LFS fish has ich?

[romsoccer12]

i think it was a naso. it was absolutely COVERED in white blotches and spots. i asked if it was ich and they said it wasnt ich, and it was just a stress response. the fish was swimming very strange and what seemed to be biting the air. it had a big white line on its tail that seemed to be cutting it off. what scares me is i was thinking about buying a fish in that tank until i realized that fish. none of the other fish in the tank had any white spots and where swimming around. is my LFS right about it being a stress response and not a disease or is it something to worry about?

 

[jadeguppy]

Many stressed fish, especially tangs will break out in ick when stressed. My first instinct is that the person you talked with is either unfamiliar with ick or being dishonest. Of course, without seeing the fish I can't be sure.

 

[mcarroll]

Just to say it: we're diagnosing something based on the account above (not sure what kind of fish it was?), nothing more....not even something we've seen in a pic.

Having said that, I'll throw my $0.02 in and say that "blotches" or "spots" are not how I or most newb's I come into contact with describe ich.

I'd suggest that a color change due to stress is likely. Flatworms are another possibility - they cause skin irritation which can manifest in ways that fit the description we're given. (Flat worms like this are usually very easy to cure and are not fatal except maybe in extreme cases. FWIW, I've never seen a fatality from them and have not had a problem curing a fish using a simple freshwater dip.)

I would have no problem leaving such a fish at the LFS for a fews days. Go back and see how he looks/behaves after that. Before purchase I'd also be quite sure what kind of fish it was.


Good luck!
-Matt


P.S. Anyone have an interesting favorite book for fish identification? I use the PocketExpert Guide by Scott Michaels quite a bit, but I'm just not familiar with everything else out there.

 

[sunsetSPS]

I've seen ich in ALL of LFS I have visited. Meaning that they will always have ich (parasite) in the fish they sell, as I don't think they can close their stores for at least 2 months to fallow their systems.

 

[evsalty]

Small Naso's will tend to have blotchy light colored spots even with the slightes scare and when the lights go out and such. One of my LFS's always gets groups of 2"-3" Naso's and they all look like that in the tank together. My baby Vlamingii looks like a badger or racoon when he gets ****ed or scared.

 

[evsalty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15224613#post15224613 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcarroll
Just to say it: we're diagnosing something based on the account above (not sure what kind of fish it was?), nothing more....not even something we've seen in a pic.

You probably missed it but the first sentence says it was a Naso.

 

[mcarroll]

Right: Ich is part of the environment where these fish are from and can be presumed to come in with every new fish a store gets. Ich's presence only becomes a problem when they (and the fish) are transitioned to aquarium living (oceanic vs. tiny water volume) and are the fish are stressed to the point that their natural resistances have faded...not uncommon enough in fish that have just been caught and shipped half way around the world. Ich capitalizes on these two things to become able to overwhelm an otherwise healthy fish.

A healthy, unstressed fish will not have a problem with ich.

-Matt

P.S. Check this out.

 

[mcarroll]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15224676#post15224676 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by evsalty
You probably missed it but the first sentence says it was a Naso.

Not to get off the point, but it actually says: "i think it was a naso." Emphasis mine.

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

(I guess double posts eventually happen to everybody...even post-dialup. )

 

[romsoccer12]

it wont live 2 days, it was in horrible shape. my LFS treats and qt's all the fish for 2 weeks before selling them so i somewhat trust them. i dont trust them because they once told me i could put a lyretail wrasse in my 29gallon (which i didnt do)

 

[toonces]

I always assume any fish I get at an LFS has ich and quarantine it appropriately.

What sunsetSPS said is pretty much spot-on.