Red-Eye Wrasse ICH Diagnosing Help

[optimisticdingo]

Hey guys! My 40-gallon breeder recently had a pretty devastating ICH outbreak, only 1 of 7 fish remain. I've had this Red-Eyed fairy wrasse in QT for a little over a week now and I'm having troubles telling whether or not she still has ICH. These pictures don't really do it justice but you can sometimes notice slight white spots on her fins and parts of her body. She's changing coloration due to maturing and naturally developing more white so It's hard for me to tell whether or not this is ICH still or if it's just color change.

When I pulled her out of DT she was very much sick and close to death. I was able to catch her by hand, which should let you know how bad this fish was feeling. She was completely covered in ICH at the time too, and it was obvious. On day 2 in QT I added a half dose of ICH-X to the tank, Day 3 she got a 20% water change and a 3/4 dose of ICH-X, From Day 4 to now she has gotten a 20% water change every day, a full dose of ICH-X, and 2 small feedings throughout the day of Mysis Shrimp soaked in Vita-Chem. She still has some small white spots on her but I'm not sure if that is because of lingering ICH or something else just stuck in her slime coat. While she, and the other fish, were still in the DT I tried to boost their immune system by adding a small dose of Vita-Chem directly to the tank water. For a few hours after the dose, I noticed these tiny white specks floating around the tank, must have been something that was in the Vita-Chem. I'm wondering if these specks are from the Vita-Chem getting stuck in her slime coat and not ICH.

I'll post more pictures tonight when she goes to sleep as she's a pretty active swimmer during the day and hard to get pics of. She seems to be acting like her normal interactive self which makes me think this is something other than ICH and that she's healthy at this point.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Can't really tell from the photos. Ich can linger if the treatment wasn't 100% effective. I always wait a minimum of 14 days since the last visible symptom before considering a fish more or less disease-free, and in most cases, I play it conservative and go for 45 days. Adding vitachem to the water to boost the fish's immune system is something I would not do, as I wouldn't expect it to do any good. Marine fish DO drink water, so they would take some of it up that way, but bacteria in the tank is going to consume the vitachem within hours of you adding it, so I would concentrate instead, on being sure the fish's diet is as complete as possible. Remember, overdosing water soluble vitamins just wastes it, and overdosing fat soluble vitamins can be toxic to the fish.

Jay