Real confused with Ich now???

[SammyL]

I was an idiot and did not quarintine my fish, a small out break of ish developed on my tangs.

I ripped tank apart, removed the fish to a emergency tank and immediately started copper treatment. I have been keeping the level at .5 over the last 4 weeks. Testing at least once a day.

All of the fish did well with the copper and all spots were gone with in a couple of days. Very active and eating very well since.

Getting excited to place the livestock back in the DT soon and I was monitoring the fish and I noticed my clown scratching on a pvc elbow, ***:furious:

What the heck is going on here......I have no idea.

 

[HumbleFish]

Just to be sure... you did treat with Cupramine, right? What copper test kit did you use? Other copper products, such as Coppersafe, require a much higher concentration than 0.5 mg/L.

Also, are all the fish still in QT?

 

[SammyL]

Just to be sure... you did treat with Cupramine, right? What copper test kit did you use? Other copper products, such as Coppersafe, require a much higher concentration than 0.5 mg/L.

Also, are all the fish still in QT?

Yes I treated with Cupramine and used their test kit made by Seachem.

Yes they are still in QT.

 

[Spar]

sorry, cant respond about the clown, other than give it some time to make sure it wasnt just a coincidence. clown's are the less likely of all the fish to get Ich (at least compared to Tang's anyway); so I would personally use the tang's as the benchmark, not the clowns.

side question though - are you putting the fish back into the same tank that had Ich before? make sure you are leaving the tank fallow (fishless) for 10+ weeks to allow the Ich that was present in that tank to die off. otherwise, you will be doing this QT procedure all over again one day.

 

[HumbleFish]

sorry, cant respond about the clown, other than give it some time to make sure it wasnt just a coincidence. clown's are the less likely of all the fish to get Ich (at least compared to Tang's anyway); so I would personally use the tang's as the benchmark, not the clowns.

side question though - are you putting the fish back into the same tank that had Ich before? make sure you are leaving the tank fallow (fishless) for 10+ weeks to allow the Ich that was present in that tank to die off. otherwise, you will be doing this QT procedure all over again one day.

+1 It's also possible the clown's skin is still irritated from the damage done by feeding trophonts. The skin needs to heal now and might be itchy. Thus, the scratching you are seeing.

 

[SammyL]

Thank guys, you are making me feel better!

 

[mets17127]

You could prob dose a little stress coat to help them heal. It's basically aloe

 

[ReeferJohn408]

Cleaner shrimp does much of the cleaning in our tank including ichs.

 

[Deinonych]

Cleaner shrimp does much of the cleaning in our tank including ichs.

Cleaner shrimp cannot remove the Cryptocaryon parasite, as it embeds itself below the epithelium.

 

[ReeferJohn408]

Cleaner shrimp cannot remove the Cryptocaryon parasite, as it embeds itself below the epithelium.

Our fish's ich disappears every time the cleaner shrimps nips it. So it means, it just embedding the skin disease instead?

Since I started reefing 5 years ago, I've always see this cycle in our tank. Hmm..

 

[Deinonych]

The white spots disappearing are just the parasite going through its life cycle. It has nothing to do with the cleaner shrimp. More info here: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa164

 

[Spar]

Chris is correct. the white spots are the exit wounds of the parasite. the cleaner shrimp can't actually pull them out of the fish's skin.

what cleaner shrimp do however (besides eating non-ich external parasites) is help the fish stress levels. fish are more at peace when they are lining up for their spa-day. less stress = less reaction to ich.

reminds me that i need to pick up some new ones.

 

[ReeferJohn408]

Noted. I will watch more closer this time. Thanks for the input. Hopefully, I don't run into such diseases that may perish the livestocks in our tank.

Thanks guys.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Noted. I will watch more closer this time. Thanks for the input. Hopefully, I don't run into such diseases that may perish the livestocks in our tank.

Thanks guys.

FWIW; you can never see the ich parasite in any of its forms (too small), only evidence or symptoms of its presence.

 

[HumbleFish]

FWIW; you can never see the ich parasite in any of its forms (too small), only evidence or symptoms of its presence.

Do you know if this is also true of Velvet? Are the dots the actual parasite, or just cysts visible on the fins and body?

 

[MrTuskfish]

Do you know if this is also true of Velvet? Are the dots the actual parasite, or just cysts visible on the fins and body?

I don't know; I am not the scientific type and prefer those that are to do the research, then quote them. :reading:. I've seen and treated many fish with velvet and all had the telltale sheen that characterizes velvet in my mind. That sheen, plus the fact the fact that fish with with velvet are much more likely to look & act very sick (as often is not the case with crypto) is what I usually depend on for diagnosis. That sheen is usually easier to see when looking at a fish head-on, IME.