The only cure for ich is copper QT for all fish plus fallow for the rest of the tank (72-76 days below 81F or 6 weeks above 81F). A good starting point is to Google “ich management vs. eradication” and decide on which pathway you’re going to do. If you’re going to do management then lots of folks have had good success with UV and good nutrition, but personally I don’t believe in herbal products for fish or people. However, even if you’re going to do management (instead of QT for every new inhabitant) I personally would still QT an actively infected fish and treat it with copper.
should i QT inverts like star fish crabs shrimp snails?
Do you know of such non copper treatment because I’m currently trying to get my tank ready for corals. I’m pretty sure I’m not suppose to use copper with corals
what do i do with hypo ? what does this mean?
Hyposaline is a treatment for ich but it’s difficult to do properly for the time period needed and you’d have to remove all corals and inverts. There is no such thing as an effective non-copper based medication for ich. Some mystery herbal products make claims, but it’s mostly woo and I wouldn’t trust my corals and inverts to them. Much better to just go fallow (I.e. just be patient). If you do use copper in a QT tank there’s a lot to know about that, especially very accurate testing, to know your copper level.
ehhhhhh QT with copper is best and most effective. In a DT, the best treatment I have found that is reef safe is Kick Ich + Metro w Focus even then, its nowhere near as good as QT copper and a tank fallow
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so are the mucus plugs harmful? Because they are definitely moving, going away and coming back in different spots around and there is one really big on his tail nowWe need a bit more history about the tank and fish. Here is a link:
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As said, flukes do not show as white spots. However, in looking at your photos, I see spots of vastly different sizes, some are pretty large. Ich doesn't have that much variation. However, sometimes poor focus in these photos gives the illusion of different sizes, so I'm not ruling out ich right now, but you should consider that these could be idiopathic mucus plugs, something that blue tangs do in response to stress.
The best way to tell the mucus from ich is to take a photo of the fish and then take a second photo, from the same vantage point, 24 to 36 hours later. If the spots are essentially in the same location, it is most likely mucus. If the spots have mostly change location, and changed in number (both decrease of increase) then it is more likely ich.
Jay Hemdal
If the spots are moving, then it isn't mucus plugs, its probably ICH.
