Suspected Ich. Going on vacation in 2 weeks.

[Morticia.x89]

My Scopas Tang is covered in little white dots. She’s still breathing, swimming and eating normally as far as I can tell. I’ve moved her over to the quarantine tank but I’m extremely stressed as I don’t know if the other two fish will also have it, and my QT isn’t really big enough for everyone, and I’m also going abroad for a week on 7th September. I had arranged for someone to come over to feed them but there’s only so much I can ask them to do, they don’t have any experience with marine fish so I don’t know if they can deal with medication, testing, water changes etc the small QT needs more monitoring and maintenance as it is, let alone if I have to set up another for the clowns. I’ve never deal with any diseases myself before.

Can anyone help me with what’s best to do please, what is the simplest and quickest treatment plan under the circumstances? Is it more or less inevitable that they will all need treatment, and definitely not possible to treat the display tank itself? I have a Zoa, Hammer Coral, Cleaner Shrimp, Halloween Hermit, Emerald Crab, Strawberry Conch and mixture of snails. I did think about moving anything that wouldn’t survive medication into the QT instead to be able to treat all the fish and the environment together but I don’t know if that would work?

 

[Morticia.x89]

 

[LeftyReefer]

Just to be clear, you have the scopas tang and 2 clowns?

If it is ich, then all 3 fish in the tank will need to be treated in copper for 30 days and the display tank will need to be left fallow for a couple months.

What size is your QT tank, and is it fully cycled?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I see raised spots which are mucus cones often from a skin irritation and at times are mixed in with ich and Often you will notice other occupants show no signs but recommended is to remove all fish and treat them as well using coppersafe or copper power for a full 30 days at 2.25ppm which they respond to well and add an air stone and monitor copper level with a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That does appear to be marine ich, and yes, all exposed fish are going to need to be treated. The timing is awful for you - it is really important to monitor the fish closely during treatment.

Your two options are to move all the fish out and treat them with Coppersafe for 30 days, or move all the vitals and invertebrates out and treat the fish in their main tank with low salinity for 30 days.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I see raised spots which are mucus cones often from a skin irritation and at times are mixed in with ich and Often you will notice other occupants show no signs but recommended is to remove all fish and treat them as well using coppersafe or copper power for a full 30 days at 2.25ppm

There are also spots on the fins, which would not be mucus cone related, so seems pretty clear that this fish is infected with something and will need copper treatment.

Hopefully the OP has fully cycled QT tank. if so, this should be do-able.

 

[Morticia.x89]

Just to be clear, you have the scopas tang and 2 clowns?

If it is ich, then all 3 fish in the tank will need to be treated in copper for 30 days and the display tank will need to be left fallow for a couple months.

What size is your QT tank, and is it fully cycled?

Hi. Yes 3 fish in total, but my QT cannot fit all of them in and I’m on holiday in a weeks time and I don’t have anyone who feels confident administering meds and maintaining two different tanks (let alone three), he will only feed them unfortunately, so I’m wondering about interim measures. The Scopas has started copper treatment today, it was more of an emergency hospital set up rather than a cycled tank, I have to use DT water and then I’m doing daily changes. I will have to put her back in DT in 2 weeks time, and potentially treat her / the others a week later upon return. I’ve found a “reef safe” treatment for DT which I know won’t be as effective but worth a try, and setting up UV. I noticed today that her spots now look black instead of white, and there are some white spots on the tank floor which I’ve siphoned out. No one else showing symptoms currently.

 

[Morticia.x89]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That does appear to be marine ich, and yes, all exposed fish are going to need to be treated. The timing is awful for you - it is really important to monitor the fish closely during treatment.

Your two options are to move all the fish out and treat them with Coppersafe for 30 days, or move all the vitals and invertebrates out and treat the fish in their main tank with low salinity for 30 days.

Thank you. I think I will have to do it in two stages because I don’t have anyone who can continue the treatment when I go away in 2 weeks and it’s not a trip I can postpone, the QT would need several water changes during that one week as well, but I only have someone who can feed them. So will do what I can now in terms of treatment then will have to put her back in and start again on return? Can anything else help? I’ve found a water conditioner for DT and she’s started copper in QT today. Her spots have gone black.

 

[LeftyReefer]

As long as your QT tank is cycled and of sufficient size, it won't be a problem.

So once again, what size is your QT tank?

 

[Morticia.x89]

As long as your QT tank is cycled and of sufficient size, it won't be a problem.

So once again, what size is your QT tank?

It’s a 25L tank, obviously not ideal for a tang but she is a small juvenile. I put her around 7pm last night and as of today 3pm she seems to ok, she’s swimming and eating, and water parameters are fine, just done the first change of 20%

 

[Fish Fan]

Given your situation, going on vacation in a couple of weeks, hyposalinity might be your best option. The "trick" with hypo is getting the salinity just right, so you'll need a well calibrated salinity tester and in your case I think an ATO. If you can get the salinity holding with an ATO, you should be able to leave for your vacation and not have to worry about copper levels and water changes. Maybe have someone stop over and feed them and check in on things would certainly be a good idea.

Your inverts cannot go through the hyposalinity, so any corals and/or motile inverts should be placed in your QT tank during the hypo of the DT.

Here's Jay's article on hyposalinity:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hyposalinity.880546/

And, here's Randy Holmes-Farley's article discussing salinity testing. In it, he has instruction to make your own DIY calibration standard using ordinary Morton's kitchen salt and a decent kitchen scale or measuring spoons. Use Randy's DIY solution to calibrate your salinity device; don't use distilled water, RODI water or store bought calibration fluids:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/reef-aquarium-salinity-diy-calibration-standards.956/

Good luck!