how do fish get ich?

SammieT · May 29, 2019

My tank has been running a while now and have had no issues. Last night i fed my fish, everything fine and all eating... woke up this morning and notice one of my fish dead and the clown covered in ich. I've only ever had this issue once long long ago and lost a lot of my livestock. My perm's have been spot on with no swings and water change done daily (as needed). I'm honestly getting fed up with this and need to figure it out.

glb · May 29, 2019

Ich is usually already in the water. Healthy fish are able to resist it. Did you add any new livestock lately? Has anything happened that might have stressed your fish?

Lukas75 · May 29, 2019

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

Daniel@R2R · May 29, 2019

It's not impossible that your clown has ich, but death that quick sounds more like Velvet to me. I'm no expert, but I'll tag those that are. @HotRocks @4FordFamily @ngoodermuth

4FordFamily · May 29, 2019

mdbannister said:
It's not impossible that your clown has ich, but death that quick sounds more like Velvet to me. I'm no expert, but I'll tag those that are. @HotRocks @4FordFamily @ngoodermuth

It does sound more like velvet. Can you post some photos? Another commonality in clowns is brooklynella.

HotRocks · May 29, 2019

I agree a quick death with a clown is almost always brook, velvet, or a secondary infection from a parasite affliction.

Any recent additions to your tank?

LAReefer4Life · May 29, 2019

4FordFamily said:
It does sound more like velvet. Can you post some photos? Another commonality in clowns is brooklynella.

+1 Ich doesn't kill that quickly. Bets are on velvet or brook. Post photos please

HotRocks · May 29, 2019

Also to answer the thread title "how do fish get ich?" @SammieT

Ich can be introduced to a tank on anything that you add to the tank that came from another system. It can hitchhike it's way into the system in the various stages of the parasite depending on what you are adding.

Trophonts can come in on fish if they came from a system that had ich. They would then fall off in your tank and go into the reproductive stage. Then multiplying looking for new fish to infect.

Inverts/corals/rock/sand that come from a system with ich present can introduce ich in the tomont stage which releases the free swimmers looking for a fish to infect.

SammieT · May 29, 2019

glb said:
Ich is usually already in the water. Healthy fish are able to resist it. Did you add any new livestock lately? Has anything happened that might have stressed your fish?

Nothing new in tank, same amount of fish

4FordFamily said:
It does sound more like velvet. Can you post some photos? Another commonality in clowns is brooklynella.

i will once i get a chance

SammieT · May 29, 2019

As of last night they all were fine which is strange to wake up in the morning and seeing my coral beauty layin on the sand bed and my clown covered in white spots. I will post pics today once i get home... hopefully he wont be dead by the time i am out of work

SammieT · May 29, 2019

4FordFamily said:
It does sound more like velvet. Can you post some photos? Another commonality in clowns is brooklynella.

looking up brooklynella, it looks like its covered in slime or is that different but similar?

SammieT · May 29, 2019

Lukas75 said:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

Will get to reading that

thank you for the post

4FordFamily · May 29, 2019

SammieT said:
looking up brooklynella, it looks like its covered in slime or is that different but similar?

Brook first presents looking like velvet centralized around the dorsal fin and top half of the fish. As it progresses it can look like peaking skin as well.

ngoodermuth · May 29, 2019

*covered in spots* says velvet to me, but early stages of brook and early stages of velvet can look pretty similar.

SammieT · May 29, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
*covered in spots* says velvet to me, but early stages of brook and early stages of velvet can look pretty similar.

See attached

ngoodermuth · May 29, 2019

SammieT said:
See attached

Definitely velvet. Emergency treatment protocol is to freshwater dip heavily afflicted fish (like the clown), next antiseptic bath to reduce risk of secondary infection (I prefer 90-minutes in ruby reef rally- which is acriflavine)and last transfer to a clean QT for treatment via CP (chloroquine phosphate) or Copper. CP has the added benefit of treating both Brook and Ich/velvet, and also uronema. Adding metroplex to the copper treatment to account for brook, is another option - to be safe in either case.

Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum)
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...(Amyloodinium-ocellatum).217570/&share_type=t

SammieT · May 30, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
Definitely velvet. Emergency treatment protocol is to freshwater dip heavily afflicted fish (like the clown), next antiseptic bath to reduce risk of secondary infection (I prefer 90-minutes in ruby reef rally- which is acriflavine)and last transfer to a clean QT for treatment via CP (chloroquine phosphate) or Copper. CP has the added benefit of treating both Brook and Ich/velvet, and also uronema. Adding metroplex to the copper treatment to account for brook, is another option - to be safe in either case.

Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum)
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_fid=1020&share_tid=217570&url=https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Velvet-(Amyloodinium-ocellatum).217570/&share_type=t

What causes Velvet? Never dealt with this before

ngoodermuth · May 30, 2019

SammieT said:
What causes Velvet? Never dealt with this before

Dinoflagellates, it’s a parasite. Can come in in on new fish, new CUC, new corals/macros, live rock, etc etc and is know for having a very fast reproductive rate and can take down a full community in a matter of days.

Wrasses are often Typhoid Mary types for velvet, because of their thick mucous coat they can carry it without showing symptoms. Or with minimal symptoms.

If it’s just a bad case of ich, treatment would be the same and consequences could be just as bad depending on the type of fish you are keeping in your DT. It would have to be a weak wrasse or a virulent strain of ich to see this many spots IME.

I’d also heavily suggest bolstering the wrasses immune system with vita-chem or selcon soaked frozen foods, live worms, frozen clam, even nori or algae sheets if he takes them. All of my wrasses do.

SammieT · May 30, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
Dinoflagellates, it’s a parasite. Can come in in on new fish, new CUC, new corals/macros, live rock, etc etc and is know for having a very fast reproductive rate and can take down a full community in a matter of days.

Wrasses are often Typhoid Mary types for velvet, because of their thick mucous coat they can carry it without showing symptoms. Or with minimal symptoms.

If it’s just a bad case of ich, treatment would be the same and consequences could be just as bad depending on the type of fish you are keeping in your DT. It would have to be a weak wrasse or a virulent strain of ich to see this many spots IME.

I’d also heavily suggest bolstering the wrasses immune system with vita-chem or selcon soaked frozen foods, live worms, frozen clam, even nori or algae sheets if he takes them. All of my wrasses do.

Thank you for the information, very helpful