Hello all,
I recently brought home a Pacific Blue Tang about 2 - 2 1/2 inches. I slowly acclimated it yesterday and placed in the QT at 1:00 pm. By 6:00 pm I went and checked on it and noticed that it has what I think is Ich. It looked great in the store, had been there approx. a month and eating well. About 4 hours after acclimation, I offered it some frozen Mysis shrimp and some spirulina brine shrimp which it ate well.
The QT tank I am using is a 45 hex with some live rock (some have a good purple coralline algae covering with areas turning pink from being out of water during tank cleaning) that previously (for the last 8 months) held a pair of Maroon Clowns, a Blue Chromis and a few small mushrooms and Kenya tree corals. I am using an Aqua clear 70 hang on filter with a sponge and bag of bio media that is well established. Lighting is a 24" LED strip light with blue and white LEDs. The fish in there had never shown any problems of any kind. In fact, I have never experienced saltwater ich before, and I am very firm on an at least 30 day quarantine for anything that comes in to my fish room. I removed the Chromis and placed it in my DT. The clowns were traded to the LFS for the Tang. I performed an approx. 2/3 water change with RO/DI water (O TDS) and Instant Ocean Reef Crystals prior to placing the Tang in the QT. I checked on the fish this morning and while hiding (lights were off, using a flashlight to locate and observe), he seems normal as in good color and normal respiration.
My water parameters are as follows : (Copied and pasted)
Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type: - Previously a Reef tank with a pair of Maroon Clowns, a Blue Chromis, Mushroom and Kenya tree corals. Many keyhole limpets and 3 small snails (removed to another QT when I dosed meds)
Aquarium water volume - 45 Hex (figuring 40 gallons after taking into effect substrate and live rock)
Filtration type - Aqua clear 70 hang on filter with sponge and bag of bio media.
Lighting - 24" LED strip light with blue and white LEDS
How long has the aquarium been established? - At least 8 months
Digital image of the aquarium under white light - Will get tonight if needed.
Water quality (be sure to indicate what measurement units you are using)
Temperature - 78 F
pH: - 7.8
Salinity / specific gravity - 1.025 specific gravity
Ammonia - Undetectable
Nitrite - Undetectable
Nitrate - 1.0 ppm
Phosphorus - Unknown (will check tonight)
Copper - Unknown (don't have a test kit for copper)
Other - Unknown
In-depth information:
Have you lost any fish to this problem yet? - No
Are any invertebrates affected? - No
Respiration rate of affected fish (in gill beats per minutes, count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4) - Breathing seems normal.
Are the affected fish still feeding? - Yes
What remedies have you tried so far? - I have dosed (figuring 40 usable gallons of water) Metroplex (6 scoops from vial) and Cupramine (4 ml). Plan to re dose Cupramine (4 ml) on Tuesday night and leaving as is for at least 2-3 weeks to maintain therapeutic levels of copper.
Fish seems to be swimming around normally, hiding for a few minutes with new movement outside of tank but quickly resuming swimming and foraging.
Could it be possible that I always had ich but the fish were healthy enough to never show it? I am now nervous about the Blue Chromis that I placed into my DT possible being a carrier. Can ich manifest that quickly?
Thanks for reading, any and all help and/or questions are welcome.
Troy C.
P.S. will try and get some clearer pics tonight.
I recently brought home a Pacific Blue Tang about 2 - 2 1/2 inches. I slowly acclimated it yesterday and placed in the QT at 1:00 pm. By 6:00 pm I went and checked on it and noticed that it has what I think is Ich. It looked great in the store, had been there approx. a month and eating well. About 4 hours after acclimation, I offered it some frozen Mysis shrimp and some spirulina brine shrimp which it ate well.
The QT tank I am using is a 45 hex with some live rock (some have a good purple coralline algae covering with areas turning pink from being out of water during tank cleaning) that previously (for the last 8 months) held a pair of Maroon Clowns, a Blue Chromis and a few small mushrooms and Kenya tree corals. I am using an Aqua clear 70 hang on filter with a sponge and bag of bio media that is well established. Lighting is a 24" LED strip light with blue and white LEDs. The fish in there had never shown any problems of any kind. In fact, I have never experienced saltwater ich before, and I am very firm on an at least 30 day quarantine for anything that comes in to my fish room. I removed the Chromis and placed it in my DT. The clowns were traded to the LFS for the Tang. I performed an approx. 2/3 water change with RO/DI water (O TDS) and Instant Ocean Reef Crystals prior to placing the Tang in the QT. I checked on the fish this morning and while hiding (lights were off, using a flashlight to locate and observe), he seems normal as in good color and normal respiration.
My water parameters are as follows : (Copied and pasted)
Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type: - Previously a Reef tank with a pair of Maroon Clowns, a Blue Chromis, Mushroom and Kenya tree corals. Many keyhole limpets and 3 small snails (removed to another QT when I dosed meds)
Aquarium water volume - 45 Hex (figuring 40 gallons after taking into effect substrate and live rock)
Filtration type - Aqua clear 70 hang on filter with sponge and bag of bio media.
Lighting - 24" LED strip light with blue and white LEDS
How long has the aquarium been established? - At least 8 months
Digital image of the aquarium under white light - Will get tonight if needed.
Water quality (be sure to indicate what measurement units you are using)
Temperature - 78 F
pH: - 7.8
Salinity / specific gravity - 1.025 specific gravity
Ammonia - Undetectable
Nitrite - Undetectable
Nitrate - 1.0 ppm
Phosphorus - Unknown (will check tonight)
Copper - Unknown (don't have a test kit for copper)
Other - Unknown
In-depth information:
Have you lost any fish to this problem yet? - No
Are any invertebrates affected? - No
Respiration rate of affected fish (in gill beats per minutes, count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4) - Breathing seems normal.
Are the affected fish still feeding? - Yes
What remedies have you tried so far? - I have dosed (figuring 40 usable gallons of water) Metroplex (6 scoops from vial) and Cupramine (4 ml). Plan to re dose Cupramine (4 ml) on Tuesday night and leaving as is for at least 2-3 weeks to maintain therapeutic levels of copper.
Fish seems to be swimming around normally, hiding for a few minutes with new movement outside of tank but quickly resuming swimming and foraging.
Could it be possible that I always had ich but the fish were healthy enough to never show it? I am now nervous about the Blue Chromis that I placed into my DT possible being a carrier. Can ich manifest that quickly?
Thanks for reading, any and all help and/or questions are welcome.
Troy C.
P.S. will try and get some clearer pics tonight.
