White Spots on Foxface - Not sold it's Ich

RMS18

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Hello,

This morning I saw a bunch of white dots on my foxface that were not there a day ago. No new fish have been added for over a year. No clean up crew either, only a few acros from BC. All my fish have been through 30 days of copper as a preventative in addition to other meds as well. My qt process is rough.

Other fish in system show no signs at all:
White tail Tang
Copper band BF
Royal gamma
Square back
Bartlett's
Potters wrasse
Leopold wrasse
Yellow tail wrasse
Earmuff wrasses

The dots look like they are sitting on top of the skin. No scratching from the fish. All eating and habits of the fish are normal. They do not look like they are under the skin like ich. I was thinking flukes but they seems kinda small. Some of the dots move when the fish turns, like they are hanging off the fish.

If it was ich I would have believed it would have come out in months prior induced by stress as I was battling dinos. Dinos had my hands in the tank on the daily, Micro bubbling, scrubbing the rocks and that whole process.

I noticed a few of the white spots gone a few hours later and in place was a black dot on the fish that was smooth. Almost like a scare from the white dot. Again the foxface is the only fish showing any signs of this.

Best pictures I can get:

20200208_131923.jpg 20200208_131932.jpg 20200208_132012.jpg 20200208_132025.jpg 20200208_132027.jpg 20200208_132028.jpg 20200208_132114.jpg 20200208_132116.jpg
 

Mical

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I have a foxface and a bi-colored rabbitfish, & the bi-color occasionally has white dots on it that come & go. I use a capfull of PraziPro as a precaution in both tanks (as told to me from a fellow long time reefer) neither seemed to bothered. If anything just keep an eye on it.
 
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RMS18

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I have a foxface and a bi-colored rabbitfish, & the bi-color occasionally has white dots on it that come & go. I use a capfull of PraziPro as a precaution in both tanks (as told to me from a fellow long time reefer) neither seemed to bothered. If anything just keep an eye on it.


That's interesting... I wonder what this could be. I also just dosed prazi just to see. Won't affect anything and easy to pull out, plus had it on hand.
 
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RMS18

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Was able to get 2 videos
 

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RMS18

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Did you dip and QT the corals for 72+ days?

No but Adam doesn't run fish in those systems from what I was told. I forgot to mention I placed an order with BC last spring also, no issues.
 

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Hello,

This morning I saw a bunch of white dots on my foxface that were not there a day ago. No new fish have been added for over a year. No clean up crew either, only a few acros from BC. All my fish have been through 30 days of copper as a preventative in addition to other meds as well. My qt process is rough.

Other fish in system show no signs at all:
White tail Tang
Copper band BF
Royal gamma
Square back
Bartlett's
Potters wrasse
Leopold wrasse
Yellow tail wrasse
Earmuff wrasses

The dots look like they are sitting on top of the skin. No scratching from the fish. All eating and habits of the fish are normal. They do not look like they are under the skin like ich. I was thinking flukes but they seems kinda small. Some of the dots move when the fish turns, like they are hanging off the fish.

If it was ich I would have believed it would have come out in months prior induced by stress as I was battling dinos. Dinos had my hands in the tank on the daily, Micro bubbling, scrubbing the rocks and that whole process.

I noticed a few of the white spots gone a few hours later and in place was a black dot on the fish that was smooth. Almost like a scare from the white dot. Again the foxface is the only fish showing any signs of this.

Best pictures I can get:

20200208_131923.jpg 20200208_131932.jpg 20200208_132012.jpg 20200208_132025.jpg 20200208_132027.jpg 20200208_132028.jpg 20200208_132114.jpg 20200208_132116.jpg
Did you ever get closure on this? Was it ich or did it otherwise resolve?
 
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RMS18

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Did you ever get closure on this? Was it ich or did it otherwise resolve?
Resolved its self. No other fish ever had any issues, foxface never scratched. Have not seen any spots on him since about a week after that post.
 

Arabyps

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Thanks for your reply. I have noticed almost the exact same issue on my Magnificent Foxface. No other fish in the tank display with any signs of ich including the "canary" black mollies. The Foxface white specs changed to dark gray and seem to be resolving. Certainly not ich as others fish would show signs.
 

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Interesting. I’m seeing something similar on my foxface. Flat, white, kinda large (for ich) spots.
You can see there are three on the black portion under his gills on the right side.

One spot that looks a little different about the black stripe on the left side.
Acting totally normal and eating like a champ.
 

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Bpones

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Here’s a better shot of the three lower spots
 

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Jay Hemdal

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That looks like the start of ich. Some other things cause white spots that stand out, but this just looks like ich to me. To confirm it - watch the exact locations of the spots over the next couple of days. If the spots come and go, and show up in new locations, it is probably ich.

Going into Christmas with a case of ich starting up is not idea. You might want to put together a treatment plan now, so that you are not scrambling on Sunday/Monday.

Your options are: ich management, coppersafe or hyposalinity. Since you mentioned you quarantine your fish, that means you have a setup. If you decide to treat, then coppersafe would be the best choice. Ich management is at first blush, the easiest path, but it takes a lot of work to do it well and it still often fails.

Jay
 

Bpones

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That looks like the start of ich. Some other things cause white spots that stand out, but this just looks like ich to me. To confirm it - watch the exact locations of the spots over the next couple of days. If the spots come and go, and show up in new locations, it is probably ich.

Going into Christmas with a case of ich starting up is not idea. You might want to put together a treatment plan now, so that you are not scrambling on Sunday/Monday.

Your options are: ich management, coppersafe or hyposalinity. Since you mentioned you quarantine your fish, that means you have a setup. If you decide to treat, then coppersafe would be the best choice. Ich management is at first blush, the easiest path, but it takes a lot of work to do it well and it still often fails.

Jay
Thanks for the reply. My guy’s spots were strangely large and flat. I’ve got a full qt set up ready to roll so I’ll keep and eye on things.
 

Bpones

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Thanks for the reply. My guy’s spots were strangely large and flat. I’ve got a full qt set up ready to roll so I’ll keep and eye on things.

That looks like the start of ich. Some other things cause white spots that stand out, but this just looks like ich to me. To confirm it - watch the exact locations of the spots over the next couple of days. If the spots come and go, and show up in new locations, it is probably ich.

Going into Christmas with a case of ich starting up is not idea. You might want to put together a treatment plan now, so that you are not scrambling on Sunday/Monday.

Your options are: ich management, coppersafe or hyposalinity. Since you mentioned you quarantine your fish, that means you have a setup. If you decide to treat, then coppersafe would be the best choice. Ich management is at first blush, the easiest path, but it takes a lot of work to do it well and it still often fails.

Jay
Update, the spots disappeared in a day. As of this morning there are three spots on the opposite side of the fox face. They are so strange in that they are large for ich and flat. As always, keeping an eye on things and have a QT ready to roll. Just wanted to update this thread for future reefers if I figure anything out. What looks like a spot on the snout is just debris.
 

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Jay Hemdal

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Update, the spots disappeared in a day. As of this morning there are three spots on the opposite side of the fox face. They are so strange in that they are large for ich and flat. As always, keeping an eye on things and have a QT ready to roll. Just wanted to update this thread for future reefers if I figure anything out. What looks like a spot on the snout is just debris.

You just want to be aware that when an ich infection first starts, all of the trophonts are about the same age, so they drop off the fish to replicate at about the same time. Then, their daughter cells return and infect the fish again. The spots may or may not have been ich, you will still want to keep a close eye on the fish though!

Jay
 

Bpones

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You just want to be aware that when an ich infection first starts, all of the trophonts are about the same age, so they drop off the fish to replicate at about the same time. Then, their daughter cells return and infect the fish again. The spots may or may not have been ich, you will still want to keep a close eye on the fish though!

Jay
100%. Thanks for your reply.
I’m keeping a close eye on it. I’ve just never seen spots look like this before (large and flat) so I’m very curious. Also strange that it’s been groups of three in the same space on opposite sides.
I’ll keep this thread updated if anything changes.
 

TheBear78

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@Bpones , my own experience may or may not be of use but doesn't sound too dissimilar.
A few weeks after getting a One Spot Foxface I noticed occasional white spots which cleared within a day or two. This first occurrence happened quite randomly a long time after any new fish were added so I was confident in just observing for a couple of days to see what happened.
After this, subsequent "outbreaks" always looked very similar and from previous experience I was happy to just observe again. Each time they would be gone within a day.
In the end I realised it was always after a large water change which always used to stress him out. You could tell from his colour change. I assume that the stress from the intrusion into his environment would trigger this reaction. However, I am not if this is an indicator for a disease that he is carrying or a normal, natural response to stress.
Either way, it's been over a year since the last time I saw any spots. He is doing well and no other fish were ever affected.
 

Leon.NYC

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Going a much simpler route; Have you given any thought that it may be sand? I had a similar issue with a purple tang. The only one getting very similar looking white spots all over him.. Panicking over the course of a few hours as I QT everything, it wasn't until that night when I came in close to midnight when I'm sure they'll all be sleeping and used a flashlight to find him sitting/laying on the sandbed. A few days later it still got the best of me and I broke down the rockscape and pulled him out. Using some tank water & turkey baster, I was able to blast a number of the 'spots' right off. Just a thought.
 

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