Ich?

tmnigat

New member
I recently got my tank cycled and am approaching the 2 month mark. I was excited to put my first fish in the tank and went with a yellow tang my gf picked out from the LFS. The guy had a scrape on his left side which i pointed out to the fish store. They claimed it happened while handling him and that it would be fine. He's been in the tank a week now and the scrape has pretty much disappeared. During this time though he's been scratching on rocks and the sandbed. I'm worried it's the Ich :( I've read the sticky about ich and what to do about it, but really wanted someone else to check the pics and let me know what they think. I do have a fine sandbed and don't know if its possible for sand to just get stuck on the fish. I thought he might be scratching because of that scrape he had as he only scratched that side.

If it is ich, I was told a 20g hospital tank would do. Any advice on what gear i need to get to treat him?

Thanks!

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Definitely ich. Remove fish and place in quarantine tank. Read up on transfer tank method(TTM). You'll want to keep your DT fallow for 72 days. How is the fish doing?


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Definitely ich. Remove fish and place in quarantine tank. Read up on transfer tank method(TTM). You'll want to keep your DT fallow for 72 days. How is the fish doing?


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This. Tank transfer can be found here. I would be skepical of further advice from that LFS especially since they sold you a fish inappropriate to your tank size.
 
Snorvich...This is a nob question but how can you tell if it is ich vs velvet? I had a Moorish idol that looked like that and I thought it was velvet from the reading I had done. Don't mean to hijack the OP but my fish looked just like that. I just want to know for future reference because I treated with cooper and not TTM since TTM doesn't cure velvet.

Thanks!
 
Definitely ich. Remove fish and place in quarantine tank. Read up on transfer tank method(TTM). You'll want to keep your DT fallow for 72 days. How is the fish doing?


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This. Tank transfer can be found here. I would be skepical of further advice from that LFS especially since they sold you a fish inappropriate to your tank size.

What they said, x 1000

Snorvich...This is a nob question but how can you tell if it is ich vs velvet? I had a Moorish idol that looked like that and I thought it was velvet from the reading I had done. Don't mean to hijack the OP but my fish looked just like that. I just want to know for future reference because I treated with cooper and not TTM since TTM doesn't cure velvet.

Thanks!

If it were velvet the fish would more than likely already be dead?
 
Snorvich...This is a nob question but how can you tell if it is ich vs velvet? I had a Moorish idol that looked like that and I thought it was velvet from the reading I had done. Don't mean to hijack the OP but my fish looked just like that. I just want to know for future reference because I treated with cooper and not TTM since TTM doesn't cure velvet.

Thanks!

Behavior is the easiest way to differentiate since fish infected with velvet tend to be reclusive, hang out near the water returns (higher in oxygen). Visually velvet looks like a golden "sheen" rather than a sprinkling of salt. Usually, by the time visual symptoms exhibit, it is too late.
 
Velvet and Ich can be tricky to tell the difference if you have not experienced one or both.

Generally velvet is extremely fast and can almost overnight cover your fish in what almost appears to be powdered sugar. By this point, it is generally to late and fish will normally succumb to it and die within 72 hours.

Ich can happen anywhere on the body, generally (but not by rule) larger white spots that have a tendency to occur around the gills (not always but commonly). A fish can have ich for some time and if caught soon enough be saved through TTM or QT with treatment.

If it's been like this for more than a couple days now, I would say it's not velvet unless it's simply a bada$$ fish that is fighting it like mad.
 
Having just gone through an outbreak of velvet which wiped out my tank, along with an outbreak of dinoflagellates (FML), I can tell you that the mortality rate of velvet is much higher and faster than ich. It will somewhat resemble ich at first when the trophonts develop but as mentioned above it leaves a golden appearance. From start to finish my tank was wiped out in 2 days. Only thing left is my diamond goby and my mandarin who were somehow unaffected. My only conclusion on how this occurred is the disease came in on some macroalgae I added to the tank two weeks ago. Only change in months.
 
Sorry to say your display tank is now infected with Ich. Even if you quarantine your tang, the main tank still needs to be fallow for 2-3 months to starve out the remaining Ich.
To avoid introduction of pests and parasites, you must quarantine everything...
 
Unless I am more retarded than I think, that is information not included in this thread. I did look at his previous post and it is in another thread.

I always check user profiles for experience level and tank size. Force of habit.
 
Update, I went out and got 2 tanks to start the TTM. On day 5 and the tang is holding up pretty well. He isn't eating well but I do see him pick at food now and then. Thanks for all the advice. I asked my LFS about ich vs velvet etc and they told me if he had velvet then he'd already be dead. While there I noticed 3 tanks of fish were gone and I asked about them, he said he had a bad batch of fish and currently was treating them with copper. I purchased a clownfish from him 2 weeks ago. He claims my fish wasn't in the batch but I still think that's where the ich came from. Unfortunately the clownfish died while in the TTM tank, tang and my chromis are doing fine though.

I have a question about the TTM method for anybody who's tried it. How do you go about feeding while in the tank? I'm scared to feed to much as I don't want the ammonia spiking up. I tried to feed my two little guys some frozen misys shrimp and right after the water got all cloudy and nasty foam bubbles appeared on top of the tank. I transferred them shortly after and they seem to enjoy the clear water much more. Should i stick to dryer food? I have frozen misys, LRS pellets, some flake, and nori. Thanks again.
 
During TTM I've fed flake and pellets. They tend to not cloud up the water, as you noticed with the frozen mysis.

Although I will admit I have rarely had fish eat much, if at all during TTM. Once in QT they eat like pigs.Just keep some prime on hand if you do see an ammonia spike, but typically the fish aren't in a tank long enough for ammonia to build up to toxic levels.
 
During TTM I've fed flake and pellets. They tend to not cloud up the water, as you noticed with the frozen mysis.

Although I will admit I have rarely had fish eat much, if at all during TTM. Once in QT they eat like pigs.Just keep some prime on hand if you do see an ammonia spike, but typically the fish aren't in a tank long enough for ammonia to build up to toxic levels.

Thank you, will do. I haven't set up a tank yet for QT while my DT stays fallow. Currently I'm just using a heater and airstone in my TTM tanks. Should I get a third tank dedicated to QT? If so what do I need gear wise to keep the fish happy? Can I keep them in one of the TTM tanks and add a filter for long term stay?

This is all new to me, feel like learning how to deal with all of this now is much better than after I have the tank fully stocked.
 
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