Is my clown drunk

clowner · Apr 9, 2016

I.e. new to saltwater and this forum. So please excuse my negligence

My clown recently healed from first round of ich its been about a week since any symptoms showed up... i belive it was partly my fault for causing him alot of stress during a tank change...however now he seems a little drunk in the way he swims. He will put his head down and spin like a spindle or sometimes purpously get caught on the bubbles from my airstone and be thrown around the tank. Is this normal clown behavior or should i be concerned that the hermits are slipping him some Yeager meister

Kershaw · Apr 9, 2016

So your clown still has Ich if you have not removed him from display and treated for Ich. If you have any other fish they most likely have it also.

Tahoe61 · Apr 9, 2016

Not normal behavior. Marine Ich can cause serious gill damage leaving the fish with inadequate oxygen levels causing brain and organ damage.
How did you treat the fish for Marine Ich? I suspect the parasite is still present in the system. At this stage in the parasites life cycle you can not see the parasite, the parasite is in the substrate and other mediums, it's not currently on the fish, but it may still be in the gills.

clowner · Apr 9, 2016

I treated with malachite green at 1/2 dose for two days then repeated 1/2 for 2 days then 50% water change and added carbon to filter

Tahoe61 · Apr 9, 2016

I doubt the method of treatment is effective. Please review the 1st post in the thread I am posting a link to.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

Is the fish still eating? Do you have a quarantine tank?

Fresh water Ich is not the same organism as Marine Ich.

clowner · Apr 9, 2016

The clown eats fine and i dont have the qt set up but i can ....fo you recomend running my main fallow? And if so for how long? Since the incident ive added some hermits so i cant medicate the water but im assuming ich doesnt affect invertebrates

Kershaw · Apr 9, 2016

@Humblefish says 72 days no fish I believe.
Your inverts and coral are fine. But all fish must be removed and treated

Humblefish · Apr 9, 2016

Kershaw said:
@Humblefish says 72 days no fish I believe.
Your inverts and coral are fine. But all fish must be removed and treated

76 days now based upon new calculations (see below):

Humblefish said:
Please be advised the fallow period for Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) has been adjusted to now be 76 days. Based upon new calculations (see below):

Let's do the math and tweak the fallow period for ich using the parasite's known life cycle & worst case scenario:

Let's say a trophont drops off the last fish you catch before going fallow. We know that the protomont can only crawl around 18 hours max before beginning the encysting process. The process itself takes no longer than 12 hours until it has hardened around what is now called a tomont. 18+12=30 hours, but I'm just gonna call it 2 days to err on the side of caution.

The longest known time period it took for theronts (free swimmers) to be released from a group of tomonts is 72 days. However, I want to make it clear that this 72 days has only been encountered once; one study involving a single strain of ich. In most other studies, 7-14 days has been "the norm" for theront release.

Once released from it's tomont, a theront must find a fish host to attach to within 48 hours (2 days) or it dies. Thus ending ich's presence in your fallow tank. Although in actuality, a theront's infectivity is greatly reduced just 6 - 8 hours after it leaves the cyst. It's non-infective after just 8 hours, but still able to move for up to 48 hours. So again, to err on the side of caution, we're gonna say 2 days for this "final phase" of it's life cycle.

So, let's add it all up. 2+72+2 = 76 days. That would be the true maximum fallow period for ich. Probably a bit of overkill, but I will make the necessary adjustments to the stickies and start recommending 76 days from this day forward.