Black spots on rabbit fish after ich treatment.

[jatkins893]

It’s as the title says I noticed 2 little ich spots on my fox face rabbit fish treated it with the last of my paraguard and finished up with api super ich treatment it cleared up and the day I was supposed to do my 25% change I noticed black specs on it can anybody identify them?
My parameters are all normal as far as I can tell. No ammonia, no nitrites, relatively low nitrates ( no where near toxic)

it’s been in my display tank since the beginning after the first cycle 4+ months ago

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It’s as the title says I noticed 2 little ich spots on my fox face rabbit fish treated it with the last of my paraguard and finished up with api super ich treatment it cleared up and the day I was supposed to do my 25% change I noticed black specs on it can anybody identify them?
My parameters are all normal as far as I can tell. No ammonia, no nitrites, relatively low nitrates ( no where near toxic)

it’s been in my display tank since the beginning after the first cycle 4+ months ago

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Are you talking about the two black spots in front of the large black spot? That isn’t ich. It could be a turbellarian worm that sometimes goes by the name black ich, but the spots really look more like melanin, a reaction the fish skin has to a previous injury or infection.
Is the fish behaving normally otherwise?
Jay

 

[nereefpat]

'Black specks' on a yellow foxface or yellow tang screams 'black ich'. As Jay mentioned, that's a worm, and it can be taken care of with Prazi-Pro in the display. I don't know if that's what it is or not.

I would probably just observe for now.

Just an FYI, seachem paraguard and API super ick cure aren't going to do much for marine ich, if you were battling a case of that. Although if you were dealing with lymphocystis, maybe those would have helped. Jay might have an opinion there. I really wish that they would market these medications better.

 

[jatkins893]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Are you talking about the two black spots in front of the large black spot? That isn’t ich. It could be a turbellarian worm that sometimes goes by the name black ich, but the spots really look more like melanin, a reaction the fish skin has to a previous injury or infection.
Is the fish behaving normally otherwise?
Jay

It’s the smaller black specs that are trailing towards the middle of his body. He’s behaving normally. I’m starting to think it’s a stress response from the sailfin I added to the display tank a couple weeks before the initial ick showed up.

 

[jatkins893]

'Black specks' on a yellow foxface or yellow tang screams 'black ich'. As Jay mentioned, that's a worm, and it can be taken care of with Prazi-Pro in the display. I don't know if that's what it is or not.

I would probably just observe for now.

Just an FYI, seachem paraguard and API super ick cure aren't going to do much for marine ich, if you were battling a case of that. Although if you were dealing with lymphocystis, maybe those would have helped. Jay might have an opinion there. I really wish that they would market these medications better.

Right? They’re all marketed identically I’ll have to get some of that prazi-pro shipped to my house asap. Will general cure work?I’ve got enough for one full treatment course of that kicking around the house.

 

[nereefpat]

Will general cure work?I’ve got enough for one full treatment course of that kicking around the house.

General cure is Prazi + metro, so it would work for black 'ich.' But I don't like the idea of metronidazole in a reef, unless you can bind it to some food and feed the fish with it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Right? They’re all marketed identically I’ll have to get some of that prazi-pro shipped to my house asap. Will general cure work?I’ve got enough for one full treatment course of that kicking around the house.

You may find that Prazipro won't work very well for these turbellarian worms - dissolved in water, it is really only effective against cestodes and monogeneans (flukes). What happens is that black ich is often "self-limiting" and it goes away on its own in time - about half the time. Then, people dose Prazipro and it goes away so they think it cured the fish. Formalin or freshwater dips are what are generally suggested. as per Ed Noga.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Agree on black ich which are tiny Paravortex turbellaria flatworms embedded in the skin of the fish. Black spot parasites are much less dangerous and life-threatening, as well as easier to treat, compared to protozoan parasites such as Oodinium, Cryptocaryon and Brooklynella.
Prazi pro not guaranteed to work but Praziquantel has been used with some success to treat affected fish in quarantine tanks. But however you can give the fish a freshwater bath to start with and follow with a formalin bath (general cure works well) and continue treatment in a quarantine tank. Praziquantel has been used with some success to treat affected fish in quarantine tanks.
Reinfection will occur no matter how effectively the fish have been treated if these parasitic turbellarian worms are not eradicated from the main aquarium and for this reason, I would consider going fallow (45-50 days of no fish (hosts) in the tank. I personally would go 60-70 days.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It’s as the title says I noticed 2 little ich spots on my fox face rabbit fish treated it with the last of my paraguard and finished up with api super ich treatment it cleared up and the day I was supposed to do my 25% change I noticed black specs on it can anybody identify them?
My parameters are all normal as far as I can tell. No ammonia, no nitrites, relatively low nitrates ( no where near toxic)

it’s been in my display tank since the beginning after the first cycle 4+ months ago

Just to swing back to this - can you try for a clearer picture? I’m just not seeing an active turbellarian infection here and you don’t want to treat the fish incorrectly.
Jay

 

[jatkins893]

Just to swing back to this - can you try for a clearer picture? I’m just not seeing an active turbellarian infection here and you don’t want to treat the fish incorrectly.
Jay

It looks like it fixed itself.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It looks like it fixed itself.

Yes - just melanin then. Black ich creates more discrete, smaller spots. They are related issues though - the turbellarian that causes black ich is actually white, it is the fish's skin reaction that causes the black coloration as a response to the worm infestation.

Jay