Black ich

kaylashires · Aug 18, 2015

I think my sailfin tang has black ich I did a fw dip to help until my pazipro arrives but the few turned his black spots white. So is this black ich or something else.

Humblefish · Aug 18, 2015

The FW dip dislodged the worms and what you are seeing now is the tiny bite marks they inflicted. Or more accurately, the white excess mucous building up around the insertion points. This is actually a good thing, a step in the right direction.

They should fade in the coming days. You still need to treat with Prazipro, however, to prevent a recurrence.

bumperbeetle · Aug 19, 2015

My sailfin had the same markings! I was at a loss as to what it was or how to treat. All I had heard said that ich presented as white dust....but this was black....So then I thought velvet because he started to look blistery.....finally he seemed to have a mucous like "neclace" coming from out of his gills and coming down around his neck. He stopped eating and eventually died. Sadly ALL my fish took on these symptoms and died. I never was able to come to a definitive conclusion as to what it was. Thankfully I got them all out of my DT quickly and into QT. Ive treated my main tank, done an over all 75% water change and ran an empty tank all the while. My problem now is that Im afraid to put any fish in my DT now for fear of some sort of recurrance!

Im sorry your going through this wish your sailfin and I hope he pulls through. I will keep following this thread to see what others say and hopefully learn a little so Im more prepared should this ever happen in my tank again.

Tahoe61 · Aug 19, 2015

^ Unfortunately Bumper Beetle that sounds more like Brooklynella or Amyloodinium. I have seen Black Ich a number of times, yes it's a parasite/flatworm actually, but not as deadly as the above mentioned disease.

Humblefish · Aug 19, 2015

Tahoe61 said:
^ Unfortunately Bumper Beetle that sounds more like Brooklynella or Amyloodinium. I have seen Black Ich a number of times, yes it's a parasite/flatworm actually, but not as deadly as the above mentioned disease.

^^Agreed. It sort of sounds like @bumperbeetle might have more than one disease in play in the DT. When in doubt, it's best to go fallow for 72 days - as that is the longest fallow period. More info here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fallow-periods.190324/

kaylashires · Aug 19, 2015

Thats sad sorry to here that

Breakthecycle2 · Aug 19, 2015

bumperbeetle said:
My sailfin had the same markings! I was at a loss as to what it was or how to treat. All I had heard said that ich presented as white dust....but this was black....So then I thought velvet because he started to look blistery.....finally he seemed to have a mucous like "neclace" coming from out of his gills and coming down around his neck. He stopped eating and eventually died. Sadly ALL my fish took on these symptoms and died. I never was able to come to a definitive conclusion as to what it was. Thankfully I got them all out of my DT quickly and into QT. Ive treated my main tank, done an over all 75% water change and ran an empty tank all the while. My problem now is that Im afraid to put any fish in my DT now for fear of some sort of recurrance!

Im sorry your going through this wish your sailfin and I hope he pulls through. I will keep following this thread to see what others say and hopefully learn a little so Im more prepared should this ever happen in my tank again.

What did you treat within QT? How long has your tank been fishless?

bumperbeetle · Aug 19, 2015

Honestly, being my first QT tank probably not the right thing. I had read in alot of these forums not to use live rock or sand so the "disease" had nothing to sustain it. I had a tank, small power head with airpump/stone, an HOB filter, heater, and some pvc pipes for hiding. I dosed daily with Mardels after doing a 3 min FW dip on all of them. Did water changes every other day, gradually lowered salinity because it had been suggested in a forum and increased temperature. Was getting ready to start treating with copper and then with in about 24 hrs all 7 died.

Afterwards I had seen where folks suggested putting a seeded sponge in the filter and removing the carbon medium (which I did....i cut the bottom of the filter open and removed the carbon medium but placed the empty sleeve back in to catch any large particulates) and replaced with a new one daily. Im sure I could have done more and done better. A sad but necessary learning experience I guess. But now I have more queations abt hospital and QT tanks....like should they be left up even when not in use so you dont have to cycle them? Do you need to cycle them? How do you "seed" a sponge and what exactly does that mean? Why would you introduce live bacteria to a hospital tank if were trying to treat or kill a live disease? So many questions! I still havent restocked my main DT tank, too nervous about left over crud. Dont want to put anymore fish through this awful experience and definately need to learn more abt treating and recognizing the different types of diseases and setup/maintenance of DT tanks!

Sorry Kaylashires! Didnt mean to get your thread off track.

bumperbeetle · Aug 19, 2015

My main tank has been fishless now about 3weeks. Only thing in it are snails, anemones, and zoa's.

Im still testing parameters daily and regular water changes. Im battling awful brown algae in it right now as my nitrates have been above 50ppm. Everything else reads at zero, it all makes so sense really why its so high with no fish in it now, so been dosing with Vodka. Seems to be bringing it down.

Humblefish · Aug 19, 2015

@bumperbeetle please read this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/

If you have any questions after reading that, I'll be more than help to help you and explain in more detail.