Ich or something else?

[C4ctus99]

Got a coral beauty from LFS Sunday, do not have a quarantine setup currently so it went into the main display tank. Watching it swim around today and realized it has white dots on it, so the uh-ohs started coming… they look raised, so I am hoping it is something on the fish, almost like micro bubbles but on closer examination they are definitely not bubbles. I have a petco 10 minutes away I can get a tank and hopefully some meds at if I need too. Video below, going to get some screenshots of it for those on mobile

 

[vetteguy53081]

Got a coral beauty from LFS Sunday, do not have a quarantine setup currently so it went into the main display tank. Watching it swim around today and realized it has white dots on it, so the uh-ohs started coming… they look raised, so I am hoping it is something on the fish, almost like micro bubbles but on closer examination they are definitely not bubbles. I have a petco 10 minutes away I can get a tank and hopefully some meds at if I need too. Video below, going to get some screenshots of it for those on mobile

Yes, this does appear to be ich, and the reason often quarantine is recommended.
You will need to place fish in Quarantine tank and treat with Coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

 

[C4ctus99]

Salinity I believe is 1.020-1.022, will verify in a minute. It was easier for acclimating as I ended up moving the tank the same night. I was planning on raising it back up over the next week or two.

 

[Hankcorals]

Looks like ich to me.. the dots look raised up

 

[C4ctus99]

Yes, this does appear to be ich, and the reason often quarantine is recommended.
You will need to place fish in Quarantine tank and treat with Coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

I figured it was this, just wanted a positive ID

 

[C4ctus99]

Out of curiosity, what’s the general time frame for morbidity?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Out of curiosity, what’s the general time frame for morbidity?

with copper product 4 weeks why we go with 30 day treatment

 

[C4ctus99]

Out of curiosity, what’s the general time frame for morbidity?

Meant for fish, I can get a quarantine tank tonight, but coppersafe I can't get till tomorrow

 

[C4ctus99]

Start copper at 100% 2.25-2.5ppm or ramp up?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Out of curiosity, what’s the general time frame for morbidity?

It varies hugely - some fish can fight it off for months, others die within a week to ten days. The trouble is when the fish can no longer fight off the attacking theronts, they grow in numbers geometrically, so things seem ok for days and suddenly the fish is overwhelmed.
Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Start copper at 100% 2.25-2.5ppm or ramp up?

Ramp up quickly - if you are certain of the dose, you can go right to a full dose (like in a QT that you’ve dosed in the past). Ramping up allows you to add partial doses so that you don’t accidentally overshoot the mark. I usually suggest people calculate what a half dose would be, add it, let it mix well and test. If you are right at a half dose, just add the second half of the dose. If you are lower or higher than half, just adjust the second dose to compensate.

Jay

 

[C4ctus99]

Only test LFS had was seachem which only goes up to 1mg/l or something like that. Can I dilute the test with equal parts rodi water and sample to increase range to 2 or 3? My understanding from randy was that 1mg/l is close enough to 1ppm under normal circumstances, but if not, what’s the best way to go about testing properly until I get different kit?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Only test LFS had was seachem which only goes up to 1mg/l or something like that. Can I dilute the test with equal parts rodi water and sample to increase range to 2 or 3? My understanding from randy was that 1mg/l is close enough to 1ppm under normal circumstances, but if not, what’s the best way to go about testing properly until I get different kit?

That's a good question, I don't have an answer for you. For most aquarium tests that are off scale, a serial dilution and then factoring that in lands you at a pretty close reading, but I cannot say for certain if that works with coppersafe and the Seachem test.

If you have the time/resources, this may work: take exactly 5 gallons of seawater, add the full dose of coppersafe to it (4 ml). Mix well. Dilute that sample 1:4 with RODI. Run the test and multiply the results by 4 (have Randy check my math). You should get a reading of 0.62 mg/l and then that should equal 2.5 ppm, a full dose for coppersafe. If you get vastly different numbers, the Seachem test will not work. If it does work, you can use that five gallon sample for a water change in the tank if you need to, just not to waste it.

1mg/l is equal to 1ppm, but that is not high enough for coppersafe to work effectively.

Jay

 

[C4ctus99]

That's a good question, I don't have an answer for you. For most aquarium tests that are off scale, a serial dilution and then factoring that in lands you at a pretty close reading, but I cannot say for certain if that works with coppersafe and the Seachem test.

If you have the time/resources, this may work: take exactly 5 gallons of seawater, add the full dose of coppersafe to it (4 ml). Mix well. Dilute that sample 1:4 with RODI. Run the test and multiply the results by 4 (have Randy check my math). You should get a reading of 0.62 mg/l and then that should equal 2.5 ppm, a full dose for coppersafe. If you get vastly different numbers, the Seachem test will not work. If it does work, you can use that five gallon sample for a water change in the tank if you need to, just not to waste it.

1mg/l is equal to 1ppm, but that is not high enough for coppersafe to work effectively.

Jay

Okay cool, I will try that later and double check the math too

 

[C4ctus99]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[C4ctus99]

Thank you guys for your help. I used the seachem diluted 1 part aquarium water, 3 parts RODI water. For approximately 20 gallons one teaspoon of coppersafe moved the test up by 0.1 which is .4 in the tank (.1x4). It consistently did this across 3 tests spaced out over an hour or two with copper being added then tested.

1st: 3 teaspoons coppersafe tested to 0.3 on the diluted test, so 1.2 ppm in tank.

2nd: 4th teaspoon added, wait 10-15 minutes then tested 0.4 ppm in diluted test, or 1.6ppm in tank

3rd: 5th teaspoon added, waited 10-15 minutes then tested to 0.5 ppm in diluted test, or 2.0ppm in tank

Added 1 more teaspoon of coppersafe to supposedbring levels up to 2.4ppm, will test shortly.

As a note, the seachem test itself says you can dilute 1:1 with pure water and simply double the results. I assumed 1:2 would be triple the results and 1:3 would be quadruple the results. Considering the 1tsp to 1ml/L results when diluted 1:3, I came to the conclusion that my assumption was correct.

Adding 1 teaspoon for a 0.4 ml/L increase however would only apply to 20g quarantine tanks, anything else would have to be tested and verified. Although I guess a baseline of 1/20 of a teaspoon per gallon would be accurate… :face-with-tears-of-joy:

@Randy Holmes-Farley you have any thoughts on this?