Does this look like ich to you?

[Mightyfish]

I noticed my black cap gamma came out with these solid white spots on body. I am not sure that they are ich because the size of them is quite big and look solid hard. What do you think? If it is not ich then what could it be?

 

[Deinonych]

Looks like ich to me.

 

[snorvich]

Looks like ich to me.

Yup.

 

[Mightyfish]

Yup.

I thought is like size of salt or sugar. What this gamma have are very big and protrude out of body. I had fish with ich before but they look more like the below picture. Further this gamma shows no sign of behavior like rapid breathing, flashing or rub against objectives. Perhaps if these spots stay for more than one week or more then it might not be ich?

 

[snorvich]

If they are persistent, they are not ich.

 

[Deinonych]

If they are persistent, they are not ich.

+1

Ich doesn't kill quickly, so you can observe for the next week or so to see if the spots go away or persist. I will say that the spots look exactly like those my Royal Gramma had a year or so ago...and he definitely had ich.

 

[ThRoewer]

I wouldn't be so set on size and appearance. Ich can look different on different species. And it apearance also depends on the various degrees of resistance a fish might have.
Some fish slime more which may make the trophont appear larger. On others with thin outer skin the trophont may be below the edge of the scales and doesn't show the typical bump, ... The variations are plenty.

Also behavior is not a sure indicator. I just had a case with a pair of percula that came down with Ich (note to self: never leave fish you buy at the dealer) that didn't show any symptoms of discomfort like scratching or heavy breathing. They just had the spots for about 3 days, then where 3 days "œfree" and then had it again. The scratching only started after I put them into the HT.

The best indicator is a combination of appearance, behavior and especially the lifecycle: visible for about 3 (max 7) days, then gone for about 3 days to a week (in rare cases up to a month) and then back in either larger or lesser numbers. If you let it go on without treatment the "œfree" phases will go away because the variation in encystment length will keep new theronts coming continuously instead of the waves you usually have at the begin.

Now on this gramma the thing that looks a bit off to me is that the fins don't seem to be affected at all. In my experience that's where Ich and the like usually show first because it's after the gills the most vulnerable area on a fish.
What this fish has could be infected wounds or anything else from virus, bacteria to fungus.
Best is to keep a close eye on the fish and see how it develops over the next few days.

 

[jbvdhp]

the first pic looks as if the spots are indented in, rather than protruding out, but difficult to tell from a 2D pic. Plus, there is some shadowing that lends to the illusion. OP are you sure it's sticking out? I had a black cap that issues with losing some scales every now and then and would wedge itself in rocks so it looked like that, but the lesions were in, which appears like your fish has, but please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Mightyfish]

Will definitely keep an eye on whether these white lumps will disappear in a few days and then come back. This gamma did have ich in the past and the spots look like those one i have on my kole tang picture before. This time round looks a bit different. It's scales around these white lumps also look a bit rough and slightly red, and some scale appear have lost. Not sure whether the photos can show what i was talking about.

 

[jbvdhp]

^love those little fish. The third pic def looks protruding out.

 

[Mightyfish]

^love those little fish. The third pic def looks protruding out.

Does it look like what yours had? If so, how did you treat it?

 

[jbvdhp]

Mine had some spots missing. Like missing scales. When I had it, it was years ago. It lived a long time. If it's ich, like your kole, then def treat it.

 

[ThRoewer]

This could be injuries and missing or loose scales that are a bit infected. Is or was this fish involved in any fighting with others?

 

[Mightyfish]

Its been one week its spots are gone and no sign of reoccurring yet. One different aspect compare to ich i have seen before is after the spots vanished they left a scar on its body. Its a bit like after pimples on our face are gone they leave a scar . It never shows any kind of behavior like twitching or rub against objects, no sign of rapid breathing. All other fish have no spots come up. I am really puzzled what the hell were these lumps.

 

[snorvich]

Its been one week its spots are gone and no sign of reoccurring yet. One different aspect compare to ich i have seen before is after the spots vanished they left a scar on its body. Its a bit like after pimples on our face are gone they leave a scar . It never shows any kind of behavior like twitching or rub against objects, no sign of rapid breathing. All other fish have no spots come up. I am really puzzled what the hell were these lumps.

I feel that it was ich (cryptocaryon irritans); they should magically reappear in the next life cycle.

 

[Mightyfish]

I feel that it was ich (cryptocaryon irritans); they should magically reappear in the next life cycle.

Its been 7 weeks now since i posted this fish. During this period of time there is no any suspicious white "lump" reappeared nor any parasite associated behavior. None of the other fish show any ich as well. Is it long enough to say that those suspicious dots were not ich afterall?

 

[ThRoewer]

My 3 Grammas and two pipefish currently in QT showed clearly identified Cryptocaryon nodules 3 weeks ago (after 6 weeks in QT!!!) and the Grammas were also scratching.
But after the nodules went away 3 days later they haven't reappeared. I think the fish's immune systems got it under control. But that doesn't mean it's gone for good.

 

[sarens]

sure looked like ich to me, any chance you are running high UV and is actually killed it off in the next life cycle and that is why it hasn't re-appeared?

 

[Clowny88]

Its been 7 weeks now since i posted this fish. During this period of time there is no any suspicious white "lump" reappeared nor any parasite associated behavior. None of the other fish show any ich as well. Is it long enough to say that those suspicious dots were not ich afterall?

Yeah it was ich. It doesn't have to show symptoms, its still a 90% chance it's in there but probably not in large numbers.

The only way to be sure you're ich free is to let the tank go fallow. I just went through this and I know that feeling of relief when the spots go away... But that only confirms ich, doesn't mean things got better.

I m 6 weeks into a copper treated hospital tank, letting the tank go fallow for 12 weeks. If yiu can, I'd address the same now before you add more livestock and the problem surfaces later.

 

[Mightyfish]

Probably a bit of background might help. In Sep last year i had ich in my tank. All fish include this black cap gamma had it. Apart from white spots they all had typical ich behavior like scratching themselves and breath heavily. I took all fish out and placed in QT for cupramine treatment. I left DT fallow for over 11 weeks. After cupramine treatment for 4 weeks and observed another 7 weeks no sign of ich reoccurence so i put them back in DT. Another couple of weeks later i noticed some larger white lumps on this gamma. These lumps were way bigger than the ich it had before but there was no ich behaviour. White lumps then disappeared and now another 7 weeks later white lumps never reappear and during this entire time there was no sign of ich nor associated behavior in any fish. Hence, i posted my query about whether these white lumps were ich at all? May be it was just something else.