Ick... We’ve Got Ich (and a Wrasse)

[Brit’s Fish]

FW dip will further stress it out
Acclimation box is good especially if it does lose the battle, easy to retrieve

In a sort of funny development, I have the acclimation box in the tank & tried to catch the Blenny for a little while. Seemed to stress him out more so I decided to leave him alone. However, my terrorist Pixy Hawk that I tried so hard to catch before, caught HIMSELF in the open box. So I guess that’s one less fish I have to try to catch. I’m letting him stay in there to see how long it takes him to figure it out for now.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

It may not survive FW dip, but you could do that and look for flukes, to help diagnose the issue for you remaining fish. Visually, I see possible flukes OR late stage protozoan infection. What we do here is take a skin scrape and look at it under a microscope - tells us right away what we are dealing with...I understand most folks don’t have a scope though,
Jay

After reading and reading on R2R though, I’m so tempted to order one. I’m a science nerd, which I think you kind of have to be in this hobby, but I find everything on here so interesting.
sounds morbid, but if I did a FW dip after he passes would the flukes still be there and fall off?
Do you recommend going forward with QTing the other two fish as well? I’m not even sure what I would treat them with yet other than getting them into a better observation space.

 

[vetteguy53081]

In a sort of funny development, I have the acclimation box in the tank & tried to catch the Blenny for a little while. Seemed to stress him out more so I decided to leave him alone. However, my terrorist Pixy Hawk that I tried so hard to catch before, caught HIMSELF in the open box. So I guess that’s one less fish I have to try to catch. I’m letting him stay in there to see how long it takes him to figure it out for now.

Nice !!

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Update... my Midas Blenny is gone. he passed last night. My wrasse and Pixy Hawk are still here, acting normal, eating & just doing their thing.
The wrasse now has a similar coating on him though, not so much on his body that I can see, but white spots on his fins. My water has been very slightly cloudy this week but I attributed that to pulling the carbon out of my filter while I had dosed Kick Ich last week (I’m already aware of how controversial that stuff is but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try). There’s also this sort of dusty white coating on the bottom portion of the glass which has been around since pretty much day one of this tank. I have assumed it’s related to the sand - Caribsea Fiji Pink but it also looks like what has been on my fish. Could it be related?? I know some of the spots are copepods, but definitely not all of them are.
I’m just at a loss at this point for what I need to do for my fish!

 

[Brit’s Fish]

To add, I am also seeing a small amount of red cyano on one rock, some very small patches of GHA and some brown algae with bubbles? Pics attached - took them right after scraping the glass so please excuse all the garbage floating around.
I tested my water two days ago and posted the results in the thread here. Very low nitrates & no phosphates. Is my tank too clean? Ugh... just wracking my brain for an answer.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 sorry to keep bothering you but do you have any other insight?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Oh no bother at all - sorry I missed your post yesterday, yes, giving a FW dip to a recently dead fish to screen for flukes is a technique I like to use. Sorry about the blenny.

I now think the midas had late stage ich. I was torn before, it could go either way, that or flukes, but now, with the wrasse, I see definite ich spots.

I'm afraid you are past the point of being able to manage it. If they were my fish, I would get them into coppersafe or copper power right away.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 sorry to keep bothering you but do you have any other insight?

Never a bother !! Sorry to hear about Blenny. In looking at the pics, wrasse seems to show Cryptocaryon irritans. Why do i think that ? Crypto unlike ich progresses more slowly. Free-swimming cells, called tomites or theronts, are released from a mature tomont, or cyst, and go in search of a host fish as in the case of the blenny.
Upon finding a host the tomites attach to the gills or body and develop into the feeding stage, called trophonts, which burrow into the fish and begin feeding on its tissues. The epithelium of the fish swells over the trophont, which makes the visible white spot.
It seemed to have gone away and now come back, because once well fed,usually after 3 to 7 days, the trophonts stop feeding and encyst in order to reproduce. These dormant cysts, called tomonts, can remain trapped in the fish's mucus, be embedded deep in the tissue, or drop off and fall to the bottom.
Copper and formalin baths would stop it IF this is what my belief is.
I want a second opinion from @Jay Hemdal .
Polyp Lab Medic which after saving $1000 plus in tangs has become my most trusted and reef safe as a treatment.

Aside from the appearance of the white spots, fish will scratch against objects in an attempt to dislodge the parasites, and rapid respiration develops as trophonts, mucus, and inflamed tissue clog the gills. Fish become listless, refuse to eat, loss of color occurs in patches or blotches as the trophonts destroy the pigment cells.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Never a bother !! Sorry to hear about Blenny. In looking at the pics, wrasse seems to show Cryptocaryon irritans. Why do i think that ? Crypto unlike ich progresses more slowly. Free-swimming cells, called tomites or theronts, are released from a mature tomont, or cyst, and go in search of a host fish as in the case of the blenny.
Upon finding a host the tomites attach to the gills or body and develop into the feeding stage, called trophonts, which burrow into the fish and begin feeding on its tissues. The epithelium of the fish swells over the trophont, which makes the visible white spot.
It seemed to have gone away and now come back, because once well fed,usually after 3 to 7 days, the trophonts stop feeding and encyst in order to reproduce. These dormant cysts, called tomonts, can remain trapped in the fish's mucus, be embedded deep in the tissue, or drop off and fall to the bottom.
Copper and formalin baths would stop it IF this is what my belief is.
I want a second opinion from @Jay Hemdal .
Polyp Lab Medic which after saving $1000 plus in tangs has become my most trusted and reef safe as a treatment.

Aside from the appearance of the white spots, fish will scratch against objects in an attempt to dislodge the parasites, and rapid respiration develops as trophonts, mucus, and inflamed tissue clog the gills. Fish become listless, refuse to eat, loss of color occurs in patches or blotches as the trophonts destroy the pigment cells.

To add, I am also seeing a small amount of red cyano on one rock, some very small patches of GHA and some brown algae with bubbles? Pics attached - took them right after scraping the glass so please excuse all the garbage floating around.
I tested my water two days ago and posted the results in the thread here. Very low nitrates & no phosphates. Is my tank too clean? Ugh... just wracking my brain for an answer.

Red stuff is cyano bacteria ( dont let word bacteria scare you). Reduce white light intensity for 7 days or leave whites off for 5 days, siphon it up and clean filters daily. Add 1ml of liquid bacteria daily per 10 gallons for a week during the day and 1ml of hydrogen peroxide at night per 10 gallons for a week. You will see the cyano go away

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Oh no bother at all - sorry I missed your post yesterday, yes, giving a FW dip to a recently dead fish to screen for flukes is a technique I like to use. Sorry about the blenny.

I now think the midas had late stage ich. I was torn before, it could go either way, that or flukes, but now, with the wrasse, I see definite ich spots.

I'm afraid you are past the point of being able to manage it. If they were my fish, I would get them into coppersafe or copper power right away.

Jay

Thank you so very much for your advice! I am working on trying to catch these two fish without completely stressing them out.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Never a bother !! Sorry to hear about Blenny. In looking at the pics, wrasse seems to show Cryptocaryon irritans. Why do i think that ? Crypto unlike ich progresses more slowly. Free-swimming cells, called tomites or theronts, are released from a mature tomont, or cyst, and go in search of a host fish as in the case of the blenny.
Upon finding a host the tomites attach to the gills or body and develop into the feeding stage, called trophonts, which burrow into the fish and begin feeding on its tissues. The epithelium of the fish swells over the trophont, which makes the visible white spot.
It seemed to have gone away and now come back, because once well fed,usually after 3 to 7 days, the trophonts stop feeding and encyst in order to reproduce. These dormant cysts, called tomonts, can remain trapped in the fish's mucus, be embedded deep in the tissue, or drop off and fall to the bottom.
Copper and formalin baths would stop it IF this is what my belief is.
I want a second opinion from @Jay Hemdal .
Polyp Lab Medic which after saving $1000 plus in tangs has become my most trusted and reef safe as a treatment.

Aside from the appearance of the white spots, fish will scratch against objects in an attempt to dislodge the parasites, and rapid respiration develops as trophonts, mucus, and inflamed tissue clog the gills. Fish become listless, refuse to eat, loss of color occurs in patches or blotches as the trophonts destroy the pigment cells.

Thank you so much for the suggestion of Polyp Lab Medic! My LFS actually has it in stock so I’m going to start this treatment first and try to catch the fish. I have tried to catch both of these fish in the past and it has been nearly impossible. I’m worried about stressing out my fish even more than they might already be.