Ich or velvet?

[Sharkbait19]

Not sure if this means ich is ruled out but the fish looks completely fine now 5 days into owning with some small white spots on his fins which might just be normal coloration. The body is completely clear. Can ich wax and wane like this? Perhaps now that he is more settled he is less immunosuppressed then when he was originally placed in the new tank and stressed to all hell?

Stress will definitely make it worse, but the disease is still there. It’s pretty normal for ich to come and go based on its life cycle (phase where it’s attached to the fish and the benthic phase).

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Not sure if this means ich is ruled out but the fish looks completely fine now 5 days into owning with some small white spots on his fins which might just be normal coloration. The body is completely clear. Can ich wax and wane like this? Perhaps now that he is more settled he is less immunosuppressed then when he was originally placed in the new tank and stressed to all hell?

One of the hallmarks of an ich infection is that early on, the spots "come and go". That is due to the life cycle of the Cryptocaryon organism. The trophont stage causes the white spots. They drop off and form the tomont resting stage. Later, the tomonts release hundreds of theronts, which seek out fish and become new trophonts.

When ich first starts, all of the parasites are the same age and are on the same "schedule", so they all drop off around the same time. This results in people thinking the disease has gone away (indeed, with ich management, that's the hoped-for outcome). However, in cases where the infection was moderate (like in your case) the fish often develop much worse trophonts a few days later. This increase in propagules can get worse, and then the fish can die (after 10 days or so).