Can ick present as only one, two, or three spots!?

[FiveGallonSea]

Hi everyone,

I have a 3 year old Naso Tang I've kept since a baby and he's a big guy with an insatiable appetite. He's had small occurrences of lympho that has left his back fin a little damaged, but I sometimes find a couple spots that are not large enough to be lympho on him. They have the "sand grain" appearance of ick. They disappear after a couple days, but he does get them every once in a while. It's never more than maybe 3. Can ick show in such low numbers? Or is this just lympho in a small version? His behavior and appetite has always remained the same. No other fish are affected.

What are your thoughts?

Thank you!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sure - ich is sometimes "managed" either by accident of design, and kept at low levels. This results in fish showing a spot here and there, then now spots, then a few come back, for months at a time. But, as you pointed out, not all white spots are ich. If the spot is in the same place on the fish for more than 36 hours, it probably isn't ich.

Jay