Possible ich outbreak!!!! HELP!!

[yz250motoxrider]

few white spots on my trigger and hippo tang. They have been there for two days now and the tang is scratching on the rock. I noticed the spots on the trigger about 1hour after i added 200snails. Could the snails have caused the ich? Now the most important question. its a 300gallon tank and i feel i should treat all fish just in case. I have 6 fish 3 of which are 6inches. Could i treat the tank with hyposalinity as i have no other option?

Thank you

 

[b0bab0ey]

The snails could have transferred the Ich parasite to your tank. Think of it as a sort of "hitchhiker" on their shells. But white spots could also mean Velvet or even Brook, both of which are immune to hypo. And hypo will kill any inverts/corals, including your 200 snails. You need to treat all the fish but I would do it in a separate QT unless you have another plan for your inverts.

 

[yz250motoxrider]

Well I could buy one of those horse troughs from tractor supply put all my live rock and snails in it. Put PVC pieces in the display tank. This way I could treat the display tank with hypo and not harm anything else. The problem is if I move the fish to the trough I can’t observe them during treatment. And I can’t buy a 150gallon aquarium for $120. Does this sound like an acceptable idea if it is ich? Also how do I tell its ich and not one of those other diseases you mentioned?
Thank you

 

[yz250motoxrider]

I just looked up velvet i dont think its that. It said the flakes are gold and once its on the skin its almost to late. My fish show no signs of distress aside from the blue tang scratching on the rocks

 

[snorvich]

When did you add your last fish?

 

[yz250motoxrider]

6 months ago. And they came from a tank with no history of ich. to make this even worse i ordered a saddleback grouper about a day before the suspected ich outbreak. So now i have quarentine him seperate from everyone for 8 weeks.

 

[b0bab0ey]

Well I could buy one of those horse troughs from tractor supply put all my live rock and snails in it. Put PVC pieces in the display tank. This way I could treat the display tank with hypo and not harm anything else. The problem is if I move the fish to the trough I can't observe them during treatment. And I can't buy a 150gallon aquarium for $120. Does this sound like an acceptable idea if it is ich? Also how do I tell its ich and not one of those other diseases you mentioned?
Thank you

I'm not real familiar with horse troughs, but I Googled it and I guess that would work so long as there's no metal inside. One of those plastic above the ground ponds would accomplish the same thing or even a kiddie pool. Just be sure you have good water circulation going in there, do WCs and modify your lighting if you have corals.

Ich if definitely white and looks like fine salt sprinkled all over the fish's body. If it is Ich, hypo will do the job so long as you're able to keep your SG at 1.009 without *any* fluctuations.

 

[yz250motoxrider]

Its def ich then the spots are very defined and look like salt however there arnt very many. The hippo only has one spot that i can see the niger trigger probly has about 8. 1 spot on the clarki and no spots on the sixline grouper, sailfin tang, and cream angel.

 

[yz250motoxrider]

How long do i need to keep the fish in hyposalinity. Opinions are very greatly on this. What is the general rule of thumb?

 

[b0bab0ey]

How long do i need to keep the fish in hyposalinity. Opinions are very greatly on this. What is the general rule of thumb?

Read here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991470

 

[yz250motoxrider]

Will hypo kill the bio filter

 

[b0bab0ey]

Will hypo kill the bio filter

That's a damn good question. I was always under the impression that hypo would kill all/most live bacteria in LR, sponge filters, etc. But I've seen people argue on here that it doesn't. I'll be tagging along for the general consensus.

 

[asonitez]

i could swear that i hypoed in my main display after removing corals ONLY and my LR lived thru it just fine. I need some more input.

 

[yz250motoxrider]

good to hear did you have any ammonia problems? Do you think an algae scrubber will make it through the prosses?

 

[sandwi54]

Hypo would not kill bio filter. It may retard them somewhat so you could have ammonia issue. I never had ammonia issues with a mature bio filter in hypo, though I did with cupramine.

 

[yz250motoxrider]

thanks now i just have to figure out how to get 200 dwarf cerith snails out of the tank

 

[yz250motoxrider]

im wondering if this is really ich. The fish arnt breathing heavy and there still eating like crazy. the spots on the trigger are still there tho its been 4 days. but there has been no increase of spots. The hippo tang has only one or two spots. If this was ich wouldnt the tang have it all over him?

 

[sandwi54]

well, not necessarily. if the fish is healthy, it would be able to resist most of the ich attack and only get mild infections.

why don't you just get the two fish out of the DT and put them into QT for cupramine or hypo treatment? that seems to be a lot easier than trying to get 200 snails out.

 

[yz250motoxrider]

Iv finally got the sg down to 1.009. the other day i noticed a white cottony patch on my saddleback grouper. Looks very similar to a white patch on my freshwater pbass i cured with malichite green. Can i uses malichite green with hyposalinity safely. I cant transfer to qt tank.

 

[yz250motoxrider]

this is very agervating! Im 12 days into the treatment and i still see ich on the trigger and tang a salinity of 1.0085 seems to have no effect. Has this happened to anyonesle?