questions concerning ich

[yakfishin]

I have a flame angel in quarantine that I purchased exactly a year ago. After changing out some of his water last night, I noticed a whole bunch of white spots on him, he was literally covered from head to tail. I don't think that I ever saw a single spot when feeding him that morning. I'm thinking that in doing the partial water change I stirred up some detrius from the bottom that is just stuck in its slime coat, but I'm not positive. The tank is bare bottom, but there always seems to be "stuff" still at the bottom, despite the fact that I do siphon the bottom with each water change. He also didn't eat last night or this morning and he is usually quite a pig. But perhaps the water change and stuff getting stuck to him has put a damper on his appetite. The spots were greatly reduced this morning. I guess I'm trying to figure out if these are indeed ich spots or just particles caught on the fish from the water change, so I have a few questions to try to figure this out. Would ich have appeared with that many spots so quickly? From the time ich spots are first seen, do they reduce in number within the first day or do they multiply? How long do ich spots normally remain visble on fish from the time they are first noticed? Thanks.

 

[wrassler]

In my experience with Ick it doesn't come on that fast, but the fact that the fish isn't eating is a problem. Ick does fall off as a part of the life cycle, but in my experience it takes longer than overnite.

If the bottom was stirred up while adding water, you added the mix way too quick. This could have stressed the fish enough to have him fall to Ick.

Good luck.

 

[yakfishin]

Thanks- I didn't think it would appear that quickly either. I always figured that you may see a few spots and then the next day perhaps a good bit might be present. I'll try soaking some flakes in garlic this evening and see if that won't get his appetite back.