Fin scars from Ich

[jason77777]

I recently had an Ich outbreak which has since cleared up. My Porcupine Puffer was pretty bad with ich all over his body and fins. All the ich is gone, but he still has white spots on his fins. There are no granular looking things, so I think they are scars. Is this possible? He acts fine and isn't scratching at all.

 

[MrTuskfish]

How did you treat the fish? In a QT? Did the DT stay fishless for 10+ weeks? Ich doesn't just 'clear up' and go away.

 

[jason77777]

I used garlic on the food and Voogle Immune booster. From my research I found that if ich is present and the fish are healthy then they fight off the parasite. Is this incorrect?

 

[MrTuskfish]

I used garlic on the food and Voogle Immune booster. From my research I found that if ich is present and the fish are healthy then they fight off the parasite. Is this incorrect?

This is totally incorrect. Garlic does nothing to eliminate ich, a huge myth. . Garlic may help the immune system a little; when used long-term. Fish cannot permanently fight off ich. Ich is multiplying in your tank now and you'll have a major outbreak sooner or later. Ich must be eliminated, not controlled. I'd read the ich stickies at the top of the disease column.

 

[wooden_reefer]

garlic might give off an odor that disorient ich. Possible but not reliable.

 

[wooden_reefer]

I used garlic on the food and Voogle Immune booster. From my research I found that if ich is present and the fish are healthy then they fight off the parasite. Is this incorrect?

Incorrect.

The reproductive cycle in ich means that ich can come in huge waves once significant infestation occured previously.

Do you think any immune system enhancement can be so pathogen-concentration independent in a closed system? NO, not possible.

 

[sleepydoc]

So there is evidence that some fish may be able to 'fight' ich and maintain a subclinical infection. I've never seen any data showing that they can clear it. There is also some evidence that strains of ich may eventually die out. Taking these two together, it would appear that if you keep your fish healthy long enough and no new strains of ich are introduced, it may eventually die off and the fish would be 'cured.' This plan has far to many 'ifs' to be considered a plan, IMHO, and you are experiencing one of them.

Ich manifestations are cyclical and can be harbored asymptomatically, which makes verifying a cure difficult and also is likely the source of many claims of 'cure.'

At this point, you can either decide to live with ich and hope it doesn't get bad enough to kill your fish, or start treatment and keep your your DT fallow to clear it. Since this is a puffer, I'm assuming it is not a reef tank. If this is the case you could potentially treat your whole DT, since you don't have corals to worry about.

 

[jason77777]

I also forgot to mention I bought a UV filter that I run 24/7. If my fish have not shown signs of ich (scratching or salt looking granules) since December then what am I supposed to do? I have a dwarf lion, puffer, and dwarf eel so copper is out of the question. What do I treat the ich with? My original question still has not been answered; Does ich leave scars on fins?

 

[sleepydoc]

I've never heard of ich leaving scars on fins. What you have most likely done is reduced the parasite burden but not completely cleared the infection.

UV filters are of very little use for treating ich. They can work to prevent transfer between tanks with shared plumbing, but in a single tank system they will at best reduce the parasite burden. (Read through Snorvich's sticky regarding the life cycle of ich in the disease section)

Options for treating ich are Copper, hyposalinity, tank transfer and chloroquine. I would check into using hypo or tank transfer if you need to avoid copper for your eel.