A little panicked, please advise...ich?

[arking_mark]

The focus of the photo isn't very good - the spots look sort of diffuse. If they look that way in real life, it isn't ich. When it first begins, ich trophonts will look very distinct, with sharp edges, like a grain of salt. In advanced infections, the fish's skin mucus will start to develop, making the spots seem to coalesce and look less distinct.

Jay

@Jay Hemdal I've asked the Tang several times to pose for a picture. It's just not listening.

Looking back at my 1st picture and this one, one of the fin spot seems to be in the same position.

Also, I noticed the spots tend to be very hard to see in the morning with lower light and even hard to see when I manually raise the lights.

After mid-day, they seem much more pronounced.

It could be the original fin spot never left, which would point more to a lymphocystis?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal I've asked the Tang several times to pose for a picture. It's just not listening.

Looking back at my 1st picture and this one, one of the fin spot seems to be in the same position.

Also, I noticed the spots tend to be very hard to see in the morning with lower light and even hard to see when I manually raise the lights.

After mid-day, they seem much more pronounced.

It could be the original fin spot never left, which would point more to a lymphocystis?

Well, you can try charting the location of the spots; if the same spot is in the same location for 36 hours, it isn’t an ich trophont. Ich trophonts will come and go, showing up in different locations and in different numbers each day. There will also be a general trend for the number of spots to increase.
However - it is pretty common for fish to have spots from multiple causes - so you can have a spot of lymphocystis, but also have ich spots coming and going elsewhere on the fish.

Jay

 

[arking_mark]

Well, you can try charting the location of the spots; if the same spot is in the same location for 36 hours, it isn’t an ich trophont. Ich trophonts will come and go, showing up in different locations and in different numbers each day. There will also be a general trend for the number of spots to increase.
However - it is pretty common for fish to have spots from multiple causes - so you can have a spot of lymphocystis, but also have ich spots coming and going elsewhere on the fish.

Jay

Thanks Jay. I'll keep an eye out for changes.

 

[arking_mark]

@Jay Hemdal

So it's been 48hrs and the two spots on the fin are still there...so I'm assuming I can rule out ich.

As the fish is otherwise in perfect health, I'm going to assume it's an irritation or lymphocystis and no further action is required on my part unless there are some future changes.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal

So it's been 48hrs and the two spots on the fin are still there...so I'm assuming I can rule out ich.

As the fish is otherwise in perfect health, I'm going to assume it's an irritation or lymphocystis and no further action is required on my part unless there are some future changes.

I think so - no new spots and no movement on the original two point away from ich, and most parasites actually.
Jay

 

[arking_mark]

I think so - no new spots and no movement on the original two point away from ich, and most parasites actually.
Jay

Well over 48hrs with same spots...

 

[SaltwaterGuruNeeded]

Well over 48hrs with same spots...

Possible flukes?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well over 48hrs with same spots...

I'd fall back on my original thought that this is Lymphocystis. No need to treat for that, but it doesn't mean that the fish won't have some other issue - PBT are prone to ich and flukes!

Jay

 

[arking_mark]

So the PBT still has the original spot on his fin that was on the other 2 pictures. The body spot is still gone and other fin spot is no longer evident today.

@Jay Hemdal is this still consistent with lymphocystis?

 

[arking_mark]

We are three weeks out from seeing the initial issue. Besides the same fin spot which I think might be a blemish at this point, I think we were just seeing an irritation or lymphocystis. I'll wait one more week (~30 days) and hopefully declare catastrophe avoided and just my paranoia.

 

[Theulli]

For the record, I do not suggest that anyone should drink to impairment, just a proper sedation to reduce stress especially for cases of uncertainty as this posting provided.

I myself live with chronic pain and a wife so I don’t always practice what I preach. My tank is unquarantined and I have managed to keep most fish long term until stressing out and causing my own problems as a result. For the latter reason I recommend my first course of care in an earlier posting. Having Jay check in and concur (this may not be ich) was comforting to me and hopefully for the op as well.

any update on the current status of the spotty fish, hopefully it is still eating and swimming ok?!

It's too late, I already took your advice and started playing tank maintenance the drinking game.

 

[arking_mark]

Roughly 30 days out...nothing besides that original fin spot. Its official, I'm just paranoid!