Quick help! Is this ich? Flame Angel

[eholceker]

The problem is that you do not know if cysts have already fallen off and reside "on the ground".

This would be the biggest issue if you have a case of ick that goes past the normal time frame, but wouldn't you think if you have a an established reef tank why not go ahead to give it a try before ripping apart an entire tank to get all the fish out.

 

[snorvich]

The problem is that you do not know if cysts have already fallen off and reside "on the ground".

This would be the biggest issue if you have a case of ick that goes past the normal time frame, but wouldn't you think if you have a an established reef tank why not go ahead to give it a try before ripping apart an entire tank to get all the fish out.

Which is why I strongly recommend quarantining all fish using the fish introduction and acclimation writeup in my blog. Once a fish is introduced into a tank carrying a parasite, the tank has the parasite. Fixing a parasite problem in an existing reef tank (or even fish only tank) is tricky at best, impossible at worst unless the tank is allowed to go fallow.

 

[MrTuskfish]

When ich isn't caught and cured in the QT; it is always a giant pain to cure. I think its a safe bet to assume that if you see ich "spots", you already have ich cysts in the tank. The spot isn't the actual parasite, which is "in", not "on" the fish. Ich is impossible to see in the gills, a favorite point of entry. Because ich trophonts only stay in the fish 3-7 days, it seems almost certain that there are developing cysts that may not become free-swimming for as long as 9 weeks. The bottom line, is always "don't use a QT and you'll pay the price sooner or later" . Although this is not really on topic; I think its unrealistic to expect to save every fish from a badly ich-infested DT.