Is this Ich?

If I was convinced one fish had ich I would take them all out. The clowns should be easy to catch when they are sleeping, at least they have been for me.

If it is ich, all fish in the tank must be treated and the tank left fallow for 12 weeks ideally.

This x2

Since you only have a few fish, tank transfer is a great option. I personally wouldn't do hypo because it has a very slim margin for error. Tank transfer is nearly foolproof.
 
If I was convinced one fish had ich I would take them all out. The clowns should be easy to catch when they are sleeping, at least they have been for me.

I think catching the clowns would be easy too, they practically swam into the net with curiosity when I was going after the angel last night.

The little blenny may be difficult (wickedly fast), although he is super curious and a pig at feeding time, I might be able to get him during feeding.

The trouble is, in no way am I sure that it is ich. Some of the signs are there, but the spot doesn't really look like ich from photo's I've been looking at.

The spot is still there, I'd swear it's smaller (but that could be a trick of the light in the QT), and I have not seen her try and flick her flanks at anything in the QT tank in the couple of 15 minute observations I made late last night.

I will study her, (him?? How do I know), tonight and see if there are any changes.

How can I be sure that what the angel has is actually ich?

If it is ich, and it has got into my display system, what s the likely hood of the remaining fish in there showing signs of it so that I know for certain?

I want to be as sure as I can that what angel has is ich before I take the other fish out.

If it isn't, and it has something else, then by taking the rest of the fish into QTY with her I'm pretty much guaranteeing that whatever she has I'll give to the others whereas at the moment there's a chance she hasn't passed anything onto them or into the display.

Could I still have ich in there from the angel but never actually see any signs of it appear on the remaining fish, then one day add a new fish and wham - white spot?

Cheers.
 
here's what i would do...leave the angel in qt and start using the supplements. make sure you have some pvc in your qt for hidey holes as being able to hide will lessen stress. if this is just a matter of lympho, the spot will disappear within 4 weeks, give or take. also, i think the general consensus is that lympho isn't highly contagious so your other fish should probably be ok.

IF this turns out to be ich on your angel, your display tank is already infected and you will have to take further steps (qt/treat the other fish, leave tank fallow, etc.).

in a nutshell, observation for a while will be the least stressful way to go both for yourself and your fish. :)
 
Pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

Spot is smaller tonight.

Spoke to the shop today, they've no sign of ich in any if their systems at the moment and the tank it came from was full of blue damsels so would be an easy spot.

It's been in their tank for 3 weeks on hold for me and no signs of issues.

I sent him the photos and he thinks it may be an injury from a rock glance?

On the subject of the flicking against the weir he suggested it may be low ph.

I just tested and I'm just under 8 I think. It's now started swimming more erratically and flicking its head a bit. From reading, this could be a low ph issue?

It's in a bare 10 gallon QT with PVC pipe, air stone, filter and uv.

What can I do to raise ph? Seems they need 8.2 to 8.4.

Thanks.
 
A couple of things: the longer a fish is at the LFS, the greater the probability it will contract a parasite, and ich does not have to be visible to be present.
 
Ok, spot is still there, exact same place and this day 6.

PH is 8.

Watching tonight, no flashing, very active, seems desperate for food but not actually eating much when it 'sniffs' what it goes after.

Still some head twitching.

I look close and blow me, there's a damn hair coming out if it's mouth! It looks clear, almost like a very fine fishing line. I don't think its a worm. It was about a quarter inching when I first noticed, then it swam backward a bit and managed to spit a bit more out. It's about a half inch long now.

Seems from googling that fush eating hair isn't all that unusual. I wonder if this has been causing the head twitch.

I'll watch for a few more days, if it can't eject it itself I may net it and try and remove the hair.

Cheers.
 
if that spot is still there more than a couple days then it is more than likely lymphocystis as noted in prior responses. ich spots heal up very quickly.

not sure on that hair situation...
 
A quick update.

Flame has been with me for 11 days now.

I netted it after seeing the hair and reading a lot of people had similar thing online and netted and manually removed.

Once netted though, I just could not see the hair at all. I looked a couple of times then stopped as didn't want to cause further stress.

Once free swimming again I couldn't see the hair so assumed it either got caught in the net and came free, or was fully swallowed.

Couple of days later, the hair re-appeared - at the, ahem, "other end".

Last night, no sign of hair anywhere. hopefully it has been fully ejected.

As for the spot, last night was day 10. Spot is still there but barely visible and has lost it's bright white appearance, it's now just a tiny, barely visible grey spec. I'm tipping it will be gone in the next day or two but by way of reduction in size rather than dropping off as such.

No further flashing or scratching of head/gill area on pipes since the hair disappeared and feeding like a legend so I'm hoping it was the hair in the mouth that was causing the issues with not swallowing the food and with the head area flashing.

Still some minor head twitches though, very slight and very in frequent - like once a night. This could be a remnant of any damage done internally from swallowing the hair, or could still be something sinister going on I suppose?

I'll continue to monitor in the QT tank and see if anything breaks out over the next few weeks.

Cheers.
 
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