Sick clownfish

[Shergar11]

Hi folks here goes with this one

I have a clownfish which last week was covered in what looked like a white dust, this is the first sick fish I have had to deal with, I set up a 30 litre biorb as hosp. Tank and began dosing copper. This is where I hit a problem as I had nothing to control the ammonia in the hosp. Tank, so after 5 days of dosing the spots seemed to have cleared up and the ammonia was gettin higher everyday, I was changing about 8 litres of water a day but still couldn't keep it down. So I decided to put the fish back in the main tank. Now the fish had been stayin in same place at bottom of hospital tank for 5 days but when I put it back in main tank it went straight to the other clownfish and the 2 of them swam about great. The fish was eating well and looking good, however 3 days later the spots are back it is at the bottom of the tank flapping its gills but staying in the same spot and is going over on to its side for a few seconds then back again, I also noticed a marking on the white coloured area of the fish which looks kind of purple.

What should I do now ? Have I lost the battle and it is only a matter of time before the inevitable happens ??

 

[Salty-Noob]

Not white dust it's called ich...I would say just keep an eye out. They are totally capable of beating it

 

[cymonous]

I would say you need to get all of your fish into QT and medicate. Your other fish may not be showing signs, but there is a great chance they have it as well. Total time in Qt should be about 9-10 weeks with Ich. Your tank needs to be fishless for 9-10 weeks to get rid of the Ich.

 

[Salty-Noob]

I would say you need to get all of your fish into QT and medicate. Your other fish may not be showing signs, but there is a great chance they have it as well. Total time in Qt should be about 9-10 weeks with Ich. Your tank needs to be fishless for 9-10 weeks to get rid of the Ich.

Is it fool proof? Will ich really die out if it doesn't have a fish to host? Never asked but maybe you know

 

[jonny]

Is it fool proof? Will ich really die out if it doesn't have a fish to host? Never asked but maybe you know

Sure will..it's a LONG wait, but its well worth it..

 

[Salty-Noob]

And there's no way of it coming back even after your fish have been QT

 

[jonny]

And there's no way of it coming back even after your fish have been QT

I would say no, as long as it has been totally eradicated with meds in the QT..you stand a high chance of it coming in on new livestock though. Ich is almost always present in the water, the only time it becomes a problem is when your fish become weak enough for the ich to host them regularly and reproduce quickly. This can be for many reasons from water quality, to stress from moving, to temp swings ect. The best way to fight ich is to prevent it..so while the fish are in QT, figure out what is up with the tank so it doesn't happen again...