Bought 3 little Bicolor Chromis, one is scratching itself.

Stuartmercer · Oct 28, 2020

Hello everyone! After reading the title I'm sure most of you can determine that one of the chromis has or might get an infection of ich. My question is (I can t catch them) do I let the fish get ich (also its not eating) and make sure the rest are eating as healthy as possible to try and suppress the parasite, or remove the coral and inverts and treat with copper? I don't have another aquarium for a place to hold them so my mind is a little up in the air. I have 2 maroon clowns, 3 bicolor chromis and a manderine dragonette. And for those who will probably ask, I can't get a picture atm, however, there are no white spots on the fish yet, its just pale. I'm just assuming it is ich, but I don't know what else to could be, if you have other suggestions please let me know!

Hydrored · Oct 28, 2020

Setup a plastic tub if needed, do not let the other fish suffer through it.... Does it have any type of dusting? Hopefully it isn't velvet. More than likely you will end up pulling all the fish for treatment now anyways

Stuartmercer · Oct 29, 2020

Hydrored said:
Setup a plastic tub if needed, do not let the other fish suffer through it.... Does it have any type of dusting? Hopefully it isn't velvet. More than likely you will end up pulling all the fish for treatment now anyways

I went home and noticed that both of the chromises eyes are cloudy, hes blind. That would explain the lack of eating and why he is getting weaker, sicker. This guy is most likely a goner, rip my chromis.

Jay Hemdal · Oct 29, 2020

If it were ich (Cryptocaryon) you would see the classic distinct white spots. Cloudy eyes and not feeding are not symptoms of a specific disease, but not being able to catch the fish means you can't treat it, so not much you can do for it I'm afraid. Hopefully, the issue wasn't highly contagious, and it will just run its course with that single fish.

Jay