White spots on fish fins

[evil4g63]

Hi, can someone id what this might be ? It started about 2 weeks ago with my midas blenny. A few spots in its fins and an ocasional scratching of the gills on the rocks. Gave it a fresh water bath thinking it was flukes but didn't noticed anything in the water or couldn't tell if there was something. After that, blenny was ok but my flame and mimic tang now have it but they don't scratch on anything. They do however like to get cleaned by my cleaner shrimp every night. They're not breathing heavily and they eat like pigs. They're always out swimming, grazing and constantly near the front glass whenever someone passes in front of the tank. They really don't appear to be sick but don't like those spots in the fins. Quick observation, they're only in the fishes clear fins. The tang doesn't have any spots in his tail fin and none of them has any spots in their bodies and just noticed the royal gramma now has them too. Bangai, clownfish and blenny don't have any but blenny started to ocasionally scratch again. Water params:

Water temp 76F
Salinity 35ppt
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
PH 7.6-8.3 (varies a lot because of CO2 levels inside apartment at night. Checked with CO2 meter. You never know you have high CO2 levels until you finally get to borrow a meter)
DKH 9
Calcium 420

 

[HumbleFish]

Hard to say for sure from the photos, but it could be ich or possibly just Lymphocystis: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa181

 

[evil4g63]

Well, it looks like what i have is ick. I’ve started to notice white spots in the tangs body so that settles that. Now the question is, how to effectively treat it. I was thinking of taking all the inverts out of the tank a doing a hypo treatment but i don’t think i can get out all the snails out of the tank to not get an amonia spike because of die off and i’m not sure if the beneficial bacteria will suffer.

If i manage to get all the fish out of the tank, my thoughts would be to do hypo and also do a prazi treatment to make sure no flukes get into the dt. Which route would be better and will it be enough or should i do something else ?

 

[HumbleFish]

Hypo for 30 days should eliminate ich, but a few things to keep in mind:

1. You'll want to use a perfectly calibrated refractometer and an ATO to keep the SG @ 1.009 at all times.
2. Hypo resistant strains of ich have been proven to exist (study done by Yambot in 2003).
3. If this turns out to be velvet, hypo will not treat it.

You could use copper in your DT (which treats both ich & velvet), but you are looking at a long process afterwards to pull all the copper out to make your DT reef safe again.

 

[evil4g63]

Ok, I had initially thought about using copper but it seems a lot is said about not using it on angelfish and I really don’t feel like risking my very plump and healthy looking flame. Is there any other way of treating them besides copper and hypo ? I was leaning more towards the hypo treatment because it seemed to be easier on the fish and it didn’t seem to supress their appetite.

 

[HumbleFish]

Ok, I had initially thought about using copper but it seems a lot is said about not using it on angelfish and I really don’t feel like risking my very plump and healthy looking flame. Is there any other way of treating them besides copper and hypo ? I was leaning more towards the hypo treatment because it seemed to be easier on the fish and it didn’t seem to supress their appetite.

There is Chloroquine phosphate: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2388433

But IME, it is difficult to use in a DT environment due to biodegradation of the drug by nitrifying (and other) bacteria.

 

[evil4g63]

Managed to get what i think is a good videoof the tang and the angel. Could some tell me if there is something wrong with them or if something can be spotted. They are still in the same condition, actually scratching less.

https://youtu.be/BJThOj2-P0Y

 

[carrots]

IMO I would just keep an eye on them. Do not add any new fish and continue to provide a great diet and water quality. By keeping stress levels low, your fish may clear up. If things worsen then I would treat.

 

[evil4g63]

I didn’t catch it but he sometimes scratches his whole side on the sand too. The only ones that have that behavior of scratching themselves on the rocks or sand is the tang, blenny and gramma. The other ones never do it. That’s why i’m a bit hesitant on giving them
any treatment and putting them through unnecessary stress. They really don’t appear sick, just the occasional scratching and the white spots on the fins that has me worried.