Please help! New hobbies here =( Clown Fish disease identification needed =(

newhobbbist · Nov 12, 2020

Hi everyone!
I just got these and I noticed a white spot on the tail end of my clownfishes. I called the pet store they said they don't have ick on their fish and my tank is new. Some people told me it's from stress too so maybe they got stressed entering a new tank? I can't tell if I'm paranoid or if it's just battle scars from the 2 clownfish establishing dominance or if they have a disease. I bought super ick cure and used it yesterday. It says to use one ml for every us gallon. My tank is 7.5 gallons but there are rocks and sand and a serpent starfish. The super ick cure said it may be harmful to invertebrates so I just used 5ml. I don't know if it's working or not cause is only been less than 20 hours. I also don't even know if they actually have it. But my friend told me ick had to be treated right away or it ruins the whole tank. I don't have a water heater that is adjustable cause the tank was too small and its a fixed 50 watts heater =(

I don't know what is happening =( I don't want them to die. In the first pic there's one dot and in the second there are 2 dots on the other fish, they are pretty small and they are eating well and they haven't been rubbing on the rocks either.

In the beginning, only one fish had it on the tail on the second day I noticed another few white spots on the other fishes tale. Maybe It was there already before too but i just didn't notice. I've had the fish for 2 days only. The pet store said I can bring it back, but my fish tank is already contaminated at this point so ... i didn't see a point in it might as well treat the fish and the tank at the same time.

What should I do? Should i continue my super ick treatment with the second dose soon? or should i get other meds for like velevet or fin rot?

MERKEY · Nov 12, 2020

Hello and welcome to R2R!

Ich won't immediately kill your fish and. Lot of reefers have ich in their systems that they manage through food and clean water. There are other parasites that will look like ich at first and get worse. So you definitely want to make sure you can always count the spots. Once they start getting powder looking or too many to count you know you are dealing with something worse called velvet.

The meds you are using don't really work to cure or get rid of ich. Copper is a good way but takes a hospital or quarantine tank to use it in. Copper is not good to use on tanks with lice rock or coral as it will kill the coral and the rock obsorbs it.

The only real sure way to rid your tank is to go fallow. Which means fish less for 76 days to let ich die off completely as they won't have fish to feed on.

To do this you need a second tank setup far away from your first one.

If you don't have a quarantine tank or don't have the room or money/time to set one up. Ich management is also an option.

There are a few different ways you can deal with this and you're in the right spot for help!

Heres a good link

Ich eradication vs. Ich management

Ich eradication vs. Ich management The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of ich eradication and ich management, and present the best methods for implementing each. Ich eradication - Simply put, this method means doing everything possible to keep ich out of your tank. That...

www.reef2reef.com

newhobbbist · Nov 12, 2020

If I return my clownfish and run the fish tank without fish is a starfish okay or will the ick stay on the starfish and reinfect my fish once I place in more fish again? Also, I just want to confirm it does look like ick right? I actually don't know what it is.

MERKEY · Nov 12, 2020

To me it does look like ich. It takes 76 days for ich to die off fully and it only feeds on fish.

The star should be ok as long as no water from the clowns tank gets over to your display. Keep them in different rooms. Even mist particles can carry it back into the tank. If you get water on your hands it can get into the display. Water from a met can carry it. Have 2 of everything so you are not tempted to reuse anything.

If you are just getting rid of the fish and going to wait 76 days that works as well.

I'd wait 80 days just to be sure. There is 1 for sure strain of ich that lasts longer but you will never know which strain it is so hobbiests just go longer

Jay Hemdal · Nov 12, 2020

newhobbbist said:
If I return my clownfish and run the fish tank without fish is a starfish okay or will the ick stay on the starfish and reinfect my fish once I place in more fish again? Also, I just want to confirm it does look like ick right? I actually don't know what it is.

That does not look like ich to me, the spot s too large and elongated. Looks more like a broken fin ray. Time will tell though, if the spot is still there after 36 hours and no new spots have developed, it likely is not ich.
Don’t use super ich cure, that was formulated to treat freshwater ich.
Jay