HELP! Need to ID this

[DiSantis2]

Hey everyone! I am new here. Can someone please help me identify this disease? I lost a TINY juvenile emperor to it... now my mimic file fish has it... He is normally black and yellow, but when he "sucks" onto a rock or coral he will adjust his colors (usually brown white maybe some yellow) to match it and camouflage. He has been sucked to something for 2 days now, (I think hes weak and doesnt want to swim)....

Back story: added Emperor no QT (bad choice I know) he got spots day 4, day 5 he was 50% covered, Day 6 he was completely covered, day 7 he died...

2 days later, my mimic has spots, day 1 a few, day 2, 50%, day 3 completely covered, day 4 still covered but not dead and not breathing hard.

During this time our AC went out and my tank temp went from 79 degrees to 83 for 2 days.. AC is fixed and it is back down to 78-79ish...

Couple other fish have a couple spots on them but nothing like the emperor or this guy... we have been doing this for almost 2 weeks now, I lost the baby, the mimic is struggling but hanging on... everyone else is pretty much ok (a white spot or two, but nothing drastic) ..... No flashing, scratching, swimming into any currents, just sucked onto a rock or coral for this guy... He wont really eat... got him to munch a couple baby brine shrimp yesterday but had to force him to detach to make him eat... he only ate like 2...

The emperor was scratching before he died...

I have done 7 days of polyp lab medic (didnt seem to help much). now I am 1 day into kick ich and rally.... about to go home and dose day 2... I do not have an established QT set up (i'm afraid to start one b/c of the nitrogen cycle possibly killing them b/c its not established). I do not have a close-by fish store to run to and get water to do lots of water changes on QT tank...

Can anyone Identify this? I feel like its velvet but I was hoping its justy bad ich... My fish store I go to was split opinions...

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey everyone! I am new here. Can someone please help me identify this disease? I lost a TINY juvenile emperor to it... now my mimic file fish has it... He is normally black and yellow, but when he "sucks" onto a rock or coral he will adjust his colors (usually brown white maybe some yellow) to match it and camouflage. He has been sucked to something for 2 days now, (I think hes weak and doesnt want to swim)....

Back story: added Emperor no QT (bad choice I know) he got spots day 4, day 5 he was 50% covered, Day 6 he was completely covered, day 7 he died...

2 days later, my mimic has spots, day 1 a few, day 2, 50%, day 3 completely covered, day 4 still covered but not dead and not breathing hard.

During this time our AC went out and my tank temp went from 79 degrees to 83 for 2 days.. AC is fixed and it is back down to 78-79ish...

Couple other fish have a couple spots on them but nothing like the emperor or this guy... we have been doing this for almost 2 weeks now, I lost the baby, the mimic is struggling but hanging on... everyone else is pretty much ok (a white spot or two, but nothing drastic) ..... No flashing, scratching, swimming into any currents, just sucked onto a rock or coral for this guy... He wont really eat... got him to munch a couple baby brine shrimp yesterday but had to force him to detach to make him eat... he only ate like 2...

The emperor was scratching before he died...

I have done 7 days of polyp lab medic (didnt seem to help much). now I am 1 day into kick ich and rally.... about to go home and dose day 2... I do not have an established QT set up (i'm afraid to start one b/c of the nitrogen cycle possibly killing them b/c its not established). I do not have a close-by fish store to run to and get water to do lots of water changes on QT tank...

Can anyone Identify this? I feel like its velvet but I was hoping its justy bad ich... My fish store I go to was split opinions...

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That is end stage ich, it looks different at that stage. Velvet wouldn’t have spots - just rapid breathing and not eating. It is possible for fish to have both issues at the same time though.

The best treatment would be coppersafe or copper power dosed in a treatment tank at 2.5 PPM for 30 days. No invertebrates can be present during the treatment.

 

[DiSantis2]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That is end stage ich, it looks different at that stage. Velvet wouldn’t have spots - just rapid breathing and not eating. It is possible for fish to have both issues at the same time though.

The best treatment would be coppersafe or copper power dosed in a treatment tank at 2.5 PPM for 30 days. No invertebrates can be present during the treatment.

Hi! Thank you for your response. It came on so quickly over a couple days.... this fish is usually really resilient... not sure what has happened other than the temp and my nitrate swung up to 60... (I have since done a water change). He is not rapid breathing but wont eat.. If I set up a QT tank, wont I run the risk of the nitrogen cycle happening and killing him that way since I dont have a QT tank already established.?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi! Thank you for your response. It came on so quickly over a couple days.... this fish is usually really resilient... not sure what has happened other than the temp and my nitrate swung up to 60... (I have since done a water change). He is not rapid breathing but wont eat.. If I set up a QT tank, wont I run the risk of the nitrogen cycle happening and killing him that way since I dont have a QT tank already established.?

Should not be high risk. Run a seeded sponge in the tank or within a power filter and coppersafe is a safe form of treatment. You want to leave the display tank fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off. Inverts and coral can remain in the display (not treatment) tank during fallow period.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi! Thank you for your response. It came on so quickly over a couple days.... this fish is usually really resilient... not sure what has happened other than the temp and my nitrate swung up to 60... (I have since done a water change). He is not rapid breathing but wont eat.. If I set up a QT tank, wont I run the risk of the nitrogen cycle happening and killing him that way since I dont have a QT tank already established.?

If you have seeded bio media you can move into the QT, that would be best. Otherwise you’ll need to rely on bottled bacteria and water changes to manage the ammonia (be sure you have a good ammonia test!)