Ich? Brook? Velvet???

[pawnzpst]

Yesterday we picked up a couple of Gladiator Longfins our local LFS ordered for us. They looked perfectly healthy in store and the shop owner said they were good to go home, but today when i got home from work I see that they’ve developed (primarily on the fins) spots. Looking online it also seems similar to other diseases but they lack the slimy texture that Brook infected Clowns have. We immediately went out and bought another tank and set up an emergency quarantine using water from our display with a 30 second freshwater dip. I’ve dealt with ick in my freshwater tanks before and it looks identical. We haven’t started medication yet and our 2 fish still in the display (Tailspot Blenny and Firefish) have no spots. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th opinions appreciated.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yesterday we picked up a couple of Gladiator Longfins our local LFS ordered for us. They looked perfectly healthy in store and the shop owner said they were good to go home, but today when i got home from work I see that they’ve developed (primarily on the fins) spots. Looking online it also seems similar to other diseases but they lack the slimy texture that Brook infected Clowns have. We immediately went out and bought another tank and set up an emergency quarantine using water from our display with a 30 second freshwater dip. I’ve dealt with ick in my freshwater tanks before and it looks identical. We haven’t started medication yet and our 2 fish still in the display (Tailspot Blenny and Firefish) have no spots. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th opinions appreciated.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That looks like marine ich, Cryptocaryon. Best treatment would be coppersafe or hyposalinity, but with no corals or invertebrates present.

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[christinna77]

YouTube video link (I sent OP here from Reddit):

From pictures I thought it was ich as well, but in the video the fish seem to be breathing fast too. I was worried it might be brook instead of ich, especially since it showed up within 24 hours of acquiring them. Can ich progress that fast?

 

[pawnzpst]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That looks like marine ich, Cryptocaryon. Best treatment would be coppersafe or hyposalinity, but with no corals or invertebrates present.

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

They are alone in a QT, our other fish have zero symptoms, we did catch this the day of. Are the 2 symptomless fish safe to stay in the display? Also, is this a case of choosing 1 treatment or the other? I’d imagine both at the same time would further stress the fish and lower their chances of recovery. If I go with copper treatment, I’ll research what the recommended amount of time to treat is. Temp in QT is 78° with an air stone and covered by a towel.

 

[pawnzpst]

YouTube video link (I sent OP here from Reddit):

From pictures I thought it was ich as well, but in the video the fish seem to be breathing fast too. I was worried it might be brook instead of ich, especially since it showed up within 24 hours of acquiring them. Can ich progress that fast?

The fast onset of the spots makes me believe it’s stress induced sickness, but I’m uncertain.

 

[christinna77]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That looks like marine ich, Cryptocaryon. Best treatment would be coppersafe or hyposalinity, but with no corals or invertebrates present.

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

They are alone in a QT, our other fish have zero symptoms, we did catch this the day of. Are the 2 symptomless fish safe to stay in the display? Also, is this a case of choosing 1 treatment or the other? I’d imagine both at the same time would further stress the fish and lower their chances of recovery. If I go with copper treatment, I’ll research what the recommended amount of time to treat is. Temp in QT is 78° with an air stone and covered by a towel.

Once Jay confirms it's ich from the video, you need to move all fish to a separate quarantine tank and treat with copper for 30 days. The display tank must remain fallow for a minimum of 60 days, or 45 days if you increase temperature to 81+ degrees.

Edit: I misunderstood. If they're completely separate from the other fish in DT, you only need to medicate your QT, as long as there's not been any cross contamination with DT.

 

[pawnzpst]

Once Jay confirms it's ich from the video, you need to move all fish to a separate quarantine tank and treat with copper for 30 days. The display tank must remain fallow for a minimum of 60 days, or 45 days if you increase temperature to 81+ degrees.

Edit: I misunderstood. If they're completely separate from the other fish in DT, you only need to medicate your QT, as long as there's not been any cross contamination with DT.

Ouch…they were in the display when we first spotted the sickness. If still necessary for all we’ll do it, the Blenny is going to be a real pain to move.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Ouch…they were in the display when we first spotted the sickness. If still necessary for all we’ll do it, the Blenny is going to be a real pain to move.

The discrete spots on the clowns does point to ich. However, the fish are breathing too fast and ich doesn’t cause that at this point of the infection. I can see plenty of air going into the tank, so I’d have to say there are multiple issues going on here.

At this point, I’d say coppersafe would be the most effective treatment.

I think you need to contact the dealer about this issue - the fish looking like this in 24 hours since you got them tells me that we’re harboring this issue when you hit them.

 

[pawnzpst]

The discrete spots on the clowns does point to ich. However, the fish are breathing too fast and ich doesn’t cause that at this point of the infection. I can see plenty of air going into the tank, so I’d have to say there are multiple issues going on here.

At this point, I’d say coppersafe would be the most effective treatment.

I think you need to contact the dealer about this issue - the fish looking like this in 24 hours since you got them tells me that we’re harboring this issue when you hit them.

Thank you, we decided to go the copper treatment route and picked up Cupramine with a Salifert copper test kit along with lowering the salinity somewhat.

 

[christinna77]

Thank you, we decided to go the copper treatment route and picked up Cupramine with a Salifert copper test kit along with lowering the salinity somewhat.

Chelated copper, like Copper Power or Copper Safe, is a safer option if you can find it. You can put the fish straight into 2.25 ppm of chelated copper without ramping up. Cupramine, I believe, should be ramped up within 48h to a 0.5 ppm dose instead.

Since all the fish were together in the DT at some point, you will need to quarantine and treat all of them. The DT should also stay fallow, like I already mentioned in the previous post.

 

[pawnzpst]

Chelated copper, like Copper Power or Copper Safe, is a safer option if you can find it. You can put the fish straight into 2.25 ppm of chelated copper without ramping up. Cupramine, I believe, should be ramped up within 48h to a 0.5 ppm dose instead.

Since all the fish were together in the DT at some point, you will need to quarantine and treat all of them. The DT should also stay fallow, like I already mentioned in the previous post.

Thank you, we ran the first dose last night and will continue ramping up as directed by the instructions in another 24 hours

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you, we ran the first dose last night and will continue ramping up as directed by the instructions in another 24 hours

You should ramp up the cupramine within 24 hours for active disease. I like to do a partial dose, let it mix for a few hours, then test again, and add another partial dose, and then do that perhaps 3 or 4 times total in a day to 36 hours. While Cupramine is easier to test for (the Salifert test is less expensive than the Hanna meter used for coppersafe or copper power) cupramine is a bit harsher than those medications. The trouble is that a slow ramp up doesn't protect the fish from the disease until you reach a full dose.