What's this on my helfrichi?

[Sharkattackmack]

My girlfriend sent me these photos and video today. She's unsure what it is and I'm not a fish doctor so I'm unsure. If you can make it out please let me know.

 

[Sharkattackmack]

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Tough to see, but it may be Cryptocaryon (ich). I see some spots on the clear part of the pectoral fin, and ich is one of the few diseases that will create spots on the body and the fins.

How long have you had this fish?

Jay

 

[Sharkattackmack]

Tough to see, but it may be Cryptocaryon (ich). I see some spots on the clear part of the pectoral fin, and ich is one of the few diseases that will create spots on the body and the fins.

How long have you had this fish?

Jay

Just under a week. Sadly we don't have the space in our basement apartment for a qt tank. We've never had this before and the fish is eating so we weren't sure if it was ICH or not.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Just under a week. Sadly we don't have the space in our basement apartment for a qt tank. We've never had this before and the fish is eating so we weren't sure if it was ICH or not.

If it is ich, it is in the early stages, so the fish won’t seem sick and will still eat well.
There are some reef safe meds, but most don’t really work. I wish I had some advice for you. It might not be ich, diagnosing disease from photos is never a sure thing...

Jay

 

[Sharkattackmack]

If it is ich, it is in the early stages, so the fish won’t seem sick and will still eat well.
There are some reef safe meds, but most don’t really work. I wish I had some advice for you. It might not be ich, diagnosing disease from photos is never a sure thing...

Jay

My girlfriend found the fish this morning being eaten by our CUC. I'll watch our other fish and see how they are.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Wow sorry to hear! - something else may be going on. While the fish looked like it had ich, even with no treatment, it was at least three days away from dying from that, IMO. Watch for rapid breathing in the other fish - there is another disease, Amyloodinium (velvet) that can kill much faster.

Jay

 

[Sharkattackmack]

Wow sorry to hear! - something else may be going on. While the fish looked like it had ich, even with no treatment, it was at least three days away from dying from that, IMO. Watch for rapid breathing in the other fish - there is another disease, Amyloodinium (velvet) that can kill much faster.

Jay

It's hard at the moment as I live two hours away from her and she doesn't have an account here. So I'm trying to get info off her.

The rest of our fish look fine. Not breathing heavy, swimming around like normal and eating. It sucks as the first helfrichi we had in tank for over a month also died last weekend. This was the replacement one and it is so now dead also. I'm trying to get water quality updates from her now but I know she has a big final in a few days and has been worried about that. Only thing I can think of that would have stressed out the fish that much was we removed two clowns from our tank about 3 weeks ago and it was a lengthy time trying to catch them.

 

[Sharkattackmack]

This video was taken the second night the fish was in the tank. When. She sent me this i was very concerned. I'm not fish doctor but something about this swimming behavior scared me.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

This video was taken the second night the fish was in the tank. When. She sent me this i was very concerned. I'm not fish doctor but something about this swimming behavior scared me.

That is really odd. If it was in a bright tank, being a new fish, I would expect some shocky behavior like that, but the tank looks pretty dim, it should NOT have been darting around like that. Something else seems to have been going on with it, I just can't tell you what.

Jay

 

[Sharkattackmack]

That is really odd. If it was in a bright tank, being a new fish, I would expect some shocky behavior like that, but the tank looks pretty dim, it should NOT have been darting around like that. Something else seems to have been going on with it, I just can't tell you what.

Jay

I thought the same and told her my concerns. I asked her to send the video to the store we got it from. Were upset but mainly just unsure where to look now. Were concerned for our two clowns and Mandarin. Do you have any advice on where to go from here? I've heard ICH could stay in the tank for up to 3 months. I haven't done a lot of research on velvet so I'll.stsrt that today also.