Well, it happened... ich :(

[cshouston]

I thought I was doing all the right things, being patient with my new tank, and taking things slow. Over two months into things and no pests or algae issues; feeling good about the process. I’ve been adding fish slowly—small fish, only one or two at a time every couple of weeks. I’m getting them all from Diver’s Den and paying the premium because they quarantine and medicate the fish. Well, I added the most recent addition—a single Bella goby—and four days later I see spots on my white tail bristletooth’s pectoral fin. Ugh!!!

The white spots on the body are just specks in the water column.

Now I suppose I’m forced to put all of my fish into a QT tank, treat them with copper, and leave my DT fallow for 76 days. Is cupramine enough or should I use something else in the QT tank? Is there anything more I can do in the DT beyond a fallow period to help ensure eradication?

Lesson learned. I don’t care where I get a fish from; I’m going to QT them for a few weeks before they go into the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I thought I was doing all the right things, being patient with my new tank, and taking things slow. Over two months into things and no pests or algae issues; feeling good about the process. I’ve been adding fish slowly—small fish, only one or two at a time every couple of weeks. I’m getting them all from Diver’s Den and paying the premium because they quarantine and medicate the fish. Well, I added the most recent addition—a single Bella goby—and four days later I see spots on my white tail bristletooth’s pectoral fin. Ugh!!!

The white spots on the body are just specks in the water column.

Now I suppose I’m forced to put all of my fish into a QT tank, treat them with copper, and leave my DT fallow for 76 days. Is cupramine enough or should I use something else in the QT tank? Is there anything more I can do in the DT beyond a fallow period to help ensure eradication?

Lesson learned. I don’t care where I get a fish from; I’m going to QT them for a few weeks before they go into the tank.

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Be prepared to move to a QT, but don’t pull the fish just yet. Those spots are too large to Likely be early stage Cryptocaryon, ich. They may be broken fin rays. If the spots don’t change position by tomorrow and if new spots don’t develop, you may dodge a bullet here.
Jay

 

[bigdrew]

I didn't quarantine any of my fish. I am a believer in the "live with ich" approach. My yellow tang got it about 2 weeks after I got him. I used a home made fish trap and caught him, gave him a freshwater dip and then treated the food and the tank with garlique for about 3 months. I fed different varieties of food and fed them regularly. He and everyone else fought it off and I have had no outbreaks since and they show no symptoms. I have read that doesn't mean its not present, it just means its suppressed enough. I am going on nearly 8 months (I think) with no signs of it. I also haven't added any new fish, as my tank is fully stocked at this point, so that has probably helped.

 

[cshouston]

Thanks, @Jay Hemdal. I was just about to order a bottle of copper power and a Hannah checker. I’ll monitor the situation then. Hopefully, it’s just what you said. I did notice the other pectoral fin has a long white line as opposed to spots.

 

[Coralsdaily]

sorry to hear, echo others to get a QT tanks and medicate in isolation. Also, LiveAquaria does not fully QT their fish and medicate. The fish may have been in QT but they are constantly adding new shipments to the system thus "resetting" the quarantine. Strongly recommend to still QT fish, even on the LA website there is a page encouraging you to quarantine.

 

[cshouston]

sorry to hear, echo others to get a QT tanks and medicate in isolation. Also, LiveAquaria does not fully QT their fish and medicate. The fish may have been in QT but they are constantly adding new shipments to the system thus "resetting" the quarantine. Strongly recommend to still QT fish, even on the LA website there is a page encouraging you to quarantine.

LA doesn’t, but their Diver’s Den selections, which come from Wisconsin as opposed to drop-shipped from Los Angeles, are quarantined and medicated.

LiveAquaria® Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store Quarantine Procedure for Marine Fish

LiveAquaria® Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store Quarantine Procedure for Marine Fish

m.liveaquaria.com

That being said, I am getting the last two fish for my system from Quarantinedfish.us or Marine Collectors who appear to be well regarded when it comes to their qt/medication procedures.

 

[Coralsdaily]

LA doesn’t, but their Diver’s Den selections, which come from Wisconsin as opposed to drop-shipped from Los Angeles, are quarantined and medicated.

Sorry to pop the bubble, that is not true either. I live in Wisconsin and have personally toured their Rhinelander facility. They do not quarantine fish (medicate fish) there to the extend as TSM does. If you want truly, fully quarantine fish TSM is the ONLY place I know who offers that. https://tsmaquatics.com/pages/why-tsm

 

[cshouston]

Sorry to pop the bubble, that is not true either. I live in Wisconsin and have personally toured their Rhinelander facility. They do not quarantine fish (medicate fish) there to the extend as TSM does. If you want truly, fully quarantine fish TSM is the ONLY place I know who offers that. https://tsmaquatics.com/pages/why-tsm

False advertisement on their part then! Another reason why I don’t plan to get any more from them. TSM doesn’t have what I need to finalize my stocking, but will use the vendors I mentioned in my last post.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks, @Jay Hemdal. I was just about to order a bottle of copper power and a Hannah checker. I’ll monitor the situation then. Hopefully, it’s just what you said. I did notice the other pectoral fin has a long white line as opposed to spots.

Don’t get me wrong, you should be ready to treat, so order up what you need, if you don’t use it this time, you’ll need it the next!
Jay

 

[cshouston]

Don’t get me wrong, you should be ready to treat, so order up what you need, if you don’t use it this time, you’ll need it the next!
Jay

Hopefully, there won’t be a next time. Only two fish to complete stocking and will be getting them from a proven quarantining/medicating vendor (assuming I don’t need to go fallow).

Does that last picture look like the damage you mentioned? That long white streak was what first caught my attention. I also noticed a tiny bit of damage on the tail fin. I’m questioning if the banded coral shrimp is damaging him at night because I often see them in the same cave.

 

[Coralsdaily]

Agree with Jay, regardless of whom you decide to order from, now that you've had this happened to you in 1st person POV you might want to set up a QT just to be sure, only person whom you can trust in quarantine is yourself!

 

[Coralsdaily]

Hopefully, there won’t be a next time. Only two fish to complete stocking and will be getting them from a proven quarantining/medicating vendor (assuming I don’t need to go fallow).

Does that last picture look like the damage you mentioned? That long white streak was what first caught my attention. I also noticed a tiny bit of damage on the tail fin. I’m questioning if the banded coral shrimp is damaging him at night because I often see them in the same cave.

Would love to see tank update pics once you complete the stocking though!

 

[cshouston]

Agree with Jay, regardless of whom you decide to order from, now that you've had this happened to you in 1st person POV you might want to set up a QT just to be sure, only person whom you can trust in quarantine is yourself!

Wise words. I do have a 20g tank set up, sitting fallow, and a Brightwell bio-brick in the sump ready to move, so I’ve had it in the back of my mind. Just hoping I could get lucky, even though I knew that wasn’t the ideal approach. Either way, lesson learned.

When the new fish come, I’ll probably use the 20g to observe for a week or two, even if I don’t medicate.

 

[Tamberav]

I thought I was doing all the right things, being patient with my new tank, and taking things slow. Over two months into things and no pests or algae issues; feeling good about the process. I’ve been adding fish slowly—small fish, only one or two at a time every couple of weeks. I’m getting them all from Diver’s Den and paying the premium because they quarantine and medicate the fish. Well, I added the most recent addition—a single Bella goby—and four days later I see spots on my white tail bristletooth’s pectoral fin. Ugh!!!

The white spots on the body are just specks in the water column.

Now I suppose I’m forced to put all of my fish into a QT tank, treat them with copper, and leave my DT fallow for 76 days. Is cupramine enough or should I use something else in the QT tank? Is there anything more I can do in the DT beyond a fallow period to help ensure eradication?

Lesson learned. I don’t care where I get a fish from; I’m going to QT them for a few weeks before they go into the tank.

Sorry to hear this, you could also try a large UV and try ich management with good food but totally get if you want to pull them all out.

DD is a bit misleading because it's not a true QT. Fish are not put through a strict protocol. There are venders who do that but DD is not one. It is more conditioning and treating if they see something. Many things would never show up in the 2 weeks minimum they keep fish.

Here are some that actually QT:

TSM
Baybridge Aquarium
FisHotel
Ocean Devotion
Quarantined fish LLC
Quarantined Marine

 

[cshouston]

@Jay Hemdal
I took some new photos this morning. There don’t seem to be new spots. I’m wondering if maybe my banded coral shrimp could be harassing the tang during the night as they tend to use the same cave structure in my rock. I also have a red Mithrax crab which could be suspect, but I rarely see it.

 

[Bpfor3]

Hard to say. No spots on body? No flashing? Something not mentioned is that ich can come in on anything wet, including corals and inverts. I followed strict QT protocols on ALL my fish. About a year in with a 150 gallon with 13 fully QT'd fish including 4 tangs, i bought a small frag from a tank at a LFS where fish for sale are also kept. within 7 days, had ich. Currently in day 40ish on combating it with peroxide, UV, etc., etc. If i could take all the fish out i would, but no way without destroying the reef. Good luck!!

 

[cshouston]

Hard to say. No spots on body? No flashing? Something not mentioned is that ich can come in on anything wet, including corals and inverts. I followed strict QT protocols on ALL my fish. About a year in with a 150 gallon with 13 fully QT'd fish including 4 tangs, i bought a small frag from a tank at a LFS where fish for sale are also kept. within 7 days, had ich. Currently in day 40ish on combating it with peroxide, UV, etc., etc. If i could take all the fish out i would, but no way without destroying the reef. Good luck!!

No flashing or white spots on the body, nope. Good luck to you as well!

 

[nano_ryan]

Listen man, I went through this for 5 months trying to get rid of ich and did just about everything a person can do. After QT for 60 days in copper power, I put all of my fish back into the DT and immediately got ich again. Waited 3 more months in qt, and ich came right back. I ended up just living with it.

 

[Bpfor3]

Listen man, I went through this for 5 months trying to get rid of ich and did just about everything a person can do. After QT for 60 days in copper power, I put all of my fish back into the DT and immediately got ich again. Waited 3 more months in qt, and ich came right back. I ended up just living with it.

Did you let the DT go fallow for 76 days?