Please help is this really ich???

[ibrat82]

Well I posted this yesterday that one of my clowns has a white fuzzy thing one one side of his body close to his tail fin and his tail fin is missing a piece in the centre like it was bit off. I also see a few spots on his tail fin. These two were together all the time and then now there on opposite sides of the tank. I also notice they do go at it once in a while. The other fish has no spots or any sign of disease.

I took him to the lfs and they think it's ich. This is a brand new tank literally 28 days old and the 2 clowns are the only living thing in that tank at the moment. All my water parameters are fine and even had the lfs check them.

What they recommended was to treat the dt since I have nothing else in it, no corals no inverts with cupramine by seachem.

Photobucket is down so I can't add images but here's my post from yesterday

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2554928


I don't know if this is the best idea because from pictures that I've seen it doesn't look like ich. I'll attach them again.

Please really need help. I'm new at this and it sucks that as soon as I get fish something horrible like ich happens.

Thank you for your help.

 

[gone fishin]

Do not treat the DT with Cupramine. If it is ich there are not any reef safe cures.

It does not sound like ich to me from your description. It could be the clowns are sorting out who the boss is. Look up lymphocytis that could be the fuzzy part on the fins. Also being clowns look up Brooklynella. Good luck

 

[gone fishin]

Just saw the pics. It is tough to tell but I am inclined to say no on the ich.

Just to follow up on the treating the DT. It is generally a very bad idea to treat the DT. some medications can kill off your bacteria colonies, some medications can get adsorbed into your rock and sand. Also it is difficult to maintain the proper treatment level if things are getting adsorbed.

 

[ibrat82]

It doesn't sound or look like ich based off symptoms and pictures I'm looking at online. Not sure if it's brooklinella. It's sound and looks more like lymphocytis. So to get this correct the best way to treat lymphocytis is to boost the immune system of the fish with garlic or vitamins and let it pass?

If this is ich how fast does it spread? I guess I should wait another day to see if this white fuzz spreads before making a decision to treat it.

Not sure if I'm doing the right thing

 

[ibrat82]

I was planning to get a cuc today. Should I hold off on that until this guy is better?

It doesn't sound or look like ich based off symptoms and pictures I'm looking at online. Not sure if it's brooklinella. It's sound and looks more like lymphocytis. So to get this correct the best way to treat lymphocytis is to boost the immune system of the fish with garlic or vitamins and let it pass?

If this is ich how fast does it spread? I guess I should wait another day to see if this white fuzz spreads before making a decision to treat it.

Not sure if I'm doing the right thing

 

[gone fishin]

To treat lymph good diet and water quality will take care of it, assuming the other clown is not stressing him out to much. It usually does not take long for clowns to sort out who the boss is.

If it is ich then the spots would go away in a couple days then reappear some time later. Brook is a relatively quick killer, within a couple days, if left untreated. Either one of these illnesses would require a QT/HT to treat.

At this point I am inclined to go with lymph. Lymph can take a little bit to clear up. I see no reason why you could not get your CUC today if you wanted. None of the above should have any affect on them. Good luck just my 2 cents.

 

[A.Astore]

You don't really have a reason to not go ahead with a CUC for the tank. Anything you would treat the clowns with you would want to do in a QT anyway because of sand/rock being in the display. If you end up determining it is ich you will have a whole approach to go through, all of which the CUC stays in the display tank for which fish remain in a different tank.

 

[mvallee_ma]

I would say you want to start with CUC before fish so yes now would be good and even if you pull the fish and put them in QT CUC will be good for your tank and sandbed, just need to feed a little.

 

[Sk8r]

WHile you're at it, get an alkalinity test, Salifert brand if you can find it, and tell us the following: your salinity, alkalinity, nitrate, ammonia, and temperature. If alk is off it can cause skin and gill problems. And tell us what size tank and what brand and model pump you have running it. In advance, the answer to the alkalinity should be 8.3, nitrate 20 or less, ammonia zero, and temperature a steady 79, with a 1.024 salinity that doesn't change. The CUC should be in 4 weeks before the fish.

 

[iluvmyfishes]

It sounds like you do not have a QT so I think you should treat the tank. Cupramine will treat a range of diseases so no worries if you aren't 100% sure. I would also recommend getting any other fish that you wanted while you are treating so they all get QT. After all the fish are healthy change the water, run carbon and let your tank run for a few weeks/months to make sure they stay healthy and the medication is out. Then you can add the inverts. FYI- you should also QT your inverts before you add them. Set up a bucket or small tank and hold them for however long it takes that makes you comfortable, some recommend 3-10 days, some 6 weeks or more. Just to make sure they don't carry anything in to the tank.

 

[Sk8r]

If you use copper in the dt you will nuke your live rock and sand. Never use copper in the DT. Treatment tank can be bare glass or a poly bucket, but do not treat the dt.

 

[ClownFishGuy6]

It doesn't look like ich at all. Ich is smaller and whiter. But if you see them to start scratching on rocks then I would start to definitely keep an Eye them and get them in a quarintine tank.

 

[ibrat82]

I doubted my lfs from the momen he told me over the phone he thinks it's ich, just based off what I described. Then when it took him to the lfs he and the "expert" checked the clown and said yup it's ich. It's not ich it's already going away. I'm glad I came here before dumping copper in my tank. Thank you to the good folks here. I don't see any of those small white spots on him it's just one small piece that was hanging from his back. It looks like he's getting better today it's not as noticeable. I've been soaking garlic in there food.

As for my water parameters here they are.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 8-10
Phosphate 0
Temp 77
Ph 7.7-7.9
Alkalinity was 101 ppm measured with a Hanna checker only to find out that the model is being recalled for bad regeant. So I bought a selifert today and it's saying its 3.2 dkh. REALLY IS MY ALKALINITY THAT LOW? I only have 2 fish in there and dry rock. What's eating all the alk? Does That seems really low. Does this mean it's time to start dosing alk?

 

[gone fishin]

Glad the fish is doing better. I doubt your alk is 3.2 dkh, I would try testing again and I would suggest running the test with the bottle of known alkalinity that comes with the kit.

Are you sure you read the proper column 3.2 meq/l would be around 9 dkh.