ick or fluke on my firefish help

poaks · Feb 24, 2023

Saw this on my firefish as I was about to do my water change and I saw him "darting" across the sand a couple of times. Is this fluke or ich? Can I just treat the tank with prazipro (the only other fish in the tank is a cardinal)? I'm QT a fish in my QT tank right now and currently treating the QT tank with prazipro, is it ok to drop a sick fish into a QT tank with a fish that's almost done with QT? What should I do?

Sharkbait19 · Feb 24, 2023

It could be ich, but could just as likely be grains of sand. I would monitor for a few days to see how it develops (if it spreads it is ich).
If ich, all fish should be treated with copper in qt and the tank should remain fishless for 60 days.

poaks · Feb 24, 2023

Sharkbait19 said:
It could be ich, but could just as likely be grains of sand. I would monitor for a few days to see how it develops (if it spreads it is ich).
If ich, all fish should be treated with copper in qt and the tank should remain fishless for 60 days.

I don't think it's grains of sands, I saw him dart a couple of days ago, but I thought it was normal behavior since I didn't see it darting a couple of days later. My qt tank is being used right now with another fish that I'm treating with prazipro. Is it possible to add a sick fish to a QT tank with a fish that's almost done QT and start the whole QT process again?

Sharkbait19 · Feb 24, 2023

How long have the spots been there?
You can move the current fish (all would have to be moved) into qt if you wanted to restart the process for the new fish.

poaks · Feb 24, 2023

Sharkbait19 said:
How long have the spots been there?
You can move the current fish (all would have to be moved) into qt if you wanted to restart the process for the new fish.

I just saw it like an hour ago, when the lights turned on

Sharkbait19 · Feb 24, 2023

I would give it time and watch how it develops first. If it’s ich, the spots will go away and come back in greater numbers. If not, they will either still be there after a few days or would not come back.
Were all fish fully qt’ed before going into the tank?

poaks · Feb 24, 2023

Sharkbait19 said:
I would give it time and watch how it develops first. If it’s ich, the spots will go away and come back in greater numbers. If not, they will either still be there after a few days or would not come back.
Were all fish fully qt’ed before going into the tank?

The firefish/cardinal were not quarantined, but they've been in the tank since the start of january, so a month and a half maybe. I'll wait and see how if it develops or not

Jay Hemdal · Feb 24, 2023

poaks said:
The firefish/cardinal were not quarantined, but they've been in the tank since the start of january, so a month and a half maybe. I'll wait and see how if it develops or not

I would wait for more definitive symptoms. Flukes are usually too small to see on a fish, but sometimes the damage they do can be seen. With ich, the spots come and go, gradually increasing in numbers, so watch for that.

At this point you want to rule out flukes, versus ich versus sand or other non-disease issue.

Jay