Feed ich infested Foxface extra?

[DrBoxedWine]

Dealing with an ich outbreak right now, and already lost my Kole tang. The foxface has taken it the worst after the tang, lots of white spots on him, but until last night he was behaving normally (and eating like a pig). Fed him at 7:30 last night, and he was fine, but at 9:30 my wife pointed out that he was sitting on the sand bed. He's coming out and about a little bit today, but clearly more listless than normal. He's pecking a little at the sandbed and rocks, so i'm thinking if i threw some noori in there he'd probably eat it. Should i feed him?

Also, the tank is currently at an SG of 1.008 (just got it there over this past weekend), and the temp is at 79.5 ish. Is there a temperature that is more helpful to a sick fish? should i lower it? raise it?

I've also been adding Metro and Focus to the food before i put it into the tank each night since last wednesday. I think i just need to get him through this initial period of sickness until the hypo really starts to work.

 

[DrBoxedWine]

I put some noori on a clip in the tank, he's going to town. Seems like this can't be a bad thing.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

If you are dealing with ich why are you dosing metro? The higher the water temp the lower the oxygen, not good for a fish that is having a hard time breathing.
Based on the timeline, "eating like a horse, down the next day" it doesn't sound like you are dealing with ich. Brook and velvet also can present with spots.
Have you read the stickies at the top of the forum?

 

[Deinonych]

If you are dealing with ich why are you dosing metro? The higher the water temp the lower the oxygen, not good for a fish that is having a hard time breathing.

+1

Metro is not effective against Cryptocaryon, so I would suggest that you stop dosing it. Lowering the temperature to 76 or 77 will increase dissolved oxygen. Keep an eye on your pH as well - hypo can drop it significantly.

 

[DrBoxedWine]

Yeah i've read the stickies, and just about everything else i can find on Ich and Hypo. I bought the metro the first day, more in a panic. The guy at the store said it helps, and it was $8 so i went with it. I've been burned by fish store advice before, not sure why i believed it. Now that i have it though, i've just been doing it. I've read it may or may not help with secondary infections, and there seems to be little harm in adding it to the food, so i've just kept it up.

The foxface goes through waves. He was better by the end of last night again. It's almost as if they "fall off" and then come back later. he ate like a pig again last night and was swimming around a lot, then was sort of settled back down in a cave again (not like him when he's healthy) Do brook and Velvet ever give the really defined little white spots? These look exactly like grains of sugar.

I've got an Apex with a freshly calibrated probe watching the PH, i'm good there. I'll consider lowing the temperature a little. Although it seems like dropping the salinity alone is increasing oxygen levels. My skimmer is still running and i have a good amount of flow.

 

[Deinonych]

The foxface goes through waves. He was better by the end of last night again. It's almost as if they "fall off" and then come back later. he ate like a pig again last night and was swimming around a lot, then was sort of settled back down in a cave again (not like him when he's healthy) Do brook and Velvet ever give the really defined little white spots? These look exactly like grains of sugar.

Brook is more patchy in appearance, and velvet is more of a sheen. Cryptocaryon looks like grains of salt or sugar. Post a picture if you can - it can help with diagnosis.

 

[DrBoxedWine]

Thanks, the foxface was much better last night. One of the clowns seems to have it sorta bad, but he's still eating and all. Hopefully he gets better soon. Harsh lesson learned. I'll be quarantining every single thing that goes in the tank from here on out. Corals, snails, shrimp, everything.

 

[DrBoxedWine]

Do brook and velvet go "dormant" sometimes like ich where it can appear you don't have it but do? Or do those strike pretty hard and fast?

 

[Dmorty217]

Not many fish are immune to velvet. If you have velvet without treatment all fish will die within 5 days. You will notice your fish appearing to get better every 3 days when the ich cyst fall off to multiply.

 

[Deinonych]

Do brook and velvet go "dormant" sometimes like ich where it can appear you don't have it but do? Or do those strike pretty hard and fast?

Brook and velvet are highly virulent and require immediate treatment when diagnosed.

 

[DrBoxedWine]

Well that's good to know. I actually noticed a couple spots on the foxface a couple weeks ago. Sounds like this is ich almost for sure.