Give it to me straight doc.... is it Ich?????

[cryotek74]

I'm guessing Ich but want more opinions. My blue tang likes to hide in the rocks and I am fighting cyano and I've been traveling a bunch. I got home today and turned my lights on full bright and see that he has some white spots on him. He is happy and no stress indications. His eye looks a little cloudy as well. Let me know what you all think.

 

[den75]

Looks like a classic case of ich to me.

 

[cryotek74]

Are the blue tangs more susceptible to it? My chromis, royal gramma, diamond goby, yellow tail damsel, and powder brown show no signs of it. The blue tang was my first fish and been in the tank since Dec.

 

[Humblefish]

Looks like a classic case of ich to me.

+1 Dots are too large to be velvet (good news). But the ich infestation appears to be heavy, so I would begin treatment soon: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

 

[Humblefish]

Are the blue tangs more susceptible to it? My chromis, royal gramma, diamond goby, yellow tail damsel, and powder brown show no signs of it. The blue tang was my first fish and been in the tank since Dec.

The Powder Brown & Royal Gramma should be the next to show symptoms.

 

[cryotek74]

what is my best steps to slowing it down till I can get a QT tank set up?

 

[Humblefish]

Taken from here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.188775/

Ich management - This method involves just managing the presence of the disease, instead of eradicating it. You know you have ich in your tank or are willing to risk it by forgoing QT. Despite how strongly I advocate ich eradication these days, I employed ich management for almost 30 years. I found the key to success was keeping the overall number of parasites down, while simultaneously boosting the fishes’ immune systems to deal with the parasites that survived. Some ways to accomplish this include:

• Utilizing the biggest UV sterilizer you can fit/afford. While a UV will probably never “zap” all of the free swimmers (theronts), it will keep their numbers down so the fish can better cope with the ones remaining. A diatom filter can also be used to remove free swimmers.
• Boost your fishes’ immune systems through proper nutrition. This means feeding a wide range of live & frozen nutritious foods, not just flake & pellets. Feed nori, as that is loaded with vitamins. Also, soak fish food in vitamin supplements such as Selcon, Zoecon and Vita-Chem to further enhance health. Omega 3 & 6 fish oils are great (and cheap) soaking alternatives.
• Stay on top of your aquarium husbandry! Maintain pristine water conditions, stable parameters and avoid fish that are likely to fight. Poor water quality, fluctuating parameters and aggression from other fish may “stress” a fish out, lower his immune system and make him more susceptible to parasitic infestation.
• Choose your fish wisely. Avoid “ich magnets” i.e. fish with thin mucous coats such as tangs. Clownfish, anthias, wrasses and even mandarins are better choices as those have thick slime coats protecting their skin from attacking parasites. Also, only buy from reputable sources, and don’t buy fish that look diseased/damaged, won’t eat or who share water with diseased fish.
• No discussion of “ich management” can be had without mentioning garlic. This topic is often debated, and I honestly don’t know whether or not soaking garlic in fish food helps with ich. I have seen it work as an appetite stimulant, so that might help right there. However, I’m less confident in its ability to boost a fish’s immune system. Another theory is that garlic leaches back out of a fish’s pores, and that makes the fish an undesirable host for parasites. While there is no scientific evidence supporting anything beneficial, studies have been done linking long-term garlic use with liver damage in fish. Therefore, I use garlic sparingly.

A fine example of utilizing proper nutrition to keep the bugs away is Paul Baldassano’s (aka Paul B) over 40 year old, 100 gallon aquarium. Paul keeps his fish in “breeding condition” by feeding live foods (ex. blackworms) and soaking food in Omega-3 fish oil. Most of his livestock live to be a ripe old age and some of his fish spawn on a regular basis. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Paul and highly recommend this article written by him: Reefkeeping Magazine - Paul Baldassano?s Reef - 40 Years in the Making.

 

[cryotek74]

Is it possible to treat my whole display tank? I have only 1 coral that i can remove.

 

[Humblefish]

Is it possible to treat my whole display tank? I have only 1 coral that i can remove.

Yes, but that doesn't always work. Your rock/substrate will absorb (and then leach back out) copper making it difficult to maintain a stable level. Also, removing all the copper post treatment is not the easiest thing to do for the same reasons (absorption/leaching).

Hypo works sometimes but also has its pitfalls. See below:

Hyposalinity: Treats Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) only.

How To Treat - Place the fish you wish to treat in a quarantine tank with SG & temperature matching the tank they came from. Over a period of 48 hours, gradually lower the SG down to 1.009. You must use a perfectly calibrated refractometer at all times while doing hypo. Treat for 30 consecutive days, and during that time the SG must always remain at 1.009. If it inches up even slightly, the 30 day clock restarts. For this reason, many people use an auto top off system while performing hyposalinity. Some have even used hypo to successfully rid their display tank of ich, while others have failed. All corals and inverts must be removed beforehand if you wish to try this.

One of the challenges posed by hypo is maintaining a proper pH for the entire duration. While fish aren’t overly sensitive to low pH for short periods of time, anything continuously lower than 7.5 is going to be a problem. So, you will have to constantly test and then buffer the water to raise the pH. This can be accomplished by using supplements (available at most LFS) or you can “bake” your own DIY supplement by using baking soda. Spread baking soda onto a clean baking sheet, and bake at 300F for 1 hour. This process drives off water and carbon dioxide from the baking soda, and the result is an effective pH buffer. You will need to experiment (start with a very small amount) to determine how much is needed to raise your pH to the desired level.

Pros - Chemical free solution to ich, gentle on the fish.

Cons/Side Effects - Difficult to execute properly, and hypo resistant strains of ich have been proven to exist (study done by Yambot in 2003.)

 

[cryotek74]

Off to petsmart for a full QT setup.

 

[Reefahholic]

Yep, looks like ICH. You'll need to go fallow in the DT like mention above if you don't want it to return later.

 

[CGREEF86]

Before you insert any type of chemicals or medicine to the system, i dont knownif it will work for you but i was going through the same problem with one of my clowns, it did not have as much ich and white spots but it had loke 5-6 white spots. After doing a lot of research online I decided to treat my fish with GINGER POWDER half a teaspoon of ginger powder mixed with their daily food, you will see drastic and major improvements within 48 hours. I would recommend this to anyone going through ich before adding any medicine or doing QT.

 

[melypr1985]

Before you insert any type of chemicals or medicine to the system, i dont knownif it will work for you but i was going through the same problem with one of my clowns, it did not have as much ich and white spots but it had loke 5-6 white spots. After doing a lot of research online I decided to treat my fish with GINGER POWDER half a teaspoon of ginger powder mixed with their daily food, you will see drastic and major improvements within 48 hours. I would recommend this to anyone going through ich before adding any medicine or doing QT.

Using Ginger to treat a fish with Ich is just a myth. At the most you are MAYBE tempting them to eat more food which may boost the immune system temporarily. Of course after a few days the ich parasites drop off the fish's body anyway - as part of it's life cycle. You haven't cured your fish of ich, it's still in the system and will show up again.

I want to counter this statement with my own advice. If you have ich in your tank you can choose ich management or QT. I would advise QT because it only takes one problem to cause ich to rear it's ugly head, take over and start killing fish. Not to mention there are species of fish out there that just can't handle ich.

 

[Humblefish]

Using Ginger to treat a fish with Ich is just a myth. At the most you are MAYBE tempting them to eat more food which may boost the immune system temporarily. Of course after a few days the ich parasites drop off the fish's body anyway - as part of it's life cycle. You haven't cured your fish of ich, it's still in the system and will show up again.

I want to counter this statement with my own advice. If you have ich in your tank you can choose ich management or QT. I would advise QT because it only takes one problem to cause ich to rear it's ugly head, take over and start killing fish. Not to mention there are species of fish out there that just can't handle ich.

^^ Good advice. (Eating a ginger cookie.)

 

[cryotek74]

All my research led me to the one and only decision. Hospital tank and DT fallow for 77+ days(probably gonna go 80 or 90). We spent a couple hours taking all my rock out so I could get all my fish out(i re-rockscaped my tank when it all went back in). All 9 fish are in the QT/hospital tank. half dose of Cupramine in yesterday. Fish are all looking good and eating. My office got quite messy during this process but worth it in the end(glad I put tile in the office before the tank went in).

I decided to go this route as I have all intentions and efforts to have a healthy reef tank for many many years. Chasing a disease and having fish suffer on and off for something that is treatable(and preventable) is not in my will and not fair to the fish. I thank everyone on R2R and other places for the help and opinions. I truely love this hobby and the group of people that support it. Thanks.

 

[zeeGGee]

I was skeptical to use this for my reef tank but it helped..

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I was skeptical to use this for my reef tank but it helped..

This stuff does not work. If the signs of ICH "went away", its because the parasites fell off and are now reproducing in your sand bed.

 

[4FordFamily]

Looks like ich to me. I second literally everything Humblefish said

 

[zeeGGee]

I quarantined the fish for 3 weeks and treated with this medication..The ich went away so I decided to try it to my reef tank...it worked for me luckily...so far my corals are doing great...

 

[zeeGGee]

This stuff does not work. If the signs of ICH "went away", its because the parasites fell off and are now reproducing in your sand bed.

I quarantined the fish for 4 weeks and treated with this medication..The ich went away so I decided to try it to my reef tank...it worked for me luckily...so far my corals are doing great...