Ich?? Coming and going

[Dr. Bluethumb]

Is this ich, and if so is it possible for it to come and go often? One day all the fish have it and the next day barely any spots and then 2-3 days later it’s back again.

 

[Reeferstin]

Very well could be , use marine labs reef safe medic i have a purple tang and this stuff works

 

[HuduVudu]

Make sure that you tank has enough O2 to handle the load that you put on it.

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

Make sure that you tank has enough O2 to handle the load that you put on it.

what do you mean. enough flow?

 

[HuduVudu]

Enough flow is only part of the equation. If your house has to much CO2 and not enough O2 then you fish will suffer. If your house is good on CO2 and O2 then the next step is to determine if your gas exchange is solid. Also your biological filter consumes O2 in the conversion from NH3 (Ammonia) to NO3 (Nitrate). Also of this factors determine how many fish that you can put in your tank. If you have to many fish for the load that your aquarium can handle that will be a chronic stressor to the fish and you will see disease and death on your fish until the load balances, usually with the loss of many fish. From my many years in the hobby this is one of the most common problems that aquarists face .

 

[Jvf93]

put in air stone in treatment tank. I would start as soon as possible. If you can do a para guard or copper dip for 45 min and a 5 min RO WATER if fish isn’t too stressed and boom. Keep him in qt dose water with kanaplex and re do dip in a couple of days

 

[Jvf93]

I had major ich issues at first. I chalked it up to temp swings. I but a proper one that stays regulated. Talk stayed with only my sailfin blenny who hasn’t had an outbreak in 2 months. Go figure he was the only one cleaner shrimp touched

 

[ca1ore]

What does O2 have to do with ich? Any/every tank should have adequate flow and oxygenation .... I fail to see the relevance to ich specifically. OP, read up on the ich lifecycle and it well explains the appearance/disappearance of spots. I see spots on the glass, but not so much on the fish. Are they in your display or in a QT? How long have you had the fish? If you are seeing a cycling of the ich symptoms then you are going to have to treat them. There is no reliably effective in display treatment (unless you are running a FOWLR). It is possible to have a successful fish population with ich management, but probably not for a reeling novice and it requires certain conditions to be successful .... some of which you can control and some are dumb luck.

 

[HuduVudu]

What does O2 have to do with ich?

Put three people in a sealed room and drop the O2 in the room to 50% normal atmospheric levels and then keep it that way for a week. Also double normal atmospheric CO2 for the room and keep it there during the week of lowered O2. What do you think is going to happen to those people? Do you think the people will die? What do you think will be the outcome of this experiment?

Once I learned this, I have NEVER had problems with ich. Seriously I see so many posts with all of the various diseases and everyone jumps straight to medication, and no one ever looks at the gas exchange or the biological load on the tank. Flow is as I suggested on my previous post one piece of the gas exchange equation. Perhaps you might read that post a little closer to see what I am saying.

Any/every tank should have adequate flow and oxygenation

This is a complete fallacy. Making this assumption is very very dangerous.

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

Enough flow is only part of the equation. If your house has to much CO2 and not enough O2 then you fish will suffer. If your house is good on CO2 and O2 then the next step is to determine if your gas exchange is solid. Also your biological filter consumes O2 in the conversion from NH3 (Ammonia) to NO3 (Nitrate). Also of this factors determine how many fish that you can put in your tank. If you have to many fish for the load that your aquarium can handle that will be a chronic stressor to the fish and you will see disease and death on your fish until the load balances, usually with the loss of many fish. From my many years in the hobby this is one of the most common problems that aquarists face .

thanks for your advice. its just so frustrating bc one day im freaking out bc the fish have a few spots on them and the next they are gone!!!! the fish are perfect and always stay healthy. is there any way there are small coral banded larvae attaching to them. i noticed one full of eggs a few weeks ago. the queen is always picking the white spots off the other fish. is this possible?

 

[ca1ore]

Put three people in a sealed room and drop the O2 in the room to 50% normal atmospheric levels and then keep it that way for a week. Also double normal atmospheric CO2 for the room and keep it there during the week of lowered O2. What do you think is going to happen to those people? Do you think the people will die? What do you think will be the outcome of this experiment?

Once I learned this, I have NEVER had problems with ich. Seriously I see so many posts with all of the various diseases and everyone jumps straight to medication, and no one ever looks at the gas exchange or the biological load on the tank. Flow is as I suggested on my previous post one piece of the gas exchange equation. Perhaps you might read that post a little closer to see what I am saying.

No need to get defensive. Proper gas exchange is important in all tanks .... I just found your linkage specifically to ich curious. Also failing to note the lifecycle of ich .... perhaps you just didn’t know. And by the way, I’ll grant you that many reefers dive into medications much too quickly. If you read a it more here on R2R you will see that not everybody goes quickly to meds.

This is a complete fallacy. Making this assumption is very very dangerous.

LOL. I think perhaps you need to go back and read what I wrote.

 

[HuduVudu]

@Dr. Bluethumb

If it is ich and it is coming and going then you are riding the edge of your gas exchange.

I can't tell you how many people that I have talked in my time in the hobby that tell a story that goes something like this:

I added X fish and they gave the rest of my tank ich (brook, velvet etc .. ), so they start medicating then in a week or so 50-75% of their livestock are wiped out. The hardier of their fish live and they are burned they blame the LFS and then they leave the tank alone. The ich goes away (they think because they medicated) then in a few months the sting of the loss is gone and they start adding again, only to have the same thing happen again. They are perplexed. I am not.

Take what you will from my story, but my suggestion is look at all the factors affecting gas exchange. Also you may want to pull a fish into a separate tank (not your sump) to remove some load and see what happens.

 

[HuduVudu]

I just found your linkage specifically to ich curious.

I find that you find it curious to be strange.

Also failing to note the lifecycle of ich

I am very aware of the life cycle of ich. I also find it to be very irrelevant. Because if you consider that ich is present in the wild (and yes I am also aware of the issues there density etc ...) and that you will be unable to fully eradicate it you will see my point. I also have dinos in my tank too, and I haven't bothered to eradicate them either, and I haven't even bothered.

LOL. I think perhaps you need to go back and read what I wrote.

I read very carefully people's posts that is why I quote and respond to each point I take issue with. I read your post and I responded. I quoted you as saying (writing) that EVERY tank should have adequate flow and oxygen. I am not quoting here because I have already quoted you and I stand by what I said.

 

[Redfoxtang]

I find that you find it curious to be strange.

I am very aware of the life cycle of ich. I also find it to be very irrelevant. Because if you consider that ich is present in the wild (and yes I am also aware of the issues there density etc ...) and that you will be unable to fully eradicate it you will see my point. I also have dinos in my tank too, and I haven't bothered to eradicate them either, and I haven't even bothered.

I read very carefully people's posts that is why I quote and respond to each point I take issue with. I read your post and I responded. I quoted you as saying (writing) that EVERY tank should have adequate flow and oxygen. I am not quoting here because I have already quoted you and I stand by what I said.

Not to get into between this conversation but ich in the wild and Ich in a 20g QT is far different then what your stating. Proper gas exchange is important to help fish when medication is dosed in a QT tank. But regardless of that it is not going to make or break that ich is present or not.

 

[HuduVudu]

@Redfoxtang and I stated that I was aware of the difference between ich in the wild and ich in a captive system.

People go insane trying to "sterilize" their tanks this is not only bad for the inhabitants it is impossible to accomplish.

Thirty years ago, ich had a greater prevalence in the hobby and we have many if not all the same medications to treat it. Why would this be? I watched the advent of the new and fancy wet/dry systems and shockingly ich prevalence began to decrease dramatically. Funny that.

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

can someone answer my question as to whetther these could be coral banded larvae attaching to the fish. i only ask bc they love to pick them off each other???

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

can someone answer my question as to whetther these could be coral banded larvae attaching to the fish. i only ask bc they love to pick them off each other???

and because me coral banded waas full of eggs a few weeks back

 

[Redfoxtang]

Highly unlikely that the spots on the fish are coral banded eggs.

 

[HuduVudu]

can someone answer my question as to whetther these could be coral banded larvae attaching to the fish. i only ask bc they love to pick them off each other???

and if so is it possible for it to come and go often?

Not likely for it to come and go often and be shrimp larvae. Also I am pretty sure the larvae would not attach to fish. Most will become part of the zooplankton in your tank when they hatch and be free swimming juveniles.

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

trying to be optimistic. was on the verge of quarantining everything and everyones back to normal. this is a roller coaster for sure