Flame Angel with spots

plowro8

In Memoriam
Hey all, I recently bought a Flame Angel for my 36 gal tank. I didn't notice until I got him home that he had a few white spots on his tail fin. Since introducing him to the tank 3 weeks ago, he has acted very happy and healthy, nipping at rocks and eating like crazy. Each day I monitor his spots, as sometimes they are gone (cleaner shrimp loves him), and sometimes they are extra prevalent. None of the other fish in the tank have any spots. Any ideas what might be going on here?
 
Most likely ich, being it sounds like nothing was quarantined and giving the life cycle of the parasite this fits the description.
 
Okay, so then why does it not appear to be affecting his health, and why no signs of any of the other fish being affected? I agree, it does look like ich. And if it is ich, will it eventually go away if the fish have good immune systems?
 
What other fish are in the tank? Some fish can develop some immunity to ich, IME it's only a matter of time before an outbreak occurs. Lots of info above in the stickies.
 
Ich, unlike velvet or brook, does not kill quickly. And it does not have to be visible to be present. As it multiplies in a tank, it will eventually kill, however.
 
Well that's all very sad news from you guys....

All fish are still happy and seemingly healthy. The Flame still seems to have periodic spots, but doesn't act as if he's affected by any illness. None of the other fish show any signs of spots or symptoms of anything other than happiness.
 
Well that's all very sad news from you guys....

All fish are still happy and seemingly healthy. The Flame still seems to have periodic spots, but doesn't act as if he's affected by any illness. None of the other fish show any signs of spots or symptoms of anything other than happiness.


Ich is easy to cure when caught early, what is so sad about that?

Ich was the best guess (IMO) based on the little info provided. When a tank in initially infested with ich, usually due to lack of a QT period, it is very common for ich to appear in very small numbers and then disappear. However, if this is ich, it will probably be back in much bigger numbers. This is very obvious, if you understand the ich life cycle, and I don't think you do. The parasites that showed the visible spots are now in the substrate reproducing by the hundreds. This stage will last 2+ weeks. That is when I would expect them to return in much larger numbers. If the spots don't return, it probably wasn't ich. I'd read the ich stickies, sooner or later you'll need that info.
 
I want to put emphasis on don't get caught up that all your fish look healthy... One day something is going to swing like temp and your fish are going to get stressed. This stress might cause them to be ich prone. Ich will not go away in your tank unless you take the host away for a long time. There are a lot of reads on going fishless display and hypo the fish in a qt. This is easily done and i have been very successful with it. I have also killed fish in the past because "they looked good" until it was too late. The ich will attach to their gills and they will eventually stop breathing and you won't even be able to see them.It is not sad that they have ich, it will be sad if they die from it when it was caught so early on... Read up on the ich lifecycle and the different stages, it will explain why you wont see any for a few days ( its not the cleaner shrimp doing it). Good luck.
 
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