Ich?

[littlefoxx]

Hey all, got a baby 1 inch emperor angel. He has spots all over him that are small, but looks more ich to me cause I had velvet in my other tank and this looks different. However on one side theres a patch above his fin that appears “dusty” but its small. His fin is also damaged. This shop has a bad rap and is the one that gave me velvet in the first place, but they are going out of business and had a bunch of stuff on sale including this guy and he was being picked on cause he was in a small tank with a bunch of other adult large angels, so I took pity on him and wanted to rescue him knowing I will need a big upgrade in tank size in a few years or re homing. That is all I have on his background. He has been in my QT tank for about 5 hours and thats when I noticed it due to my lights being a lot brighter than the stores. I attached pictures, the best I can get through the glass and acrylic acclimation box I have him in to carefully watch him. @vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal tagging you guys since youve helped me save 4 fish from velvet the last time!!

Just did 50% water change before acclimating him.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 0 and 5 (color in the vial is inbetween these two colors)
Temp 78
Salt 1.025 to 1.026

Also did a fresh water dip (RO) for under a minute. He showed signs of stress and wouldnt swim so I took him out around 45 seconds or so. There were flukes in the bowl that I could see. He is swimming fine back in the QT tank.

 

[threebuoys]

Are you medicating your QT? If so, what meds and protocol do you intend to follow?

Our standard protocol is outlined in the link below. If you have coppersafe or copper power, you should ramp up immediately to the recommended dose of 2.5ppm. Sine you believe you saw flukes you should also consider praziquantel at thr same time. You will need to carefully monitor ammonia and copper concentration using reliable test kits.

The pictures are a little fuzzy but does appear to be ich. Copper is the appropriate medication for both ich and velvet. And these along with flukes are the most often seen parasites. If you see any wounds or infections on the skin, please post a clear photo we can view to determine if others problems are present.

 

[threebuoys]

Also add aeration to the tank to avoid oxygen deficiency due to the prazi.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

This fish has a few strikes against it, I’m not confident that you will be able to resolve them all. It has severe ich, it is thin, and you say it has flukes. The fin damage has to take a backseat to these other items. The basic underlying issue is the small size of the fish - there just isn’t any body mass to help carry the fish through the needed treatments.
First thing to do is get the fish into full coppersafe or copper power at 2 to 2.5 ppm. Then, when the spots start to go away, give the fish a full 5 minute FW dip to buy some time against flukes. Finish a full 30 days of copper and then dose with prazipro 2x over 10 days to treat the flukes.
Jay

 

[littlefoxx]

Also add aeration to the tank to avoid oxygen deficiency due to the prazi.

Thank already has an airstone! And l have paragaurd from sea chem in there now as well as metroplex and focus for the food. Is there another med you would recommend?

 

[littlefoxx]

Dosed the tank with cupramine

 

[littlefoxx]

This fish has a few strikes against it, I’m not confident that you will be able to resolve them all. It has severe ich, it is thin, and you say it has flukes. The fin damage has to take a backseat to these other items. The basic underlying issue is the small size of the fish - there just isn’t any body mass to help carry the fish through the needed treatments.
First thing to do is get the fish into full coppersafe or copper power at 2 to 2.5 ppm. Then, when the spots start to go away, give the fish a full 5 minute FW dip to buy some time against flukes. Finish a full 30 days of copper and then dose with prazipro 2x over 10 days to treat the flukes.
Jay

Yes I did notice he was very thin, guy just told me he was very young. Part of why I got him cause I wanted to help him. Any specific food you recommend to help with this? I feed a variety hikiri products with algae, mysis shrimp ect

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes I did notice he was very thin, guy just told me he was very young. Part of why I got him cause I wanted to help him. Any specific food you recommend to help with this? I feed a variety hikiri products with algae, mysis shrimp ect

Chopped mysids have a high fat content, so lots of calories to help it put on weight. Feed small amounts, multiple times a day (4x or more if you can swing it). If you can feed that, plus any prepared foods it will accept, that would be good. Just avoid lots of uneaten food in the tank.

Skip the metroplex in Focus, unless you calculate the dose (hardly anyone does). It needs to be 0.5% metronidazole by weight in the food. However, at a full dose, it is very bitter and many fish avoid eating it.

Jay

 

[littlefoxx]

Chopped mysids have a high fat content, so lots of calories to help it put on weight. Feed small amounts, multiple times a day (4x or more if you can swing it). If you can feed that, plus any prepared foods it will accept, that would be good. Just avoid lots of uneaten food in the tank.

Skip the metroplex in Focus, unless you calculate the dose (hardly anyone does). It needs to be 0.5% metronidazole by weight in the food. However, at a full dose, it is very bitter and many fish avoid eating it.

Jay

Gotcha, thank you!!