityMarine and decided to also ask what they think I should do or if they have any idea with, considering the species, what it could be.

Thanks again!!

 

[jhentr]

I would leave and monitor for a few more days. The important thing is that they have a great appetite so that'll help them fight off whatever it is.

I like to see more conclusive signs before taking them out because sometimes that stress more than it helps. If not spots/ich develops in the next few days, I would FW dip to see for flukes and put back into tank if they continue to scratch.

Good luck.

 

[steelhead77]

I know it's really hard, but calm down. DO NOT treat or remove your fish at this time. Nothing in your numerous posts describe Ich. Sometimes fish just flash around. Maybe they like it, maybe he's exhibiting dominance, who knows. Leave it alone for a few days and see what happens. IMO, I think you nailed it in your first post: you're a newbie and are just being paranoid. The best advice at this point is to relax. Keep your hands out of the tank and just watch him and see how he does over the next few days. As long as he is swimming and eating, he will probably be just fine. If things go south, you can always pull him and treat at that point.

 

[JaneG]

I know it's really hard, but calm down. DO NOT treat or remove your fish at this time. Nothing in your numerous posts describe Ich. Sometimes fish just flash around. Maybe they like it, maybe he's exhibiting dominance, who knows. Leave it alone for a few days and see what happens. IMO, I think you nailed it in your first post: you're a newbie and are just being paranoid. The best advice at this point is to relax. Keep your hands out of the tank and just watch him and see how he does over the next few days. As long as he is swimming and eating, he will probably be just fine. If things go south, you can always pull him and treat at that point.

I think you're probably right. It doesn't help that I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder and am in a hobby where you can worry about anything.

After some searching, I found others saying that it's very difficult for a blenny to get ich. Thanks for your help everybody! I'll be watching him though, that's for sure. If anything worse happens I will give everybody an update- I'll make sure that he is getting enough garlic-soaked food and will be doing extra WCs to be safe.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I know it's really hard, but calm down. DO NOT treat or remove your fish at this time. Nothing in your numerous posts describe Ich. Sometimes fish just flash around. Maybe they like it, maybe he's exhibiting dominance, who knows. Leave it alone for a few days and see what happens. IMO, I think you nailed it in your first post: you're a newbie and are just being paranoid. The best advice at this point is to relax. Keep your hands out of the tank and just watch him and see how he does over the next few days. As long as he is swimming and eating, he will probably be just fine. If things go south, you can always pull him and treat at that point.

I agree. If you're not seeing spots by now, on any of your fish, it probably isn't ich. Lots of new fish "flash" for reasons known only to them. A fish can carry ich without showing it, however. ich loves the gills. BTW, even Diver's Den, IMO the best source of most fish on the planet, recommends QT for all their fish.....and they QT everything first. If its wet, use a QT, and you'll never go through this again. Staying up all night worrying about a fish, will be a great story to tell your grandkids, though. BTW, if this does turn into a full blown case of ich (I doubt it); IMO & IME, all of your fish will have to be isolated and treated.

 

[JaneG]

Thank you for the reply! I woke up this morning to find my blenny, still scratching, but it doesn't seem to be getting worse. I fed pretty heavily with lettuce, spinache, nori, mysis, flake and brine mixed and soaked in garlic. Everyone ate like they normally do. I *just* saw the jawfish go out of his burrow at least 3 times now to scratch himself and that really worries me. It's like he's aiming for his tail area to flick in the sand although I don't see any ich on his bottom side. HOWEVER, I am worried because he is faced so I can only see one side of his face. I faked him out by pretending I was going to feed again to get a good glimpse of his other side and I do see what appears to be a small white protrusion on his cheek but I'm not sure if it's a skin tag or something.

It hasn't spread to his body from what I can see. No unusual behavior otherwise from what I can see...I'm going to feed again later tonight and do the same schedule tomorrow. I received a response from quality marine. One rep said it may be territory disputes and another said it is really hard to know what it is without seeing anything else . They say it's probably an irritant of some kind and that it could be something like ich or a missing scale.

I'll keep everyone updated and maybe post a video.

EDIT: I asked Blue Zoo and they said that blennies don't get crypt (marine ich); they said it's most likely normal territory establishment... or my pH, etc are fluctuating and stressing him. If it ends up being territory issues, will I have to separate the two?

 

[MrTuskfish]

A Valium, for the fish's owner, may help.

 

[JaneG]

I know it's ridiculous but I really do care about my fish so I guess that's part of the reason why I am so freaked out. Not to mention reading all these topics about fish not making it through QT or dying from some unknown parasite. I had an oscar I was very close to (weird, I know) die of something similar where he had a worm that I didn't catch soon enough. I just want to make really sure that I am doing all that I can for the time being. I think I am but the sooner they get over it the better. You can never be too safe, right? If this is a territory dispute, I am assuming they'll get over it fast? He's mostly doing it on this rock or the rock to the left in the video. I managed to get a (horrible quality) video of the behavior (jawfish also scratches at the end) and I do still see the white protrusion on the jawfish's cheek that may or may not be a skin tab. All your posts are helpful, thank you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddakjLL-WaI&feature=channel_video_title

 

[JaneG]

I noticed some opaque-ish "fungus" on the jawfish I believe. Is this flukes? Considering a FW dip because I don't think flukes can be fought off with the immune system...how on earth would I catch him and make it unstressful though?

 

[steelhead77]

A Valium, for the fish's owner, may help.

I agree. Calm down. Stop staring at your fish. Do you have kids? Did you rush your baby to the doctor every time it had runny nose? Just leave things be. You're probably stressing the fish out by constantly staring at them. Remember the puffer in Finding Nemo? Please, DO NOT freshwater dip your fish at this point. Do not bother them at all. Watch a movie or something. Check them again in the morning.

 

[JaneG]

I agree. Calm down. Stop staring at your fish. Do you have kids? Did you rush your baby to the doctor every time it had runny nose? Just leave things be. You're probably stressing the fish out by constantly staring at them. Remember the puffer in Finding Nemo? Please, DO NOT freshwater dip your fish at this point. Do not bother them at all. Watch a movie or something. Check them again in the morning.

I'm actually a teenager - I guess my overreacting and childishness gave it away.

I feel kind of stupid now.

I suppose you're right. I'll leave the fish and hope that if they have something other than ich that the cleaner can help a little. It doesn't help that the tank is right by my computer and I do an online part-time job. I'm really sorry everyone! I'll post if something that really has me worried happens. Thank you very very much though!!