Ich or something else on my clown

[jeffchapok]

So I introduced ich into my tank a week ago with a new sailfin tang. I've been managing it with the Imagitarium Parasite Remedy from Petco. I figured as long as this was effective, why take a chance on anything more harsh.

So within an hour of dosing each day, any spots on the tang would disappear for the remainder of the day. The only other fish to get it was a hippo tang, and it always reacted the same way – gone in an hour.

After both remaining clear for a day or two, I discontinued the treatment. It can be a little hard on invertebrates and I've got a new tiled starfish that I didn't want to suffer harm with it.

This morning my female clown has what looks to be little pinkish white polyps, mostly on her stripes but not exclusively. She is still actively eating actively and not breathing or acting in any other way unusually.

It doesn't really look like the ich that I saw on the other two fish, but I'm wondering if clownfish react differently and this is just due to an irritation of her flesh causing her scales to stand up or something like that. My male clown so far is unaffected.

I resumed the parasite remedy treatment just now, so I haven't had a chance to see if she reacts the same as the other fish yet. But since it doesn't look exactly the same, I thought I'd post a couple of pics here and see what the experts think.

 

[Tahoe61]

Parasite Remedy unfortunately is not an effective treatment. What you are seeing is the parasites fall and continue its life cycle in the substrate.
Realistically any product that says the product is invert or reef safe and treats marine ich is ineffective.
Does look like ich though so your ID is right.
There are some nice threads in the disease forum addressing the topic.

 

[jeffchapok]

Thanks. From what I understand, the only way to fully eradicate ich is to allow the tank to go fallow for something like 76 days. I'm not in a position to do that, so I guess I'll just have to manage it as best I can, expecting any new fish to suffer an outbreak until they can overcome it.

So I wasn't expecting the Parasite Remedy to get rid of the ich, but rather just treat the symptoms which it does appear to do. My clown is much improved tonight and eating and swimming about normally.

 

[kkarvelas]

Looks like ich! Sorry about that. You might want to try Dr. Gs anti-parasitic food, I feel like it did help when my clowns had ich

 

[stiffljp]

the lifecycle of ich is highly dependent on the temp. It can be sped up at higher temps.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks. From what I understand, the only way to fully eradicate ich is to allow the tank to go fallow for something like 76 days. I'm not in a position to do that, so I guess I'll just have to manage it as best I can, expecting any new fish to suffer an outbreak until they can overcome it.

So I wasn't expecting the Parasite Remedy to get rid of the ich, but rather just treat the symptoms which it does appear to do. My clown is much improved tonight and eating and swimming about normally.

What Tahoe was referring to is that in the early stages of the infection, the ich is all in sync, they tend to all drop off and then their offspring all return together. If the infection worsens, they get out of sync and you’ll see spots all the time. I’m also suspicious of all reef safe ich remedies....

Jay