Long story will be included below. Short list of questions first to try to limit the amount that HAS to be read to get to the questions. I have three chromis and a clown goby in my HT right now that came from a tank that I believe had ich. The three chromis have not at any time shown signs having ich. The clown goby who was introduced into the system as a "test" showed what looked like white spots a few days after he was introduced to the tank, but is no longer showing any signs.
My question here is do I treat fish that don't look sick? What do I do if I wait, and they don't show signs of ich? Would it ever be safe to transfer them back to the DT after the fallow time without treatment?
I would prefer to wait a couple more days to let them get used to the new tank and let the HT tank settle in a little (it was set up with an existing HOB filter that was running on a healthy tank but I'm sure it will still have some kind of cycle)..Params are holding on the HT, and the fish are eating really well. I have 8 weeks left of fallow time on the DT, so I'm in no hurry to get the fish back into the DT. The HT is a 20 gallon with some old ceramic/plastic ornament crap from my FW days. The fish seem to be doing well in it. The cupramine and copper test kit are sitting next to the tank, ready to be used.
The really long story.
This all started about a month ago with the addition of two damsels to my DT. The DT had the three chromis, and algae blenny and a Kole Tang. The Kole began acting sick, but didn't show signs of external parasites. I treated the entire tank with PraziPro after a few days, assuming an internal parasite. Things went from bad to worse over a couple of days, and the tang passed, but even at that point showed no signs of external parasite.
Fast forward about a week. The damsels have what may or may not be white spots. Talbot's damsels. Those of you familiar with them will note that they are kind of "pastel" in color (or at least mine were) so it was hard to tell. I began watching the tank extra closely thinking I may have mis-diagnosed the internal parasite. Over the next week I may or may not be seeing spots on the damsels. The three chromis and the algae blenny at this point definitely show no signs. Fast forward another week. The damsels AND the algea blenny have gone missing. I never saw behavior changes, just what may or may not have been spots on the Damsels. Three weeks pass with the chromis alone in the tank. My thinking is, if this is ich, and they are the only fish in the tank I will definitely see signs on one of them, but I don't. Something is still wrong with the tank tho, healthy tanks don't lose fish... So, maybe the chromis has some kind of immunity to whatever it is. In comes the clown goby. He's an awesome fish, and because of their tendency to float still in the water column, I will be able to closely observe what is going on with him. The idea that I bought a "test" fish sucks. I hate putting a fish in a scenario like that, but I have to figure out whats going on with the tank. I'm putting the goby in a perilous situation because I was too stubborn to QT, but because I want to make sure the other fish aren't being slowly killed by whatever it is. 3 days in on the goby, it looks like he has white spots. OK. It must be ich. I get the HT set up, and spent the weekend catching the three chromis and the goby and get them moved over. NOW of course, I see no signs of ich.
Comments/Questions/Suggestions/Advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks
-Stacey
My question here is do I treat fish that don't look sick? What do I do if I wait, and they don't show signs of ich? Would it ever be safe to transfer them back to the DT after the fallow time without treatment?
I would prefer to wait a couple more days to let them get used to the new tank and let the HT tank settle in a little (it was set up with an existing HOB filter that was running on a healthy tank but I'm sure it will still have some kind of cycle)..Params are holding on the HT, and the fish are eating really well. I have 8 weeks left of fallow time on the DT, so I'm in no hurry to get the fish back into the DT. The HT is a 20 gallon with some old ceramic/plastic ornament crap from my FW days. The fish seem to be doing well in it. The cupramine and copper test kit are sitting next to the tank, ready to be used.
The really long story.
This all started about a month ago with the addition of two damsels to my DT. The DT had the three chromis, and algae blenny and a Kole Tang. The Kole began acting sick, but didn't show signs of external parasites. I treated the entire tank with PraziPro after a few days, assuming an internal parasite. Things went from bad to worse over a couple of days, and the tang passed, but even at that point showed no signs of external parasite.
Fast forward about a week. The damsels have what may or may not be white spots. Talbot's damsels. Those of you familiar with them will note that they are kind of "pastel" in color (or at least mine were) so it was hard to tell. I began watching the tank extra closely thinking I may have mis-diagnosed the internal parasite. Over the next week I may or may not be seeing spots on the damsels. The three chromis and the algae blenny at this point definitely show no signs. Fast forward another week. The damsels AND the algea blenny have gone missing. I never saw behavior changes, just what may or may not have been spots on the Damsels. Three weeks pass with the chromis alone in the tank. My thinking is, if this is ich, and they are the only fish in the tank I will definitely see signs on one of them, but I don't. Something is still wrong with the tank tho, healthy tanks don't lose fish... So, maybe the chromis has some kind of immunity to whatever it is. In comes the clown goby. He's an awesome fish, and because of their tendency to float still in the water column, I will be able to closely observe what is going on with him. The idea that I bought a "test" fish sucks. I hate putting a fish in a scenario like that, but I have to figure out whats going on with the tank. I'm putting the goby in a perilous situation because I was too stubborn to QT, but because I want to make sure the other fish aren't being slowly killed by whatever it is. 3 days in on the goby, it looks like he has white spots. OK. It must be ich. I get the HT set up, and spent the weekend catching the three chromis and the goby and get them moved over. NOW of course, I see no signs of ich.
Comments/Questions/Suggestions/Advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks
-Stacey
