Is this Ich?

T-MIKE

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Also, they seem to twitch a lot but I don’t know if that is normal Pink Skunk Clownfish behavior. I have two of these and they both breathed rapidly since the day I got them if I can remember correctly over a month ago. I started noticing the dots about a week ago.

1D3E0F91-1607-4143-8A1B-F07A86B657AF.jpeg
 

4FordFamily

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T-MIKE

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That to me looks like velvet. Brook is generally more focused at the dorsal fin/top half of the fish initially. By advanced stages brook looks nothing like velvet as it begins to slough off and appears to "peal"

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/fish-disease-index-pictorial-guide.199/

Reading the velvet description, it seems it is fast acting but this fish has had it for over a week now and I haven't really noticed it getting worse.

  • Reduced or complete loss of appetite. - Eats like a champ.
  • Heavy breathing, rubbing, flashing, head twitching, erratic swimming behavior (unfortunately velvet shares all these same symptoms with ich & gill flukes.) - Seems to do all of these but their clownfish....
  • Swimming into the flow of a powerhead (unique to velvet). - Doesn't do this. My other clownfish did for an hour maybe 2 weeks ago. I thought he was surfing.
  • Acting reclusive (velvet causes fish to be sensitive to light). - Still swims around very actively.
 

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Reading the velvet description, it seems it is fast acting but this fish has had it for over a week now and I haven't really noticed it getting worse.

  • Reduced or complete loss of appetite. - Eats like a champ.
  • Heavy breathing, rubbing, flashing, head twitching, erratic swimming behavior (unfortunately velvet shares all these same symptoms with ich & gill flukes.) - Seems to do all of these but their clownfish....
  • Swimming into the flow of a powerhead (unique to velvet). - Doesn't do this. My other clownfish did for an hour maybe 2 weeks ago. I thought he was surfing.
  • Acting reclusive (velvet causes fish to be sensitive to light). - Still swims around very actively.
A FW dip would be a great thing to do IMO to see if any of those spots come off. It's possible they are small skin flukes as that is something that came to mind when I first viewed the pic as well.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/
 
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4FordFamily

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Clownfish slime coat is quite thick, it can slow down parasites dramatically. Flukes is another good possibility.
 
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T-MIKE

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I may try Prazipro first, seems like a pretty safe medicine. I could not catch the clownfish last time, had to drain almost the whole tank.
 

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Having just done this, treating with prazipro in tank generally was effective. Secondary bacterial infections are a good possibility though, so I’d have some Kanaplex on hand. This guy in particular seems likely to need a few days in antibiotics. Usually it’s a little easier to catch them once it’s apparent they have an infection.
 
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T-MIKE

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Having just done this, treating with prazipro in tank generally was effective. Secondary bacterial infections are a good possibility though, so I’d have some Kanaplex on hand. This guy in particular seems likely to need a few days in antibiotics. Usually it’s a little easier to catch them once it’s apparent they have an infection.

Good to hear from someone who just used Prazipro. I ordered from Amazon and should arrive on Tuesday.
 
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T-MIKE

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In a fortunate turn of events, it appears the clownfish is not sick after all. It decided to jump through a slit above the water line into the filter chamber of my all in one. After getting it out of there, I cannot see any white spots. Upon closer inspection, the slimecoat looks really thick. I think what I was seeing was just debris stuck to the slimecoat.

I’ll keep him in the breeder chamber under observation for a few more days. It’s nice when I can actually look at the clownfish closely without it zooming around everywhere.

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When to mix up fish meal: When was the last time you tried a different brand of food for your reef?

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