UGH tell me it’s not ick......

[the_reef_keeper]

On Saturday I bought a red social wrasse and a small ocellaris clown from my LFS. Of course, the one time the QT tank isn’t setup....they had been at the LFS for over a 2 weeks so I assumed everyone was fine.
Is this ick?! Treatment ideas?
Tank is 35 Gallons 2 chromis ( not infected) 1 large Ocellaris clown (not infected) then the two new guys have a couple white spots.

Help!

Thanks!

 

[Humblefish]

It does look like ich, but it's unusual to see that on a clownfish or wrasse.

I would give one of them a FW dip just to be sure it isn't flukes: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

 

[the_reef_keeper]

It does look like ich, but it's unusual to see that on a clownfish or wrasse.

I would give one of them a FW dip just to be sure it isn't flukes: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

Should I set up a Quarantine Tank? I called the LFS and they said it could be a lack of color pigmentation but these are sort of sticking out of the fish, kind of like a bump. I don't want to stress out the Clownfish until I know for sure whats happening.

 

[Humblefish]

Should I set up a Quarantine Tank? I called the LFS and they said it could be a lack of color pigmentation but these are sort of sticking out of the fish, kind of like a bump. I don't want to stress out the Clownfish until I know for sure whats happening.

I would give one of the fish a FW dip (to see if flukes drop off) first. That can be treated right in the DT via Prazipro.

 

[4FordFamily]

Should I set up a Quarantine Tank? I called the LFS and they said it could be a lack of color pigmentation but these are sort of sticking out of the fish, kind of like a bump. I don't want to stress out the Clownfish until I know for sure whats happening.

Looks like ich to me. Nearly every LFS on earth will provide you with ich — this because the sheer number of fish moving through their joined systems. They keep fish in low levels of copper to keep parasites at bay, but as soon as they're in copper free water they’ll come back.

 

[the_reef_keeper]

I would give one of the fish a FW dip (to see if flukes drop off) first. That can be treated right in the DT via Prazipro.

Okay so tomorrow I will do a FW dip to see if anything falls off. Also, would letting the fish fight it off themselves be an option?

Looks like ich to me. Nearly every LFS on earth will provide you with ich — this because the sheer number of fish moving through their joined systems. They keep fish in low levels of copper to keep parasites at bay, but as soon as they're in copper free water they’ll come back.

Should i QT all the fish or just the ones that have ick?

 

[4FordFamily]

Okay so tomorrow I will do a FW dip to see if anything falls off. Also, would letting the fish fight it off themselves be an option?



Should i QT all the fish or just the ones that have ick?

All of the fish, as they’ll be carriers if you do not and reinfect the fish when it’s added back.

 

[Humblefish]

Also, would letting the fish fight it off themselves be an option?

Ich, yes (read here); but flukes are not usually manageable long-term.

 

[LuckyPhil]

Best to determine if it is flukes by doing the FW dip as suggested.
If it is not flukes then you will need to QT and treat all fish and then leave your DT fallow for 76 days.
If it is flukes then you are in luck and can treat with Prazi Pro (2x)
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

Unfortunately lesson learned never assume fish "X" weeks at a LFS qualifies to not QT.
As mentioned by 4fordfamily most LFS run their tanks at low copper levels.

 

[the_reef_keeper]

QT Wise, i have an extra 10 gallon, a heater and i can pick up an HOB filter but what can I do so that I won’t have any ammonia spikes or ammonia and for biological filtration

 

[the_reef_keeper]

UPDATE: Came home today and all the spots are gone, should I still treat? @eatbreakfast @Humblefish @4FordFamily

 

[4FordFamily]

Yes, you should treat ESPECIALLY if they’re all gone. That means it’s definitely ich or velvet, but 90% sure that’s ich. It falls off after a few days. When it completes its life cycle there will be several more and it’ll be more trouble at that time.

UPDATE: Came home today and all the spots are gone, should I still treat? @eatbreakfast @Humblefish @4FordFamily

 

[the_reef_keeper]

Okay so the quarantine is a make shift 10 gallon sterilite container with 1 piece of live rock (disease free) a pvc pipe and a sponge filter + heater

I have paragard and the LFS is 2 hours away-will this work to treat ick (hope it’s ick rather than velvet)

Question- so I had a couple old sponges in a bucket with water from an old water change (might have ammonia) (I know it’s gross)
Can i put those sponges into the QT tank for extra biological filtration or will they leech ammonia, nitrate etc

Thanks!

 

[LuckyPhil]

UPDATE: Came home today and all the spots are gone, should I still treat? @eatbreakfast @Humblefish @4FordFamily

Some one didn't read the stickies (humblefish even linked it for you) and understand the lifecycle of c.irritans/ich.

I would not recommend to use those old sponges.
I do recommend you getting an ammonia alert badge and change water when necessary (if you are using copper make sure the copper levels in the new water is also dosed before adding to QT)

Have you decided on how you are going to treat?

 

[the_reef_keeper]

Some one didn't read the stickies (humblefish even linked it for you) and understand the lifecycle of c.irritans/ich.

I would not recommend to use those old sponges.
I do recommend you getting an ammonia alert badge and change water when necessary (if you are using copper make sure the copper levels in the new water is also dosed before adding to QT)

Have you decided on how you are going to treat?

I did read the stickies I just wasn’t sure if it was ick yet or another disease.
At the current moment, I have paragard, kordon rapid cure and melafix (for infections) would any of these work because the LFS is 2 hours away.

 

[4FordFamily]

I did read the stickies I just wasn’t sure if it was ick yet or another disease.
At the current moment, I have paragard, kordon rapid cure and melafix (for infections) would any of these work because the LFS is 2 hours away.

The disappearance of the spots confirms ich or velvet. The size indicates ich. Either way, the same treatment is in order.

 

[the_reef_keeper]

The disappearance of the spots confirms ich or velvet. The size indicates ich. Either way, the same treatment is in order.

So can I use paragard?


Thanks

 

[Sycoticrealm]

Do not over react. Sometimes you have to watch it and most of the time it goes away you'll never know what it was and it doesn't matter as long as your fish is happy eating and swiming.

 

[Sonam]

We are currently battling am outbreak of marine velvet in our 125 gallon display.
Some advice (you will hear a lot of various viewpoints - I can only offer my own experience)
1. We lost almost all our fish following the "feed them food soaked in Metroplex and garlic" along with cleaner shrimp recommendations from our LFS. That may have slowed the process but our fish ended up dropping like flies.
2. We set up an emergency QT - no time to cycle, and reading everything we could find, understanding we were on our own. The LFS didn't take it seriously.
3. We finally took the rocks out of the display and moved the remaining fish to QT. Treating with cupramine. Our QT is a 32 gallon biocube with a heater, airstone, Sponge filtration and an ammonia alert badge.
3. Before moving the fish into QT we did a fresh water dip with methylene blue (because we didn't have Ruby Reef Rally or any other option) which seemed to offer temporary relief.
4. At the time of the move our yellow tang and 6 line wrasse were hanging out in a cave, not eating, some redness around the tangs lips but no visible spots.
5. We are 4 days in to the QT and the fish are back to behaving normally, eating voraciously, and I've had to change the water almost every day to prevent ammonia from building up.
5. Our plan is to leave the display free of fish for 76 days to ensure there are no parasites before returning the fish to the tank.
6. We will cycle the QT in the future and keep it running constantly so we never have to watch our finned friends die off like that again.

@Humblefish has a great article on treatment.

Our issue arose after a tank upgrade and mini cycle combined with placing a suspicious fish (looked faded in color) into the display which our LFS assured us was just "stress". Our precious system (90 gallon) ran for 5 years without ever experiencing anything like this. So it was easy to believe "their immune systems will take care of it."

Maybe under different circumstances in the display that would be true. But we will never take that chance again. It's just not worth the risk.

Good luck and hope your fish recover completely.

 

[Sonam]

One more note:
When dosing with cupramine the levels have a therapeutic range, so a test kit is important.
We started with the API test kit because we could get it locally. Another mistake. It is not precise enough.
We now use the seachem test kit to monitor levels. Because we are having to change the water often we have to add copper to compensate for dilution. So I test after each water change to ensure the copper level is adequate and not toxic.