Ich!!

[Liszie F.]

Hi. I don't usually post here but my normal forum can be slow, and I need an answer ASAP!!

I just had a 2 day power outage, during which I used a generator to power the powerheads and sometimes the heater in my reef. I thought everyone had made it out okay when the power came back on this morning, unfortunately I just noticed some white spots on one of my new Neon Gobies. He is not showing any other signs of distress: no gasping for breath, no rubbing against rocks, no cloudy eyes, etc.
I just tested the water...
pH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 ppm

I see two options:

1.) Move the fish to the hospital tank, treat with hyposalinity and possibly copper if things don't improve. I can use water out of my display tank to prevent too much moving stress, but then I have to alter the salinity and I am honestly afraid that more stress will make the problem worse. Plus, I have to catch him, which is bound to be a bundle of fun on both sides.

2.) Leave him there and hope that as things calm down a little he can fight it off on his own, however this means risking the other inhabitants getting infected.

Did I mention I'm going on vacation for three weeks IN TWO DAYS?!

This is an absolute mess. Please, please oh please someone help me...

Liszie

 

[kevin2000]

If one fish has ich then all the fish have been exposed and s/b treated for ich. The only way to insure your tank is ich free is to QT/treat all the fish and leave the tank w/o fish for about 5 weeks in order for the ich to die off (ich need a fish to perpetuate their life cycle).

Normally I would recommend QTing all the fish in a hypo tank (SG of 1.009) .. making up a large batch of hypo replacement water in case there is an ammonia issue. That recommendation only makes sense if you have a tank baby sitter who is willing to test for ammonia and make water changes.

Your tank had ich before the power outage .. it was just at a nominal level and you didn't see it. With a bit of luck the fish will do OK until you come back .. then you can QT and eliminate the ich once and for all so that future "stress events" don't resurrect ich.

Heres a link discussing ich

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

Heres a link discussing hypo

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

Hope this helps.

 

[Liszie F.]

The situation deepens. I pulled him last night, and got a chance to really examine him, and now I don't see the spots anymore. There is a little marking right on his neon stripe, but it doesn't look like a white spot. It looks more like a natural slight discolouration, a fishy birthmark if you will.

The two neon gobies were incredibly new to the tank. I'm working under the assumption that one of them was infected on a low level when they arrived and the stress of the power outage caused a full on outbreak. That is assuming that it actually has ich in the first place.

My sitter is not incredibly experienced, but she should be able to do water changes etc, since I'm going to teach her how in depth before I leave tomorrow evening. She is staying at the house, so she can monitor for major changes. Unfortunately, she's quite nearsighted- I'm not sure she could see the spots unless it was a serious infection. I did have her take a look at the goby, but she doesn't see anything either.

I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place here. I'm going to the supermarket today to get some last minute stuff, I plan on getting garlic oil to use in the food while I'm gone. Hopefully that will stave off anything while I'm gone...

Liszie

 

[kevin2000]

Ich naturally falls off the fish - often within a couple of days.

To be frank .. I would hate to burden a tank babysitter with water changes, ammonia testing and all that stress. I think soaking some food in liquid garlic (better yet selcon which doesn't stink so much) is a reasonable approach.

Deal with the issue when you get back and enjoy your vacation.

Good luck.

 

[Liszie F.]

We are talking an hour here, not a couple of days. Catching was way easier than I expected. He kept hiding in this piece of rock, so I removed it and put it into the QT while I tried to catch him. To my surprise, he popped out of it about fifteen minutes later, and I didn't have to do anything with a net at all.

I want her to know how to change water anyway, just in case something happens and a water change is necessary. I'm probably going to mix up a batch of saltwater and leave it in a sealed container to make things easier.

I don't think I can get "Selcon," my LFS is extremely limited... (and I try to avoid going in there because the owner and I don't get along) I was just going to see if the health food store had garlic oil. If it doesn't, could I crush a clove of garlic and use the liquid that comes out? If so, how long would that keep? I'm pretty sure my sitter doesn't want to have to crush garlic every couple of days... she likes italian food but there is a limit! ; )

Thanks so much for your help...

Liszie

 

[kevin2000]

Garlic doesn't have any direct impact on ich .. thats just a myth. What garlic may do is stimulate appetite which in turn can help the fish's own immune system. If you can find some liquid garlic .. might help a bit .. if not forget the crushing garlic cloves .. not worth it.

 

[ahullsb]

Depending on how long you are on vacation, I would wait until you get back. Running hyposalinity is probably not something that someone with no experience should be doing. Plus Selcon and Garlic won't do anything. You must have a refractometer because keeping the salinity stable at 1.009 is important. In addition, unless you have a qt tank running already, your "tanksitter" is going to have to do a lot of water changes to fight ammonia buildups, ph swings, etc. I've done this before and the water is nowhere near stable unless you take your time and are prepared. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. I will help you or your tanksitter as much as I can if you decide to have it done while you are gone.

 

[rcgates]

Many have posted the only way to truly get rid of ich is to move your fish to a QT tank and treat and leave your main tank fallow for 5 weeks.

Since I don't yet have a QT tank, working on that, I started using Garlic Extreme and a UV. My tank is doing well and the fish are recovering.

I can not say if I got rid of the ich with the UV, the next fish in the tank will tell me that, but I do believe in garlic and the UV.

 

[ahullsb]

rcgates I hate to say it but ich is still in your tank. It might not be visible on the surface of your fish but it is probably still in it's gills. I don't keep a qt tank running either, so when I battled ich I used a large 50 gallon rubbermaid to house all of my fish. It's a cheap way to cure a lot of fish at once. I do believe you though that the garlic and uv sterilizer may have helped a little. I decided to bite the bullet and run hypo so that I wouldn't have to worry about ich in the future. (hopefully)

 

[rcgates]

Please don't take how I word this wrong, I appreciate all feedback for future information.

I never said ich was gone from my tank, just that all is doing well and at this time it's under control. The fish all eat very well. Once I have a QT bought and running so I can add fish again, I'll find out about the ich.

 

[ahullsb]

I just read my post. Sorry I didn't mean it to be condescending or anything. I just wasn't sure if you were aware that it can be there and come back at anytime. Many people have "lived" with it and haven't reported any problems with their fish. I was always just worried that it would come back to haunt me. (it's my luck)

 

[Liszie F.]

Hi guys. I'm leaving for the airport in about 2 hours, so I've got to make a decision about what to do. I think I am going to move the quarantined fish back to the DT. I taught my sitter how to feed garlic, and she's going to call me if it starts to get worse.
Thanks for all your help.

Liszie