Sailfin ick or something else?

[Chase-B]

Hello! My sailfin is currently getting spots on him, and we had just switched over our tang, a mandarin goby, and our clownfish over to this tank 3 days ago. Some background, we had a purple tang in this tank by himself months ago, and he died of what I think was marine velvet? We ended up being very cautious and ran a 4 month fallow period just in case.
I’m sad that my sailfin now seems to have spots after just a few days in the tank! He might just be a bit stressed because of the move, and he is eating and swimming around perfectly fine. The other fish seem to be fine and don’t have any spots, but any suggestions as to what this is or what I should do?? His name is Argos and I really don’t want to lose him

 

[Eagle_Steve]

@Jay Hemdal should able to help you.

 

[Chase-B]

Just to make sure I give you all the info:

My mixed reef tank has 2 hydra 32 lights
Uses filter floss, protein skimmer, activated carbon.

Water parameters:
pH: 8
Temp: 78F
Salinity: 1.024
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

I feed my fish o-nip, spirulina tablets, and purple seaweed.

None of the fish are breathing fast or hard, they are all swimming normally and eating well.

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[piranhaman00]

Looks like crypto

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Indeed, it does look like the start of Cryptocaryon, saltwater ich. I base this on some of the spots being on the body, but other ones are on the clear parts of the fins, and that is something seen with ich and unlike other issues that can cause spots. Ich sometimes crops up due to the stress of moving a fish. If this tank has been fishless for 4 months, then the sailfin brought it in with him, there is no way that ich can survive in a fishless tank that long (45 days is about the maximum ever seen).

Did the sailfish go through a proactive copper treatment? You can try waiting to see if this quiets down, but I suspect you are looking at treating all of the fish with a copper treatment in a separate tank (sigh).

Jay

 

[Chase-B]

The tank (DT #2) has been fishless for 4 months, so I suppose that he would have had to bring it with him. However, we had all of our fish (goby, sailfin, and clowns) in DT #1 and no one had any symptoms. We moved all of them to the DT #2 so we could get new rockwork and change things up in DT #1.

Since I have never seen anything in their original tank and everyone had been happy/healthy for a year, I think it is weird that the sailfin now shows crypto once we moved them

I don't have a QT up at the moment, and I am a bit bummed that we just got out of a 4 month fallow period with this tank. Any options besides QT'ing and copper? I could probably have a QT up and cycled in a couple days, but I really did my best to avoid any of these issues *sigh*

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Hi sorry your dealing with this. If it’s ich and the fish brought it with it, you could try a cleaner shrimp, and a really good diet. Dim the lights a bit and go low stress for the tank. This is a management style, but one I’ve done numerous times over thirty years. I have not done this however in the last five years.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The tank (DT #2) has been fishless for 4 months, so I suppose that he would have had to bring it with him. However, we had all of our fish (goby, sailfin, and clowns) in DT #1 and no one had any symptoms. We moved all of them to the DT #2 so we could get new rockwork and change things up in DT #1.

Since I have never seen anything in their original tank and everyone had been happy/healthy for a year, I think it is weird that the sailfin now shows crypto once we moved them

I don't have a QT up at the moment, and I am a bit bummed that we just got out of a 4 month fallow period with this tank. Any options besides QT'ing and copper? I could probably have a QT up and cycled in a couple days, but I really did my best to avoid any of these issues *sigh*

Not a lot of options, none of the “reef safe” medications have a good track record. You could just observe like I mentioned, it sometimes goes away, especially since your fish were carrying it, so have some immunity.
Jay

 

[Chase-B]

Okay. I will observe for now and start prepping QT just in case. Thank you guys so much for your help! I know I’m new here and I’m learning every day, but it’s nice to have a community

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Okay. I will observe for now and start prepping QT just in case. Thank you guys so much for your help! I know I’m new here and I’m learning every day, but it’s nice to have a community

Yes, being prepared in case things go south is vitally important!

Jay

 

[Chase-B]

Just wanted to update you guys that he fought it off all on his own and is doing great now no other fish have any signs, so I guess all of my fish are just fairly Saltwater ick resistant now! So glad he is okay and thankful for all the help here <3

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Keep an eye on the fish. Low stress and good diet. Good water. The cysts can hatch and reinfect for a while so I’d say if you don’t see any for ten weeks your good. This is great news, and hopefully your fish will have some type of immunity.