What Am I Dealing With...Black Ich?

[2JZGTE]

Today is the 5th day I've had my yellow tangs and chromis in my quarantine tank. Quarantine set up is 20G bare bottom with only a PVC pipe, heater, powerhead and HOB filter. Quarantine set up has been up and running for four weeks. Ammonia is at 0.5 ppm, I apply Amquel to reduce the ammonia levels and change 50-75% of the water every few days. Besides the Amquel, no other medication in the tank currently. Salinity is 1.025, measured with a refractometer.

All fishes are actively swimming around in the open. Maybe one of the yellow tangs acts a little reclusive and hides behind the PVC sometimes, but otherwise they are all active and behaving normally. All the fishes are all eating great. They get mysis, brine, and nori seaweed twice a day to fatten them up.

The fishes looked healthy when I got them except the fact that at the right angle you could see discolorerd spots on the chromis scales and one of the yellow tang looked like he was trying to shake something off his body on the tank bottom.

Today I come home from work and notice black spots on the yellow tangs. I'm not sure what I'm dealing with here and not sure what's the best treatment. The tangs don't flash or scrape their bodies against the PVC, but a couple rub against each other from time to time. Is this black ich?

Here's a close-up shot

 

[HumbleFish]

Yes, that's black Ich. Prazipro should knock it out.

 

[snake42490]

Prazipro will definitely take care of that. It's fast and works very well..

Question Where did you get your chromis? Have they all lived so far?

 

[2JZGTE]

I got the tangs and Chromis from a local fish store, not sure but I think they imported them from the Philipines. But all 3 Chromis are doing well so far.

I just did a massive water change to bring my nitrites down and added Prazipro. What's a safe detoxifier to use with Prazipro? I've added Amquel Plus in the tank with prazipro before and I think that made the water toxic.

 

[triggreef]

I would do water changes and dose the new water with prazi instead of messing with amquil and such.

 

[HumbleFish]

What's a safe detoxifier to use with Prazipro? I've added Amquel Plus in the tank with prazipro before and I think that made the water toxic.

Just last week I used Amquel w/Prazi on a foxface in a 10 gal QT. The water turned a little cloudy, but the fish was fine. However, I've read that others have had a negative experience combining the two.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Call Prazi-Pro and ask their tech-support folks. I think the number is on the bottle, I think. Way too nice here on the deck to go look for it. PP is made by Hikari and they have good tech help. We should use them more often, IMO.

 

[2JZGTE]

Just an update, after 3 days with Prazipro all the spots are gone. I left the Prazipro in the tank for 5 days just to make sure. Now it's a matter of waiting and observing the fishes in QT and hoping nothing else shows up.

 

[HumbleFish]

Just an update, after 3 days with Prazipro all the spots are gone. I left the Prazipro in the tank for 5 days just to make sure. Now it's a matter of waiting and observing the fishes in QT and hoping nothing else shows up.

I'm not 100% sure if the same applies to black Ich... but when I use Prazi for Flukes it takes 2 rounds (5 days apart) to completely knock them out. Second round is for the "next generation" from any eggs left behind. Do at least a 25% wc beforehand if you decide to go this route.

 

[ironwill723]

Make sure to aerate well also. PraziPro will lower oxygen levels in water when first added. As will Prime and Amquel. My ORP falls nearly 200 points if I add any of those or a combination of two.

 

[CAPSLOK]

I know this is a bit of an older thread but that is an excellent picture of the black ich. Should be used as a descriptive photo for others.

 

[2JZGTE]

Thanks, I love my digital SLR camera. What's weird is these yellow tangs were in a seperate standalone system the fish store just set up and I kept tabs on them for a month before I brought them home (waiting for my quarantine setup to get established) and they were perfectly fine the entire time. A week before I got them home the store added in additional chromis and other small fishes, they all look OK. I put the YTs in my quarantine and bam they get black ich along with puffy eyes. Unfortunately they didn't make it, not from the black ich but from whatever else those other fishes introduced.