Royal Gramma gets ich every night-seen this?

[Crush Coral]

My Royal Gramma gets ich every night and it clears up during the day. Have had him for 3 months and this has been going on all the time. None of my other fish show similiar simptons and one is a yellow tang. Anyone else seen a similiar situation?

 

[ReefThuz]

It sounds like you might be talking about parasites. Could you take some pics for us to look at?

 

[Sk8r]

monitor your ph: this sometimes changes from dawn to dark, and might explain skin irritation. And check your alkalinity: if it's not around 8.3 it could contribute.

 

[Crush Coral]

pm is 8.1, alkalinity is 8. I am introducing a hippo tang from quarentine next week and I am a little concerned about that with the Royal Gramma showing signs of ich in the evening.

 

[limitdown]

It's highly improbable that it's ich because ich does not come and go overnight. Many fish will have subtle color changes during day and night and the night colors might be revealing some native spots that are characteristic to the species. Notice in the pic below that the royal gramma has spots in the area between his purple and yellow colors. This is normal.

 

[Crush Coral]

In my background I was manager of the largest lfs in Dallas back in the late 80's so identifying an external parasite is within my realm of abilities. Now is there another parasite the same size as ich that has a lifecycle that is such that it is only visible on the exterier of a fish in the evening? Any ideas? Thanks for continued conversation.

 

[limitdown]

Perhaps flukes that become more visible if the fish has subtle day/night color changes? Just a thought.

 

[phaedraeos]

Is he scratching/flashing? Or is it just spots?

My Gramma was scratching on rocks and the intake to my filter long before and long after his ich spots appeared and disappeared.

If your guys is just swimming normally, it might point you more towards another external parasite.

 

[Sk8r]

do you have sugar sand? Some species keep getting it stuck to them (mandys, firefish, etc) and it can look like ich.