Ich?

[Ryan95i4]

I noticed that my black clownfish had a few white spots on him today before I left for work. I went to the LFS and had the water checked and he said the parameters were fine. I am looking at him now and the white spots have spread. There a few everywhere on his body now. Also, there are a few spots on my coral beauty, mostly on her fins.... What should I do? Is this ICH? What should I do to treat it?

Thanks for any help and advice.

 

[SilkyJ]

the white spots could be marine ich. Freshwater ich usually tends to be black spots, but marine ich leads to white spots.

You have a couple options to try if it is ich.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

I prefer trying to let my fish fight it off instead of hyposalinity or any sorts of dips. I feed more and feed with garlic.

Are your fish scraping up against rocks? That is a sure sign they have some sort of parasite.

 

[Ryan95i4]

well I looked at them this morning, and some of the spots seemed to have disappeared. I haven't really seen them brush up against some of the rocks though... they both seem to be acting normal. I think I'm gonna try to feed them a little more often though.... to see if this helps. Thanks for the tips.... I'll keep you posted

 

[kevin2000]

http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/marineich.html

 

[Ryan95i4]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13724514#post13724514 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kevin2000
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/marineich.html

Thank you for the link, this was a good read. It seems hyposalinity quarintine is the way to go to avoid future outbreaks.

As for our fish, they still seem to be doing fine. Still act and feed normal, and the white spots seem to come and go depending on what part of the day we're watching.

We first noticed the spots the day after adding a new sand sifting star and a yellow-headed goby. Nothing unusual about either of them though, no white spots or odd behaviors. Is it possible the goby was a host but showed no signs of infection? Or is it more likely just a coincedence since he appears fine?

 

[kevin2000]

In its early stages ich is just about invisible - no one purposely buys an ich infested fish but ich seems to be a very popular disease.

If one thinks about how the wholesale SW fish distribution system works its easy to see how so many fish carry this parasite - the wholesaler keep thousands of fish in an overcrowded tank - the fish are stressed (immune system low) and disease rapdily spreads.

 

[aquajunkie]

u gotta QT ur fish mang.... now ur whole tank is infected:

1. display fishless 30 days
2. copper treat fish.

 

[Ryan95i4]

Just an update, we didnt really do anything other than add some garlic to the brine feeders and a small water change (b/t 5-10%), but the fish are fine and we havent seen any of the white spots since my last post.

Fish are just as healthy as ever and no current signs of ich....


We have started a quarintine tank but havent used it for anything yet. Do you guys generally keep your quarinitne tanks running 24/7? I see mixed feelings on this...some say run it all the time, some say only set it up when you need it....we have been running it the whole time and lean towards this method unless someone suggests otherwise with good reason. We are just using two small HOB filters and live rock in a 10gal tank (main tank is just a 40g). Water has checked out fine, have a couple snails and hermits in there now.

 

[kevin2000]

There is no reason to keep a QT up running 24/7 - if you keep some sponge filter media tucked in your DT (or sump) you will have a readily supply of extra bio filter media ... setup up your QT with mature bio filter media and you have instant cycled tank.

 

[dfwatson]

10 gal tank

10 gal tank

I would not put any live rock or sand in your hospital tank, just some small links of pvc.