Marine ich?

Holedup82

New member
I had a porcupine puffer before who had this same issue same tank water params are 0 am, 0 nitrite, 50 nitrate post water change last night. The tank has been cycled since Jan other porc got this same thing tank was fallow since early march aprox 13 weeks, this guy was in qt tank for 10 days with no signs of this till I put him in this tank.... Help! I treated the last porc in ht using hyposalinity thinking this was ich and he still passed. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1369886119.208468.jpg
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10 days is not nearly enough time in the QT. That isn't even half of ich's life cycle. I'd read the ich stickies at the top of the disease forum. Knowing the ich life cycle is vital.
 
I have read the stickies and yes I know it is not. However the LFS had him alone in a display tank running separate from their large holding system for 4 weeks( yes I know he was alone because I tend to spend every other day there) the four weeks that they had him he showed no signs of illness. Hence I felt 10 days in observation on top of 4 weeks was ample time. He was the only fish to go into my DT and he had no signs until 4 days into the DT. However the stickies did point out that velvet is the more likely diagnosis not ich. If this is the same as my previous porc. Would explain why hypo did not work.
 
I have read the stickies and yes I know it is not. However the LFS had him alone in a display tank running separate from their large holding system for 4 weeks( yes I know he was alone because I tend to spend every other day there) the four weeks that they had him he showed no signs of illness. Hence I felt 10 days in observation on top of 4 weeks was ample time. He was the only fish to go into my DT and he had no signs until 4 days into the DT. However the stickies did point out that velvet is the more likely diagnosis not ich. If this is the same as my previous porc. Would explain why hypo did not work.

The fish may have been alone in the LFS, but I'll bet water circulated from tank to tank. There are dozens of possible ich contamination possibilities in any LFS.

What sticky pointed out the velvet idea? If this was velvet, the fish would be dead by now. No fish with velvet is going to survive hypo, velvet is a quick killer. The Porc in the pic (how poetic) has ich and it almost certainly came from the lfs. I don't care if ANY LFS holds fish for a year. I would never put that fish into my system without my QT regimen. You're denying the obvious. Like the old expression: "When you hear hoof-beats, think horses, not zebras.
 
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Like I said it was a completely different tank than their main system. no comnection at all except using the same ro/di to make water. anyways the ich vs velvet sticky explains the differences and I think you are confused I've had two porcupines one passed almost 6 months ago the disease started off a what looked like grains of sand on the fins and got progressively worse in a separate ht until the entire body was literally covered in a white film. I tried using hyposalinity in that case obviously it did not work as it should have if the porc had ich. The second porcupine was the one in his own happy tank all by his lonesome not connected to any other tank in the lfs that I spend my free time at. I am neither new to this hobby so observing a fish in what equates to QT for 4 months with no sign of illness then 10 days in my home QT tank should have been sufficient. At least IMO. I apologize if my posts seem short but I'm not here to be chastised I have been in this hobby a few years yes I know what ich looks like yes I know the life cycle however even using a respectable treatment method I was not able to save the first porcupine, I don't like using copper period of I don't have to
 
So sorry back to a computer now....I am not trying to come across as a jerk just perplexed and trying not to loose my girlfriends fave fish. I have a 30 gallon DT as well that ive never had issue with so yes my QT procedure works at least for me am i lucky that I have a lfs owner as a best friend probably. Where I can observe a fish for weeks on end in a veritable QT in his office. so hence 4 weeks when the typical QT would be 2 or 3 weeks at most
 
sorry just caught the horse saying lol, IF you think it is ich and its literally seems the same as the previous porcs symptoms. I know hypo didnt work the last time...I would rather not use Cupramine but i have it, I could try Tank xfer however that would require the use of my DT, Current QT/HT, and breaking down a home made sump so it can be used as a third tank...and i believe there is a tank transfer sticky for the procedure.
 
I tend to come across pretty strong and posts like yours are so common and usually newcomers or folks doing anything possible to avoid a QT. I wasn't trying to chastise; that's just my nature. But you explained most of my comments. But IMO & IME; there just is no substitute for using your QT, in your house, and properly quarantining all of your fish. I can think of a zillion ways the porc at the LFS could have been infected with ich. Little kids wandering fingers, I've seen (many times) that a lfs does not have separate nets of specimen containers for all fish, I've seen fish fed from a paper cup and the employee dips the cup into tanks to get more water in the food cup, etc., etc,. I will never trust any LFS to substitute for my own quarantine protocol. FWIW; I have about 1000 gals of DTs in my house and haven't seen ich in any of them in about 20 years. I buy all my fish online and always will. DD, possibly the best source of fish on the planet, strongly suggests you quarantine their fish.

I once had a video, made by a Realtor, showing the employees of a huge, well known east coast LFS opening for the day. You could easily spot several practices that could move forms of ich anywhere. Things only a hobbyist would notice. BTW; Brute plastic containers are fine for tank-transfer and Craigslist is full of cheap stuff. But I would use Cupramine as I have on all my puffers; but at a lower dosage and longer duration than what's on the bottle. .35-.40 ppm for 6 weeks and introduced over about a week.
 
Just treat it with Cupramine (not a fan), Hypo, or other method mentioned. No point in trying to pinpoint ground zero. Need to leave tank fallow for awhile.
 
Great I've got him in the ht using cupramine I dosed it lower than the bottle said i hit it at .35 ill work it slowly to .4 as per tuskfish the DT will be fallow until late August checking cu again tomorrow just running a hob filter with no carbon heater and an airstone anything I'm missing?
 
I've switched teams on the bacteria starters and think Dr. Tim's or Bio-Spira would be a big help if you don't have well-seeded filter media.
 
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