Not sure what to make of this

bat21

bat21

New member
Unfortunately I can't get a photo of it that is clear enough. It's my orange occelaris clownfish. My first, and largest fish. I have noticed what I can only describe as a section of his scales looking SLIGHTLY rough. I don't want to say bumpy, but there are slight variations in the smooth orange that sort of look slightly lighter under the light. So subtle that my wife thinks I'm completely crazy. I noticed this over the past couple weeks.

Ok, cut to last night, and I saw her one time scratch herself on the sand. And now today it looks like there is a slightly white looking spot behind her fin. None of it looks anyting like ich. I see nothing on any of the other fish. But I am slightly concerned. I convinced myself the texture I saw was nothing, but that one sand scratch and now this spot has me worried its definitely something.

So, what should be my first course of action. Just quarantine her immediately? I have prazipro, and was considering just treating the whole tank (its a fowlr) so that if any of the other fish may have it, they can get treatment as well.

Or I was thinking of a freshwater dip, but this scares me as I've never done it, and in experimenting before, I had trouble getting a perfect PH match with my saltwater.

The last thing is, I am supposed to have a new fish coming from BZ this week. Luckily they called tonight and said the shipment was delayed, so I could maybe cancel it, so that I have my QT available to treat the clown.

Tell me what I should do.
 
I will try to get a picture again tonight, but my camera just isn't good enough and the clown is just too squirmy. And like I said, it's very subtle.

So here is what I'm thinking. I was planning on running my new wrasse through prazi in QT anyway, so what I might try is to first do a freshwater dip with the clown and see how she responds. And then if she is still scratching or the spot is still there, I will put her in with the wrasse in my QT and run them both through prazi and then observe for a month in there.

I'm 99% sure it's not ich, but if it is, then the whole tank's infected anyway, so I will eventually see symptoms on some other fish.

Does this seem like a reasonable plan?

If so, can you point me towards a resource with exact instructions for a freshwater dip? I know what to do in theory, but it would be my first time, and don't want to mess it up and kill my oldest fish.
 
What are you trying to accomplish with a fresh water dip????? Useful for diagnosing flukes and providing temporary relief of velvet and brook but will have no effect on ich.


To carry out a freshwater dip:
1. Take some freshwater (RO is best) and heat it up to the same temperature as the tank
2. Adjust the pH of the freshwater to match the tank using a commercial pH buffer.
3. Catch the fish and pop it into the freshwater bath, watch the fish carefully and be prepared to remove it if it becomes very distressed. Normally 3 minutes in a freshwater bath will dislodge most parasites; this can be extended to five minutes.
4. Catch the fish and put it back into the tank. Do not pour the freshwater back in the tank as this may introduce any parasites back into the display tank.
 
I don't think it's ich based on what I'm seeing. I can't get a clear still picture, but I took a video. Like I said, its very subtle, but you can sort of see very slight roughness on the right side orange section behind the front white stripe.

set the video on 1080p for best quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udodYw4v2AQ

It's been there for a long time and hasn't changed. My wife thinks it's no different than she ever looked, and I'm honestly not sure if she always looked like that or not. I certainly didn't notice it obviously appear one day and her behavior and appetite never changed at all. The thing that has gotten me worried is the scratching ive observed in only the last two or three days, which may in fact be the only symptom.

Does this video show anything?

(thank you for trying to help)
 
Looks to me like the scales under the side fins on the left side of the fish are "rough" looking a bit Is this what you are talking about?
 
Dkuhlmann said:
Looks to me like the scales under the side fins on the left side of the fish are "rough" looking a bit Is this what you are talking about?
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a tiny bit behind the left fin, and a bit on the right side behind the front stripe. It's so subtle. And as you see in the video, she's acting normal, and she is also still eating like a pig.

The only thing that got me posting about this is the scratching. Could that just be nothing? That's why I was considering a freshwater dip, but I don't know what I'm doing, so I defer to you more experienced people.
 
I'm not sure what to make of it and I was hoping that one of the others would have known. I did however see what you're talking about. I would lean more towards Melafix and Pimafix treatments. BUT there are others here more in the know than I am and I was really wishing one of the above had seen it too.

Like I said I see it but only for a second and didn't even see the one on the right side. The one on the left is much more evident. If this were a fluke you would actually see the white fluke, to me this is more of an abrasion than anything.
 
Thanks Dk. Does anyone else think those meds are worth a shot? Or should I not try anything until I notice her behavior or appetite affected in some way? I'd obviously rather not medicate in any way, but I also don't want to wait too long if I do need to.
 
It's not a good practice in general to medicate if you don't know what you are treating for. IME, neither Pimafix nor Melafix do anything (in fact, API couldn't tell you specifically which bacterial/fungal strains they treat). If you're going to treat for bacterial infections, use a broad spectrum antibiotic like kanamycin or Furan-2 in lieu of those. That is, IF you see signs of a bacterial infection - which I don't see from the video.

As far as the scratching goes - did this happen once, or is the fish scratching/flashing frequently? Also, how do you quarantine new acquisitions?
 
I have basically observed her scratch the sand 1 or 2 times a day for the past 3 days. So its definitely not frequent, but I went from never seeing her do it in 5 months, to 3 (or 4) days in a row. I actually just saw her do a small scratch as I was writing this.

In terms of quarantine, the firefish I added 3-4 weeks ago was the first fish I quarantined. A 5.5 gallon barebottom uncycled tank with a hob filter. Just did 4 weeks of observation, no prophylactic treatments of any kind.
 
Deinonych said:
It's not a good practice in general to medicate if you don't know what you are treating for. IME, neither Pimafix nor Melafix do anything (in fact, API couldn't tell you specifically which bacterial/fungal strains they treat). If you're going to treat for bacterial infections, use a broad spectrum antibiotic like kanamycin or Furan-2 in lieu of those. That is, IF you see signs of a bacterial infection - which I don't see from the video.

As far as the scratching goes - did this happen once, or is the fish scratching/flashing frequently? Also, how do you quarantine new acquisitions?
Click to expand...

I agree, and if you don't have enough common sense to treat according to what is wrong with your fish you probably shouldn't have them. General statements are just that general statements. If you take it to the bank then you didn't do your just diligence to find out if it was what you were asking for.

People, don't take everything so literally here on this site or any other site you are on. If you ask for advice and it's given take it for what it's worth. what you paid for it.

Not one person here is trying to steer you in the wrong direction myself included. We all give you the best "GUESS" advise on what is stated in your thread. Again, don't take everything word for word, and yes this is why I'm saying this as Deinonych you did just that.
 
I'm confused by that post and not sure if it's aimed at me or not. All I'm doing is the most amount of diligence possible. Ask the opinions of those more experienced than I and answer any questions they have. 3 people have graciously tried to help and I am grateful. I understand it's hard to diagnose your own fish, let alone someone else's you can't see except for a 30 second video.

My current conclusions are that based on the video and what I have described (infrequent scratching), none of you seem overly concerned, so I should probably employ a wait & see approach to see if anything changes. Please tell me if you think otherwise.

Thanks!
 
bat21 said:
My current conclusions are that based on the video and what I have described (infrequent scratching), none of you seem overly concerned, so I should probably employ a wait & see approach to see if anything changes. Please tell me if you think otherwise.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Sometimes the best course of action is to simply observe, but be prepared to treat if symptoms warrant.
 
Dkuhlmann said:
Not one person here is trying to steer you in the wrong direction myself included. We all give you the best "GUESS" advise on what is stated in your thread. Again, don't take everything word for word, and yes this is why I'm saying this as Deinonych you did just that.
Click to expand...

Sorry you felt I was calling you out. Wasn't my intent.
 
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