Help! Purchased Flame Angel and I'm pretty sure it has ICH!

[gjustinj]

Hey all,

I went to the pet store in Monroeville today and picked up a flame angel for 90 bucks, and two clowns for 20, and my first beginner coral.

I got home and acclimated the fish in a bag into my tank, after 6 10 minutes sessions of pouring a small dixie cup into the bags I let them free into my tank. In about 20 minutes the coral opened up under my reef breeder lights, but I noticed something funny about my flame angel, it has two white specs on it and after googling images it appears to be ICH!

I don't know what to do, he is already in my tank and now I am really worried all my fish are gonna die! I don't have a quarantine tank - i don't even know what's involved with that

Please help me - if i have to run to Walmart and buy a 10 gallon tank to quarantine a fish i will... is it too late?

 

[ZenGuitarGuy]

If it is ich, you would have to move your fish to a quarantine tank, and you would have to leave your main/display tank fishless for 72 days at least I believe. There are stickies and other posts about setting up a quarantine tank on this site that you can look up as well. Also look up transfer tank maintenance (TTM) to treat your fish.

 

[AnnaCassandra]

Use a bucket as a QT tank if you have to, get a small heater and a small powerhead, I'd get that fish out of your DT ASAP

 

[gjustinj]

If it is ich, you would have to move your fish to a quarantine tank, and you would have to leave your main/display tank fishless for 72 days at least I believe. There are stickies and other posts about setting up a quarantine tank on this site that you can look up as well. Also look up transfer tank maintenance (TTM) to treat your fish.

Thank you, I read and I have a few questions.

Since I added the flame angel fish to my main 125G tank today and 2 cysts are still on one side of his face - does that mean the ICH has not fallen off if those cysts still exist on his face tomorrow? If this is true then I could run and pick up two 10 gallon cheap aquarium setups from Walmart and a heater/themometer and create a quarantine tank, and move him to it tomorrow using the same water from tank he is in now? So there would be no need yet to get all my fish out of that tank (I don't think I have a way to do that), and just worry about getting the fish I got from Elmers Aquarium out?

If all the above is true and I understand this correctly. I would move him into Tank #1 until the Cysts fall off, and within 72 hours of the cyst falling off move him to tank #2 (also using the same water from the main fish tank), and then wait another 72 hours and move him back into the main tank? Then clean both tanks out with vinegar and hot water and have them ready for next time i introduce a fish so I can make sure nothing funny shows up next time?

Please let me know!

The reef breeder just went to complete black for the fish to sleep - so I guess this is the real test, do they fall off tonight and ruin my life? or do they stay on there and give me time to run to Walmart and get the setup needed?

 

[gjustinj]

Use a bucket as a QT tank if you have to, get a small heater and a small powerhead, I'd get that fish out of your DT ASAP

Thank you.. I have a 5 gallon bucket.. would I just scoop water from my tank into the bucket? I have no way to 'filter' the bucket, and I do have a small 10 gallon heater i could use - this fish was 90 bucks - I really don't want to lose him, how safe is the 5 gallon bucket for a night? and how far do i fill it up?

 

[gjustinj]

Maybe it's not ICH - it seems to look like a cyst, like a bubble, two of them. Ich seems to be a bunch of white dots from what I can see online - this doesn't look like that. It looks very much like a few cysts, kind of fuzzy but smooth - not sure.

 

[AnnaCassandra]

The bucket is as safe as the plastic bag you brought the fish home in or the tank he's currently in, I mean it's not a glass box so you can see him swimming around but I don't think the fish is too concerned about that. I'd fill it about 3/4 full.

Honestly it's better to be safe than sorry even if it's not ich it could be something else

 

[nereefpat]

Can you get a good clear picture? Since it's already in the display tank, I would just observe at this point, and not do anything drastic unless you are sure it's ich.

 

[gjustinj]

I will try nereefpat. One things for sure I'm gonna get a 10 gallon setup to use as quarantine from Walmart today. Should I get 1 or 2?

 

[gjustinj]

nereefpat,

I'm gonna have to wait for my gf to wake up, she has a better phone. Mine is not doing very good pics. So I examined him some more today and the white spots I seen last night look like they have gone down, one is barely even there. Perhaps this was an injury and my water is helping heal it?

However getting him in the light showed little white spots all over his entire body, they look like pieces of salt stuck to him while swimming in the water. Maybe this is ich? or maybe it's salt? or maybe his design actually has them in his skin (they are like perfectly separated all over).

 

[gjustinj]

Looking online after examining the fish, it looks pretty much exactly like this.. like little pieces of granulated salt all over his body:

 

[gjustinj]

Here is a pic of mine, but you really can't see those little salt specs - but they are definitely there.

 

[gjustinj]

Also, I know UV sterilizers aren't the 'best' at killing ich, but it definitely helps in some manner and I think any help at this point is probably what I need.. at 125 Gallons what UV sterilizer (hang on the back) and power head should i get - i assume i need to get this fast.

I can run to Walmart and pick up two 10 gallon aquarium kits and put them on the shelf below the aquarium.

I am so lost and so worried.

 

[albano]

If your Flame really looks like that pic, you need to remove and return that sick fish to the store that charged $90 for a $35-50 fish!

 

[gjustinj]

If your Flame really looks like that pic, you need to remove and return that sick fish to the store that charged $90 for a $35-50 fish!

it doesn't have the big white area by the gills like that pic has, but the little white salt specs are all over it.

 

[gjustinj]

I turned up the lights to 100 on the reef breeder all the way to see if it helped me see them. They do look like little pieces of really fine granulated salt, they are barely visible - but sometimes when he hits the light right you see them sparkle under the light - i don't have a quarantine tank yet, im gonna have to go get one but catching him with all the live rock caves might be impossible to try to get him out even when i do have one =/

 

[nereefpat]

well...that looks like ich to me. the UV won't save it.

you have a couple options.
1. catch all fish, then do TTM with them. After the final transfer, put fish in a separate qt while the display goes fishless for 72 days.

2. perform hyposalinity in the display. you will lose most inverts, including cuc and the new coral.

 

[gjustinj]

well...that looks like ich to me. the UV won't save it.

you have a couple options.
1. catch all fish, then do TTM with them. After the final transfer, put fish in a separate qt while the display goes fishless for 72 days.

2. perform hyposalinity in the display. you will lose most inverts, including cuc and the new coral.

Is it too late to just quarantine the fish since there are specs still on his skin?

 

[MondoBongo]

Is it too late to just quarantine the fish since there are specs still on his skin?

yes.

what other fish do you have in there? you're going to need to remove them and use some kind of QT regimen on them while your main tank sits fallow for at least 72 days.

i would recommend TTM (Tank Transfer Method) followed by an observation period before returning to the main tank.

 

[gjustinj]

yes.

what other fish do you have in there? you're going to need to remove them and use some kind of QT regimen on them while your main tank sits fallow for at least 72 days.

i would recommend TTM (Tank Transfer Method) followed by an observation period before returning to the main tank.

I have a few (occeleris/mocha) clowns, a bengaii cardinal, a few green/blue chromis, a azure damsel, flame angel, coral beauty, 1 cleaner shrimp, 20 hermit crabs and one beginner coral.

How many tanks do I need, how big do they have to be? I might be screwed I don't have the room or what's needed for all of this I could probably pick up two 10 gallon tanks from walmart?