Please confirm if this is ich

[doodledreads]

Hi All,

I am new to the Saltwater but have a good deal of experience with Freshwater. I have loved it so far. I did not want to spend a whole bunch of money and got a tank from craigslist. The person selling it was getting out of fish keeping and I got a great deal. He included lot of stuff - lights, 30 g.tank, 406 Fluval, poweheads, live rock, an anemone a clown and bangai cardinal for about 150$. I also took the water that he had and set it up. This was a month ago. I added another clown, two yellow clown gobys, gave the cardinal away to my LFS, added some more live rock, sand, some critters and a zoa to the tank. The old clown was really active till the last week. He/She even accepted the new fish readily. The two clowns stay near the anemone and play a lot.

Since a week ago, the old clown started acting weird, it lost some of its color and vigor, hangs out at same spot all the time. It is eating well, (I feed them new life spectrum f1 in the morning and mysis + garlic guard in the evening) I observed there were white patches on the fish, I thought it could be ich but found no white specks on the gills or fins. I checked the ammonia(0 ppm) and nitrates(10 ppm). I would like a second opinion if this is actually ich. I plan to start hypo. I just bought a RO buddie. I dont want to lose my first clown. Any advice or suggestions please.

Oh. I did a water change last weekend. I used petco saltwater as I didnot yet have the RO.

Here is picture of him. Sorry for the potato quality.

Another:

Thanks Reefers.

 

[doodledreads]

Oops sorry for the gigantic images. Anyway just read the sticky about rules of posting:

1. How old is this aquarium?
It was three years old according to the person who sold it to me. I had it for a month.

2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level?
Ammonia is 0 ppm I tested it yesterday.

3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured?
1.025 - Refractometer
4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium?
Ten days ago.
5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How?
Unfotunately no. I do not yet have QT. Big mistake I know. I plan to get one.
6. If you are using a copper based medication, which one? How often do you measure level? When?
Dont plan to.
7. If you are using hyposalinity, how did you calibrate your refractometer?
Not yet started.
8. Please describe in detail, the appearance of the fish? If there is one or more pimples, are they lumpy? What color?
The color looks faded. The clown looks washed up. There are white pathes on the upper body.

9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish?
It is lethargic than usual. It used to be really curious. Now it hangs about in front of the anemone. Its mate is super active. It doesnot care about the light. Eats well. Stay near the sand - not the top.
10. Is the fish eating? What?
Yes. It likes new life spectrum pellets and sometimes eats mysis shrimp.

 

[SecretiveFish]

The images on my monitor are not clear enough to tell if it is ICH.

However, based on your description, it may be brooklynella. Does your ill fish look something like this? http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/Brooklynella1.JPG

If it is Brook, you need to act fast to save your fish. http://www.ultimatereef.com/articles/brooklynella/

If powdered sugar means a fine dust like appearance where you can't really distinguish individual dots then I would suspect Amyloodinium (velvet) or maybe Broklynella.

For treating this many fish against Cryptocaryon (ich) I would use hyposalinity over any medication, especially copper.

TTM would be my second treatment choice (1st prevention choice) against Cryptocaryon, but with this many and relatively large fish it may be hard to execute.

But neither hyposalinity nor TTM do anything against velvet, brook or all the other possible suspects.

So if the diagnosis is not with absolute certainty ich, I would recommend chloroquine phosphate (CP) as it kills all the possible suspects. With a FOWLR tank you could even use it in the DT - though it kills snails and several other inverts - read the chloroquine primer and Ich Shield threads.
You shouldn't use CP on pipefish and their relatives as they react negatively to it. Some wrasses have also been reported to be sensitive...

This was is the response ThRoewer gave me while I was trying to figure out what to do with my sick fish, and proved extremely helpful. I ended up treating with the NLS Ick Shield powder and my fish seem to have fully recovered after treatment.

 

[ThRoewer]

With a sick clownfish, especially ocellaris, percula and Premnas, brook is always the most likely candidate. Healthy clowns can harbor it in their gills for a long time without showing symptoms. But if their immune system gets compromised by stress or bad water quality the parasite can get the upper hand and spread all over the fish.

While CP is a good broadband treatment option if the diagnosis is unclear, I found formalin dips more effective to target brook.

 

[snorvich]

With a sick clownfish, especially ocellaris, percula and Premnas, brook is always the most likely candidate. Healthy clowns can harbor it in their gills for a long time without showing symptoms. But if their immune system gets compromised by stress or bad water quality the parasite can get the upper hand and spread all over the fish.

While CP is a good broadband treatment option if the diagnosis is unclear, I found formalin dips more effective to target brook.

I agree. Preferably returned to a "clean tank" afterwards.

 

[doodledreads]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The images on my monitor are not clear enough to tell if it is ICH.

However, based on your description, it may be brooklynella. Does your ill fish look something like this? http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/Brooklynella1.JPG

As I read more about the fish diseases, I decided it could be brook too.

It is not as bad as the image posted. The clown lost some oft its coloration its breathing is a bit faster than usual.

Anyway here is the update:

On Friday morning, the clown did not eat anything. It also looked worse than ever. I could not do a freshwater dip since I was late for work. I thought I lost him, but when I came home, he was still swimming. I quickly did a freshwater dip in RO water, dimmed the lights and prayed.


Saturday, he looked a bit more active. I purchased a 10 gal tank and other stuff to set up a QT tank. I also bought a torch coral :worried: The LFS owner is friendly, so I asked him about brook and what to do. He suggested to wait couple of days and if he is getting worse, then try prazi-pro dip and QT him. I decided to follow his advice.

Sunday morning, the clown got back some of its color. It is not much but it did not flash so much and was calmer. He even showed interest in the mysis shrimp and ate a couple of pieces.

Today, he ate a pellet and a piece of mysis shrimp. He looked better than how he looked on friday. My Qt is not yet ready. Should I still go through with QTing him? Or should I wait somemore?