Possible Ich

[jharler]

HELP!

This afternoon I finally got a good look at the coral beauty after he's been hiding for the past week and a half and I was shocked by what I saw. His tail fin looks like it's been chewed on and his left side fin is half gone! Not to mention he still has white spots on him.

Well, that was the final straw. I went straight to the pet store, bought a 10g QT tank and some copper. I eventually caught all three fish, which was a pain because I had to drain the tank 2/3rds of the way empty before I could net them. They are all three in the QT with 1/2 tank water and 1/2 new water, some PVC pipe to hide in, a 100 gph powerhead and a heater. I've dosed some copper.

Here are some pictures of the coral beauty:

You can't see in the pictures, but his left fin is half the size of the right. It doesn't seem to be affecting him much, he's able to swim and stay steady. You also can't see the white specs due to the flash.

I have no idea what else I can do. I'm going to dose copper and keep all three in the QT for 6 weeks. Any help anyone can offer will be much appreciated! Help me save my fish.

:sad2:

 

[White Tiger]

Has the fish been shedding whitish slime?

How is the quality of your display tank water?

 

[jharler]

I have not noticed any whitish slime and there isn't any on him currently.

I just ran through the tests:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
pH: 8.3

I just did a water change the other day, and also another one today to half fill the QT, but my Nitrates haven't been higher than 15 before my weekly water changes. I also have calcium and alk tests but didn't test them. Last time I did (< 2 weeks ago), calcium was at 370 and KH was at 10.2.

 

[Reef4Fun]

yes, please keep us posted. my tang is still covered in a very fine version of the ich, it was large and raised a lot. she is still doing just great, eats wonderully and swims around like she owns the tank. i credit a lot of her success to soaking the dried seaweed in garlic juice and putting it on a veggie clip, everyday. that has kept her eating very well and helped her get well. i also lowered the salt in the tank and raised the temp.

 

[jharler]

Glad to hear your fish is doing better. Wish I could say the same.

Should I be lowering the salinity while I have them in quarantine? If so, what should I lower it to?

 

[Freed]

You shouldn't lower the salinity AND dose copper. You should either do copper OR hypo for ich. Hypo is the easier of the two and has the least potential for ill effects though.

 

[jharler]

So instead of dosing the copper, I should just lower the salinity of the water? Is that more effective?

 

[jharler]

I just fed the QT some garlic soaked pellets. The two clownfish ate like little pigs, but the coral beauty didn't seem interested. Not a good sign, I'm sure.

 

[Freed]

If it is ich that they have, hypo is easier to do. With copper you must test for copper levels more often and add copper so often from what I understand. With hypo all you have to do is drop the salinity down to 1.009 over a couple of days and keep it there for at least 4-6 weeks. This doesn't hurt the fish at all. Keep an eye on alk and pH as usual. Salinity is easily kept at 1.009 with regular top offs. If you do a water change in the QT make sure the change water is at 1.009 before changing.

 

[jharler]

I'm fairly positive they do have ich, but that doesn't explain the damage to the coral beauty.

 

[Reef4Fun]

Yes, you should lower the salinity of the tank to 1.012 and leave your fish in the tank for 2 weeks. Also, raise the temp, I keep mine on between 81 - 83, feed everything soaked in garlic, it helps so much and they love it, it keeps them eating.

 

[jharler]

The salinity is currently 1.025, how should I go about lowering it? Just do 1-2g water changes daily with 1.012 water until it hits it?

I had planned on keeping the fish out of the display for at least 6 weeks to make sure any ich in it has died off. How long should I keep the salinity so low?

 

[Freed]

You must lower to 1.009 Any higher and ich can/will survive. You must also run hypo for NO LESS THAN 4-6 weeks. Please do a search on RC for proper hypo procedures. The threads will explain the need for 1.009 and also the need for no less than 4-6 weeks. You can drop the salinity in a couple of days by doing larger water changes until you hit the target of 1.009 but take at least a couple of days to drop it that far.

 

[White Tiger]

Based on the pictures and your reply, I have concluded that your fish did not sustain the injuries from bad water quality, fungus, or brooklynella. What could have happened was that your healthy fish was starting to pick on the weak and defenseless angel. In some reported cases, clowns have been know to pick on other fish.

 

[jharler]

I will do some research on the subject, thanks.

White Tiger, you don't think this could be fin rot? I have not noticed any aggressive behavior from the clowns. The tank is in my office where I spend about 10-14 hours per day and I'm always looking over to watch them. They were not aggressive in the few hours they were in the QT today either.

I just checked out the QT with my night flashlight. The CB is lying on his side at the bottom. He's still breathing, but he doesn't look well. I don't expect him to be alive tomorrow.

 

[jharler]

Unfortunately, the poor little guy passed away. I appreciate everyone's help. I still plan on treating the two clowns to make sure they are parasite free.

 

[White Tiger]

The reason why I didn't think that your fish had fin rot was because your water quality was not horrible. Fin rot is usually caused by bad water quality. Occasionally it can be caused by a bacterial infection. However, after I posted my last response I started thinking that fin rot was a possibility. Now I am sure it was fin rot since your fish already had ick. Because your fish had ick, it would have been more susceptible to a bacterial infection that would have caused fin rot, so sorry about my incomplete diagnoses.

 

[Reef4Fun]

I am really sorry about your fish. I am thinking more than likely your other fish will not get sick, because it sounds like the ich was brought on from stress, just as my tangs was. Just keep a close watch and treat them as you said, just in case. Oh, and it is best to lower your salt to the 1.009 as Freed said, if you are only treating the fish with a lower salt and a higher temp and soaked food in garlic. But I said lower to 1.012 because you were treating with other things as well. I just wanted to clear that up in case you needed the info. Good luck, please keep us posted.

 

[jharler]

I read that fin rot could be brought on by stress, such as the stress of acclimating to a new tank. Is that information wrong?

If the coral beauty had ich, doesn't that mean that my clowns very likely have caught it, even if they aren't displaying symptoms?

I'm going to lower the salinity and raise the temp for 6 weeks. After the clowns are out of quarantine and I get a new fish, should I go through the same process (lower salinity, raise temp)? Or should that be reserved only when something is noticed?

 

[Freed]

It is very possible that your other fish could have contracted the ich parasite as well even if the signs aren't visible. Ich could be on their gills right now or on the bottom and you won't see them there. You should treat them in QT for 4-6 weeks if they were in the same tank as the coral beauty even though you can't see the signs of ich. If you do see ich while they are in QT you can then lower the salinity but you must look them over closely every day so you don't miss any salt grain size spots which may appear one day and may be gone the next. If you do see ich, then you would treat with hypo. Then, from the very last day that you see ich in hypo, treat for 4-6 weeks.