Ick in my system

[Nico2176]

I've recently seen white spots on my fish when my blue lights are turned on and I think its ick. I am planning on setting up a 30 gallon Qt tank in my garage. I just want some advice on what to do. I plan on moving all my fish over including 2 clownfish, 1 yellow tang, 2 mandarin dragonets, 1 yellow watchman goby, and a royal gramma. What should I dose, and how should I cycle the QT tank? How long will this all take? I have no real idea on how to fight ick, and I really just want to get back to peaceful reefing :(

 

[LAReefer4Life]

First off sorry to hear you're dealing with this. Can you post a picture so we can make sure it is Ich you're dealing with?

Please read this thread in the meantime. It may help you identify what you're dealing with.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-disease-index-pictorial-guide.285708/

 

[Nico2176]

This is what I could get.

 

[Mjrenz]

I've recently seen white spots on my fish when my blue lights are turned on and I think its ick. I am planning on setting up a 30 gallon Qt tank in my garage. I just want some advice on what to do. I plan on moving all my fish over including 2 clownfish, 1 yellow tang, 2 mandarin dragonets, 1 yellow watchman goby, and a royal gramma. What should I dose, and how should I cycle the QT tank? How long will this all take? I have no real idea on how to fight ick, and I really just want to get back to peaceful reefing :(

If it is ich your dealing with a 76 day fallow period will be needed in your dt to starve the parasite out. Most people will use copper for treating, here is a guide to using it and info on setting up a qt system

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copper-treatment.193343/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/thread-links-to-all-things-quarantine-fish-inverts.602917/

 

[Nico2176]

If it is ich your dealing with a 76 day fallow period will be needed in your dt to starve the parasite out. Most people will use copper for treating, here is a guide to using it and info on setting up a qt system

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copper-treatment.193343/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/thread-links-to-all-things-quarantine-fish-inverts.602917/

I was told to not use copper on the mandarins, how would I go about that?

 

[Nico2176]

The strangest part is I can't really see the white spots on my fish with the normal light, only when the blues are on I can see the spots. Could I be wrong and it turns out to be velvet. At the same time, I've seen the white spots on my fish for about a week and a half, yet no ones had died. I was told that velvet kills fast.

 

[Mjrenz]

I was told to not use copper on the mandarins, how would I go about that?

I missed that you had mandarins, chloroquine phosphate would be the preferred treatment for them however it does require a prescription. Let's get some of the experts in for recommendations @Big G
@ngoodermuth @HotRocks @4FordFamily

 

[Mjrenz]

It is hard to tell from the pics, is there any way you could get some pics with white lights?

 

[Mjrenz]

Double post

 

[Nico2176]

I missed that you had mandarins, chloroquine phosphate would be the preferred treatment for them however it does require a prescription. Let's get some of the experts in for recommendations
@ngoodermuth @HotRocks @4FordFamily

At the same time, someone told me I could just leave them in the display as they really can't get ich. If that's the case I was planning on removing everyone else and treating them with copper.

 

[Nico2176]

I missed that you had mandarins, chloroquine phosphate would be the preferred treatment for them however it does require a prescription. Let's get some of the experts in for recommendations
@ngoodermuth @HotRocks @4FordFamily

At the same time, someone told me I could just leave them in the display as they really can't get ich. If that's the case I was planning on removing everyone else and treating them with copper.

 

[Nico2176]

I turned off the blues to takes these.

 

[Mjrenz]

At the same time, someone told me I could just leave them in the display as they really can't get ich. If that's the case I was planning on removing everyone else and treating them with copper.

I don't believe that's correct. As far as I know all the fish a susceptible to getting ich and keeping its life cycle going

 

[Mjrenz]

I turned off the blues to takes these.

Those are a bit better, I can only really see spots on the clowns. Based on the size of the spots it looks more like velvet than ich but I'm not really sure. I would recommend starting out with a freshwater dip to rule out the possibility of flukes first. A fwd will also give some temporary relief to them if they do have velvet.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

 

[Nico2176]

I plan on starting up a Qt at this point, but what should I do about the mandarins?

 

[Mjrenz]

I plan on starting up a Qt at this point, but what should I do about the mandarins?

If you can obtain chloroquine phosphate it is an effective treatment for both ich and velvet and safe for all the fish you have.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/chloroquine-phosphate.192309/

 

[Nico2176]

Man, that's going to be hard to get...

 

[Mjrenz]

Man, that's going to be hard to get...

You may be able to find a vet to write a prescription for you but there is another source in this article
https://humble.fish/chloroquine-phosphate/

 

[Nico2176]

I think my main course of action right now is to keep my display up and running (keeping my parameters in shape) and feeding my fish so they can try to fight it off. I don't really have the means to set up another tank, and the time. In June I have to leave for 16 days and I can't possibly keep the 2 tanks running. The real reason I've come to this conclusion is the fact that my clowns are constantly eating while they look to be infected and they are always swimming normally. If anything I think I might lose my royal gramma as he's on the sandbed. The strange thing is my yellow tang isn't infected at all and tangs are more susceptible to ich, and my watchman goby isn't infected either. So I think this is all I can do right now. I thank you all for your help I am going to see what happens.

 

[ca1ore]

Different fish have different levels of susceptibility to ich. mandarins are at the least susceptible end of the spectrum, but they certainly can get it. Hard to say for sure what you are dealing with. If the spots have been there for ten days it seems unlikely to be velvet. Are the fish behaving normally? Eating? Ich spots generally disappear after a few days only to reappear in greater numbers as the parasite goes through its normal lifecycle. Have you observed that? May be worth doing nothing for a bit just to be sure.