White Spot Identification

[Huskymaniac]

How do you tell the difference between ick and white spots from an injury? For instance I have a flasher wrasse and he must have crashed into one of my corals as it had a small abrasion on the side. On the rim of the abrasion there are 3 white spots the resemble ick. You can only see the spots and abrasion when looking at an angle however if I wasnt OCD about my fish health my first assumption would be this fish has ick. After about a month when nothing else happened and all my fish still healthy I would make the assumption that the ick was cured but in reality was never there in the first place. The question is how to tell the difference? Is it a matter of ick spots being scattered on both sides of the fish verses something isolated to one area?

 

[EmdeReef]

A pic would help.

Usually easiest way to ID ich, unless it's an outbreak, is by looking at fish fins. Which with a few exceptions that don't have to be ich or velvet should always be clear. Ich can be localized to one side of the fish initially, but will almost always spread all over the body. Size and the number of the spots is also a pretty good visual indicator when trying to distinguish between ich and velvet for example.

How long have you had the fish? Have you added anything wet to the tank before noticing spots? Any other fish showing signs?

In your case 3 spots will turn to more within 3-7 days if indeed ich.
If the spots disappear then it could've been something else or the fish acquired immunity.

 

[Huskymaniac]

Pics attached. Fins are clear. 1 pic is zoomed in and the other pic is normal distance.

 

[Huskymaniac]

@HotRocks this is the wrasse I told you about the other day. Does that look like an infection or did somehow a parasite survive QT?

 

[Maritimer]

I've seen fish collect similar injuries from bumping into a bristleworm overnight, or when dashing into the rocks.

Keep an eye on it . . .

~Bruce

 

[HotRocks]

Since this fish was newly added to DT, it could still be trying to learn where to swim and where not to swim etc. Keeping from getting scraped/stung.

I know you had concerns about the fish hanging near powerhead initially.

Wrasse are much less likely to show signs of ich or velvet than most fish because of thick mucus layer.

Definitely keep an eye on it. Can you get a more up close clear pic?

 

[Huskymaniac]

@HotRocks its real difficult to get a clean photo because it only looks like spots at a specific angle and the fish doesnt stop moving. Here is more of a head on photo where you cant even see them. Noticed it on Saturday. My assesor has a similar spot but I know that is from a bite wound from my other assessor. As it healed it formed a cyst.