Hippo w/ white spots, not ich...

[jeffesaurusrex]

I posted a week or so ago about my hippo tang that apparently had ich. I now do not think that is the case, but it might be flukes or some other parasite. The spots are too random and too few and far between, there are now only 7-10 spots total on the fish. They are bigger than typical ich spots and when looking at the fish from the front they can be seen to sort of stick out off the fish. There's one on the top of the tail as well and it has been there since yesterday, where in my understanding of ich it goes away and new parasites/spots infect the fish constantly (the life cycle is only several hours, the tail one would/should be dead by now).

Whatever this is it is not spreading to other fish either as far as I can tell, as there are several fish that are likely weak (very small clownfish, and a chromis that gets picked on a lot by a larger one) and they have NO spots or any illness visible whatsoever, and everybody including the hippo are eating voraciously.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I'd read some more about ich; here's a good thread:http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1992196. The "feeding''stage of ich stays in (not on) the fish for 3-7 days. The white spots you see are not even the actual parasite. There is no part of the life cycle that only lasts ''several hours". After feeding, the "mother' can wait weeks before releasing her offspring and they only live a day or so---unless they find a fish. Its not unusual, in fact quite common, for ich levels to rise and fall; then they really emerge X100s and do real damage. What you're describing sure sound like ich to me, and tangs are very vulnerable. any way you can post a pic?