First go at treating ich

[LandLockedJones]

Here is the story:
One of my 2 clowns recently began showing white spots. They were not qt’d on arrival. They have been in the tank over 6-7 months. Tank is a small 10gal running 8 months, with no uv. So I’m guessing recent power outages (longest of which was self induced) stressed out the fish and dormant ich has made an appearance.

Here is my plan:
I intend to quarantine these fish from my tank, and treat them for ich. I intend to treat both fish, though only one is showing signs of infection. Want to let the ich run it’s course with no hosts in the DT.

Stage 1:
-3-5 minute fresh water dip to check and hopefully kill off any flukes.
-Move to 10 gallon with Hob filter and small power head for oxygenation for treatment with copper power.
-2 weeks in copper after reaching therapeutic levels, changing water regularly predosed with copper.

stage 2:
-1 or 2 weeks in untreated observation tank. May add ruby reef rally pro (as this tank is cycled yet has no bio load and they can be in here for a longer timeframe if I chose.)
-Sterilize copper tank.
-set up tank for treatment with prazipro. Which I have not read much about but am getting to it. Focusing on copper power.

stage 3:
-Observation tank again, until 3 months have passed in the DT and they can be placed back in. Treating for disease if necessary.

here are my questions (so far)
-Should I skip the FW dip, to avoid adding stress before going into tank for copper treatment?
-how much ammonia warrants a water change?
-how large of a water change would be most effective?
-is a small voyager nano power head, good enough for oxygenating water? It is quite small, but they move a fair amount of water.

I know that’s a lot to unpack, sorry about that. I’ve been stalling myself with research, and would like to get started very soon, as I’m tired of seeing this fish in distress.

thank you for any advice or corrections you may have to offer.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here is the story:
One of my 2 clowns recently began showing white spots. They were not qt’d on arrival. They have been in the tank over 6-7 months. Tank is a small 10gal running 8 months, with no uv. So I’m guessing recent power outages (longest of which was self induced) stressed out the fish and dormant ich has made an appearance.

Here is my plan:
I intend to quarantine these fish from my tank, and treat them for ich. I intend to treat both fish, though only one is showing signs of infection. Want to let the ich run it’s course with no hosts in the DT.

Stage 1:
-3-5 minute fresh water dip to check and hopefully kill off any flukes.
-Move to 10 gallon with Hob filter and small power head for oxygenation for treatment with copper power.
-2 weeks in copper after reaching therapeutic levels, changing water regularly predosed with copper.

stage 2:
-1 or 2 weeks in untreated observation tank. May add ruby reef rally pro (as this tank is cycled yet has no bio load and they can be in here for a longer timeframe if I chose.)
-Sterilize copper tank.
-set up tank for treatment with prazipro. Which I have not read much about but am getting to it. Focusing on copper power.

stage 3:
-Observation tank again, until 3 months have passed in the DT and they can be placed back in. Treating for disease if necessary.

here are my questions (so far)
-Should I skip the FW dip, to avoid adding stress before going into tank for copper treatment?
-how much ammonia warrants a water change?
-how large of a water change would be most effective?
-is a small voyager nano power head, good enough for oxygenating water? It is quite small, but they move a fair amount of water.

I know that’s a lot to unpack, sorry about that. I’ve been stalling myself with research, and would like to get started very soon, as I’m tired of seeing this fish in distress.

thank you for any advice or corrections you may have to offer.

No, the FW dip helps by time if you suspect flukes.
You need to let your display remain fishless for 60 days or so, so you might as well do a full 30 day copper treatment.
The powerhead may work, but you need to break the surface tension of the tank - air stones do that better.
Ammonia needs to be near zero. Or at least below 0.25 ppm measured with a good test kit. Best way to manage that is with living bacteria - from you existing filter perhaps, or those bacteria in a bottle products.
Jay

 

[LandLockedJones]

Alright, that makes sense. I am no longer sure where I came up with 2 weeks actually ha, but I was going to qt for a full 3 months. So 30 days in copper sounds like a good move.

I will go grab a pump, tubing and some airstones. Sounds like the better option. The power head would likely just make a bigger mess.

Thanks for the quick response.

 

[LandLockedJones]

Well, I pulled the fish out and got them into my quarantine setup. I did the fresh water dip and definitely saw evidence of something floating around in the water. I presume flukes.

When looking at them in the tank, I realized there were no more visible white spots on them. So I decided to just observe.

It has now been just under a week. I have not been able to observe as much as I would like, as I have a 2 year old who requires much more of my attention. But, I have not noticed any flashing or any outward signs of ich or any other disease.

They do seem to be treating the pvc like a host, sort of swimming with their belly up against it and kind of sticking too it as the swim along it’s surface, but it doesn’t look like rubbing in the same way as they were on the rocks and sand in the DT.

The spots I saw initially were of fair size. And I guess that is just build up of the mucous coating on the fish. So I was wondering should I continue observation and look for signs of ich before treating with copper? Or should I just begin dosing preemptively?

I have actually already had them about 6 or 7 months and no signs of white spots were visible until a week or so ago. I would like to treat for internal parasites as well. So they are staying in qt for now regardless.

Sorry for rambling, thanks for any help!

 

[Uncle99]

If they are eating well, me, I’d just keep watching.
These are not “new” fish. Well fed fish can be quite resilient especially if you have had them for many months.

If you suspect ick, you’ll need to fallow that DT anyways.
But be ready to treat if those “spots” return, they stop eating, or behave differently than normal.

In the end, maybe #jayhemdal will chime in, if so, follow any recommendations he might give.

Good luck.

 

[LandLockedJones]

If they are eating well, me, I’d just keep watching.
These are not “new” fish. Well fed fish can be quite resilient especially if you have had them for many months.

If you suspect ick, you’ll need to fallow that DT anyways.
But be ready to treat if those “spots” return, they stop eating, or behave differently than normal.

In the end, maybe #jayhemdal will chime in, if so, follow any recommendations he might give.

Good luck.

Thank you, I was thinking ich originally because I had not really read up on flukes. I am starting to suspect it less now, though I am still watching for them to return.