K guys, need some help. PLEASE Ich? Velvet? :-(

[FSU3NOLES28]

Noticed last night my largest Clarkii Clown, and my Rusty Angel have quite a bit of dusty looking white speckles on them. My smaller Clarkii has a little, my pseudochromis and my little hippo has a touch on the top of them.

Only things I've done recently have been adding a harlequin shrimp and a few coral frags.

I made a post in the fish disease forum and they recommended FW dip, Formalin Dip, and then QT for 4 weeks.

Are these steps good ones to follow?

Few questions I still have... I have a good amount of corals in my tank, can they stay there or do I need to remove them?

If I setup a QT quick, I've read that I can just use fresh saltwater and that will be fine? I don't need a cycle?

Thanks. :-(

 

[aaronlp]

you can leave the corals in...as you remove fish and keep them in QT...the ick with go through a cycle and when it comes out and there is no fish in the tank they die off and you keep the tank with no fish for a month or 2

 

[pilotguy]

I had ich in November. I lost all my fish and waited 9 weeks before adding fish again. Ich does not effect corals or inverts however inverts can be carriers of Ich for the gestation period as Aaron said above. There is a lot of good literature out there on the web and on RC. I tried the fresh water dip method but I feel I was a little too late in attempting the dip.

 

[teamdulski]

In my experience the FW dip does more harm than good. Seachem Cupramine with a seachem or salifert copper test kit (in a QT) is by far the best ich treatment I have ever used.

This sounds like velvet(maybe mixed with ich), same treatment, but velvet moves so much faster and is much more lethal.

 

[hasek1639]

a QT should be bare bottom and no rock in it as copper will leach into it. since its a bare bottom setup there should be no huge cycle. I have a sponge from my DT that i move over to the QT. but a few pieces of PVC for the fish to hide. ich will disappear off the fish cause of the life cycle velvet will kill a fish very quickly. I have dealt with both. I wish you the best of luck it is not easy. I healthy fish will beat ich on its own without removal from the tank. So a picture would help make sure what you have.

 

[FSU3NOLES28]

Will try to get pics when I get home. Thanks for input guys.

Not a good past 24 hours that's for sure.

 

[FSU3NOLES28]

In my experience the FW dip does more harm than good. Seachem Cupramine with a seachem or salifert copper test kit (in a QT) is by far the best ich treatment I have ever used.

This sounds like velvet(maybe mixed with ich), same treatment, but velvet moves so much faster and is much more lethal.

So you think its best to take them out of the tank and put them directly into QT with Seachem Cupramine?

Do I have the Seachem Cupramine in the QT before I put them in or do I add it after I have the fish in there?

Also, when setting up QT do I use brand new saltwater mixed with RO/DI, a heater and powerhead? Is that enough?

 

[teamdulski]

That is what I would do.
Doesn't really matter, just make sure you have a good test kit and aim for the lower end of the recommended dosage.
A picture would really help.

 

[FSU3NOLES28]

They look better than yesterday but still not great.

Rusty Angelfish has some small white specks right near his eye.

 

[teamdulski]

QT asap

 

[tmz]

Looks like ich. Second infestation is a matter of days to a week . Then encysted parsites that just left the fish "hatch " in multiples of one two two hundred fold and look for a fish. Get hem out.
Tank transfer is my favorite option for ich. My not be totally effective forvelvet but this looks like ich.
New water slightly aged , at least a few hours with aeration after mixing. No cylcing required since you'll be moving the fish out in 3 days to the next tank. Alittle ammonia detoxifier on day 2 just in case is prudent.
Copper is good too but you can't use ammonia detoxifiers with it (it's lethal) and ammonia control can be a problem over the 14 day treatment.

In this case where a serious infestation is obvious, I'd do a formalin bath in tank water for 40 to 50minutes for some relief before palcing the fish in the qt tank. it may knock off some parsites still hanging on the fish or in it's gills. Kordon Foramlin 3 or Hikari ICH-X are good choices for formalin. They are diluted to 3% formaldehyde; more dilute than many of the other formalin meds which are around 37%. Dosing the more dilute stuff is easier for me and less likely to result in an overdose.A two gallon bucket of tank water with an small pump or powerhead or an airstone is all that is needed n along with 10ml of the 3% soution or if you have a37% product only .8ml to two gallons.

 

[jfl14609]

Jon I know you just moved tanks etc that may have soemthing to do with it. If you need a qt tank call me I have a few

 

[FSU3NOLES28]

Update:

Last night was a really late night, had to take Everything out of my tank to get all 5 fish out. Couldn't get a good read on copper levels and keep temp level where it had to be for quite a while in my qt but finally was able to get it to a good level so that I could add them.

Fish were very stressed for a while once I got them in, it was a sleepless night to say the least. I was up every 20 minutes it seems just checking on them. Today I can see a very good difference in color and movements. It's going to be a long few weeks but thank you for your help everyone.

 

[tmz]

Good luck.

 

[hasek1639]

thats great now the sad part is they will have to be qt'ed for about 5weeks if i remember cause thats life cycle in your DT so you will have to wait it out good luck.

 

[tmz]

Looked at the pics again. Could be amyloodinium(velvet) but that usually kills fast. In any case it also responds to copper. If theer's some brooklynella mixed in ,you'll need formalin . Copper only kills parasites with a free swimming phase

For clarity,an encysted ich parsite remained viable for as long as 72 days without fish in one study but theat was n cool water. Generally 6 weeks is the minimal fishless period used to clear a tank. Personally I go the 72 days.

 

[hasek1639]

thanks tmz for the correction i knew it was awhile cause i had it I went 3-4 months generally just to be safe then didn't have another issue after that.

 

[FSU3NOLES28]

Looked at the pics again. Could be amyloodinium(velvet) but that usually kills fast. In any case it also responds to copper. If theer's some brooklynella mixed in ,you'll need formalin . Copper only kills parasites with a free swimming phase

For clarity,an encysted ich parsite remained viable for as long as 72 days without fish in one study but theat was n cool water. Generally 6 weeks is the minimal fishless period used to clear a tank. Personally I go the 72 days.

I took some advice from others I talked to and put into QT with copper before I saw your above post. Is there something else I can do now since I didn't get any Formalin? I went to CF and they didn't have it and I knew I was in a hurry to get things rolling as this was later on Friday evening. Didn't have time to run anywhere else. I have no problems doing that this afternoon; just wasn't sure if there was a proper order to go in.

Sat AM at about 2am I finally got them into the QT after I got everything matched up fine. Basically transferred them from Display to a bucket with display water, then to QT with copper.

Noticed this am that my large clarkii has quite a few small white spots on him again :-(

I'm in between houses now, will actually just run with it til I get new tank cycled and then shut down my 55 when its safe to move my corals over. Then fish can come to new house and be in brand new setup once its up and running and they are fully cured in my QT.

 

[hasek1639]

FSU not sure where in rochester you are but if i remember correct Pet World on ridge has Formalin give them a call to check. But i remember it.

 

[FSU3NOLES28]

FSU not sure where in rochester you are but if i remember correct Pet World on ridge has Formalin give them a call to check. But i remember it.

Not far at all. I'll check it out. Thanks!