fish042099
New member
I got a racoon butterflyfish on saturday, and he has all these little white spots. What should I do?
Racoon butterflyfish with ich, what to do?
- Thread starter fish042099
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Dr Colliebreath
New member
Post in the Fish Disease Treatment forum, with complete information regarding the tank it is in; other tankmates; whether you have live rock, sand, or inverts such as shrimp, snails or crabs; water parameters; where the white spots are on the fish; are they on any other fish; are they like a powdered dusting or sale crystals, etc. Also, post pictures.
If it is not in a quarantine tank, you are going to need to move it to a quarantine tank (which you should have used from the outset) so you can treat the fish with meds (Cupramine seems like a possibility).
It is a lot of work and you must work quickly.
If it is not in a quarantine tank, you are going to need to move it to a quarantine tank (which you should have used from the outset) so you can treat the fish with meds (Cupramine seems like a possibility).
It is a lot of work and you must work quickly.
Osteoicthyes
New member
Hard lesson to learn.
If it's not in a quarantine tank it needs to be ASAP, along with all of the other fish who've now been exposed.
Your display tank will now need to sit a minimum if 6 weeks without any fish in it. The ich will die off within this time period without a host(fish).
Depending on the current condition of your fish(es) they may or may not survive treatment.
I, personally, have had good success with Cupramine. It's simple to use, requiring 2 doses over an 48hr period to reach full strength.
It's dosed at 1ml to 10.5 gallons the first day. After 48 hrs you will again dose at the same amount. The fish should remain in the copper for two weeks.
The main thing you need to avoid is overfeeding and overcrowding in the qt tank. I have a 15g with a large power filter to provide good water movement and aeration.
Also, there should be NO calcium bases material in the qt tank. It will cause the copper to fall out of solution if I understand correctly. I usually place PVC sections in there for the fish to hide amongst. Remember no calcium substrate.
If it's not in a quarantine tank it needs to be ASAP, along with all of the other fish who've now been exposed.
Your display tank will now need to sit a minimum if 6 weeks without any fish in it. The ich will die off within this time period without a host(fish).
Depending on the current condition of your fish(es) they may or may not survive treatment.
I, personally, have had good success with Cupramine. It's simple to use, requiring 2 doses over an 48hr period to reach full strength.
It's dosed at 1ml to 10.5 gallons the first day. After 48 hrs you will again dose at the same amount. The fish should remain in the copper for two weeks.
The main thing you need to avoid is overfeeding and overcrowding in the qt tank. I have a 15g with a large power filter to provide good water movement and aeration.
Also, there should be NO calcium bases material in the qt tank. It will cause the copper to fall out of solution if I understand correctly. I usually place PVC sections in there for the fish to hide amongst. Remember no calcium substrate.
Many useful stickies in the Fish Diseases Forum Please read them for best results. if you post there, you should be getting a lot of help.
fish042099
New member
I can't get him out he is too fast and he hides in the rock work 
fish042099
New member
Since there is just LR, i decided to qt him with the other fish in the display tank rather than a QT tank.
fish042099
New member
OK i'll be sure to do that. Next time would a sterilizer work?
fish042099
New member
No eels.
In your case, since you are using copper in the display tank, you are in effect turning it into a hospital tank.
The life cycle of this parasite is very important to understand. The stage where the parasite is attached to a fish is called a trophont. The trophont will spend three to seven days (depending on temperature) feeding on the fish and that is what you see symptomatically when you see "salt sprinkled on the fish". But, and this is a big but, if the trophont is in the gills, you will not see it. After that, the trophont virtually always leaves the fish, always at night, and becomes what is called a protomont. (In the initial stages of infection, the number of trophonts is relatively low unless the fish is introduced into a tank that has been breeding cryptocaryon for a long time; this means it is very easy to miss visual symptoms if any). This protomont travels to the substrate and begins to crawl around for usually two to eight hours, but it could go for as long as eighteen hours after it leaves it's fish host. Once the protomont attaches to a surface, it begins to encyst and is now called a tomont. Division inside the cyst into hundreds of daughter parasites, called tomites, begins shortly thereafter. This noninfectious stage can last anywhere from three to twenty-eight days (hence the three day transfer protocol in tank transfer) . During this extended period, the parasite cyst is lying in wait for a host. After this period, the tomites hatch and begin swimming around, looking for a fish host; the tomite stage is the life cycle stage that is vulnerable to copper treatment. Since fish in aquaria tend to sleep in the same location, it is very likely that tomites can reinfect the fish at night. This is why it is critical to test copper just before lights go out since tomites are the life cycle stage that can be eradicated via copper.
Note, that since you probably have live rock and substrate maintaining the proper therapeutic level of copper will be difficult although not impossible. At this point, the life cycle phase that is vulnerable to copper, they are called theronts, and they must find a host within twenty-four hours or die. They prefer to seek out the skin and gill tissue, then transform into trophonts, and begin the process all over again. What this means is that when your tank is infected, you can actually see symptoms during a very small part of the life cycle, and it is why your tank is infected even though your fish can be resistant. It will also explain why visual and/or behavioral symptoms come and go.
The life cycle of this parasite is very important to understand. The stage where the parasite is attached to a fish is called a trophont. The trophont will spend three to seven days (depending on temperature) feeding on the fish and that is what you see symptomatically when you see "salt sprinkled on the fish". But, and this is a big but, if the trophont is in the gills, you will not see it. After that, the trophont virtually always leaves the fish, always at night, and becomes what is called a protomont. (In the initial stages of infection, the number of trophonts is relatively low unless the fish is introduced into a tank that has been breeding cryptocaryon for a long time; this means it is very easy to miss visual symptoms if any). This protomont travels to the substrate and begins to crawl around for usually two to eight hours, but it could go for as long as eighteen hours after it leaves it's fish host. Once the protomont attaches to a surface, it begins to encyst and is now called a tomont. Division inside the cyst into hundreds of daughter parasites, called tomites, begins shortly thereafter. This noninfectious stage can last anywhere from three to twenty-eight days (hence the three day transfer protocol in tank transfer) . During this extended period, the parasite cyst is lying in wait for a host. After this period, the tomites hatch and begin swimming around, looking for a fish host; the tomite stage is the life cycle stage that is vulnerable to copper treatment. Since fish in aquaria tend to sleep in the same location, it is very likely that tomites can reinfect the fish at night. This is why it is critical to test copper just before lights go out since tomites are the life cycle stage that can be eradicated via copper.
Note, that since you probably have live rock and substrate maintaining the proper therapeutic level of copper will be difficult although not impossible. At this point, the life cycle phase that is vulnerable to copper, they are called theronts, and they must find a host within twenty-four hours or die. They prefer to seek out the skin and gill tissue, then transform into trophonts, and begin the process all over again. What this means is that when your tank is infected, you can actually see symptoms during a very small part of the life cycle, and it is why your tank is infected even though your fish can be resistant. It will also explain why visual and/or behavioral symptoms come and go.
fish042099
New member
The medicine doesn't have copper in it.
What medicine are you using? The only recognized treatments are: tank transfer, hyposalinity, or copper in some form.
fish042099
New member
Ich attack-reef safe treatment for disease caused by ich
LukFox
Active member
Unfortunately Ich Attack is a waste of money, and will do nothing to solve the problem... I've had great success with cupramine and even hypo for treating ich. I think hyposalinity would be your best shot in a DT, but you have to be adamant about topping water off to account for evaporation and test your salinity with a refractometer daily.
Yes, what she said. Ich Attack is worthless. Hypo would be the easiest (although not easy) to control. But make sure you maintain SG of 1.008/1.009 with a calibrated refractometer.
