Ich on coral beauty

[brkesar]

Hello,
I am worried that our coral beauty has ich. I just noticed white spots on her today. It is most apparent on her face and one fin.
No other symptoms eating fine and swimming around.

She is in a 75 gallon tank with live rock and 2 clowns, 2 gobys, and 1 damsell.

Is there a way to treat the whole tank vs removing her? What is recomended?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello,
I am worried that our coral beauty has ich. I just noticed white spots on her today. It is most apparent on her face and one fin.
No other symptoms eating fine and swimming around.

She is in a 75 gallon tank with live rock and 2 clowns, 2 gobys, and 1 damsell.

Is there a way to treat the whole tank vs removing her? What is recomended?

Yes- it does appear to be ich. Were these spots there yesterday? If so, had they increased today?
Tank looks fairly new and I assume fish were never quarantined and you will have to do so now and treat all fish using coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off and with occupants exposed, they too should go into quarantine
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a tank from a second hand store or a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

 

[brkesar]

Yes- it does appear to be ich. Were these spots there yesterday? If so, had they increased today?
Tank looks fairly new and I assume fish were never quarantined and you will have to do so now and treat all fish using coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off and with occupants exposed, they too should go into quarantine
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a tank from a second hand store or a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

Is there a way to treat the whole tank vs putting fish into separate tank to treat?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Is there a way to treat the whole tank vs putting fish into separate tank to treat?

Unfortunately not and reef safe claimed treatments simply do not work, Short cuts often make the matter worse as ich has a life cycle. You can wait a day and see if the dots increase in numbers but be prepared to act quickly with treatment if this is the case.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello,
I am worried that our coral beauty has ich. I just noticed white spots on her today. It is most apparent on her face and one fin.
No other symptoms eating fine and swimming around.

She is in a 75 gallon tank with live rock and 2 clowns, 2 gobys, and 1 damsell.

Is there a way to treat the whole tank vs removing her? What is recomended?

Welcome to Reef2Reef

That does look like it could be ich. How long have you had the fish, was it quarantined?

Treating in a tank with invertebrates is difficult. You might try a combination of techniques know collectively as “ich management”. It doesn’t always work, but take a look at this post:

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brkesar]

Welcome to Reef2Reef

That does look like it could be ich. How long have you had the fish, was it quarantined?

Treating in a tank with invertebrates is difficult. You might try a combination of techniques know collectively as “ich management”. It doesn’t always work, but take a look at this post:

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

I have had the fish for 3 days, it was not quarantined. This was my error as we have been adding fish to our tank from the same dealer without issue.
I will look into ich management thank you!

 

[brkesar]

Update as of this morning, I think I may be going insane.
In certain light it appears she has white spots but not raised and then other times she looks fine.
Could it be that it’s just particles from our substrate on her?

 

[Uncle99]

Could be or maybe the ick has dropped off the fish for this cycle.

If so, it will be back soon.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Update as of this morning, I think I may be going insane.
In certain light it appears she has white spots but not raised and then other times she looks fine.
Could it be that it’s just particles from our substrate on her?

It could be sand/detritus sticking to the fish, but this species has "dry" ctenoid scales that don't have a lot of sticky mucus on them. More likely, the ich trophonts (the spot phase) are all in sync with one another, and have dropped off. then, in a few days, they release a swimming stage that will reinfect the fish. Eventually, the ich parasites get out of sync with one another and the fish will have spots all of the time.