I think my coral beauty has ich!

[fishfreak0114]

Ok so here's a quick run down. I left my tank with all the inhabitants looking great. Came back two days later (about 10 minutes ago) and immediately checked the tank. Corals and inverts all looking fabulous, but at a close look my coral beauty has white spots! Here's a quick history of each fish in the tank:

 

Clowns: female gravid for the first time but healthy, male recently had unidentified white fuzz but it went away pretty quick and his behavior was unaffected. Had both for about 2 years.

 

Clown goby: had 1.5 years. No previous health issues, appears to have very mild white fuzz (barely noticable) on dorsal fin like the clown did. Wasn't there when I left (I think, he's a somewhat shy fish). Eating fine, not overly concerned.

 

Tail spot blenny: added same time as coral beauty mid-November. No health issues

 

Coral beauty: no previous health issues, active and eats like a pig. White spots are new, haven't seen scratching yet, not 100% sure it's ich. The last thing added to the tank was a coral order just before the new year. No other fish exhibit the white spots. Cleaner shrimp has been trying to clean her.

 

So my questions:

 

1. Does this sound like ich, and how did it get into my tank?

2. Why is only one fish afflicted?

3. Should I leave her in the Dt and observe for a couple days, remove and QT, or remove all fish and do tank transfer treatment just to be safe, and then leave the DT fallow for 8 weeks?

 

I will test what parameters I can in a few, and I'll try to get a clear picture.

 

Thanks is advance

-Olivia

[RIP Sebastian]

Pics would be helpful.

[braaap]

Sometimes healthy fish can have ich and fight it without you knowing. If they have good parameters, food, etc they will never show it. Possibly stressed them by not eating over the time you were gone? If stressed they could start showing the signs they have been hiding.

 

It is possible that ich came in on the coral but unlikely. If you remove all fish and keep the DT fallow you have to do it a minimum of 90 days. That is the time to have like 97% elimination rate. I think you should wait it out. You could always QT just the one affected fish but that might cause further stress.

[fishfreak0114]

I don't think the food was an issue, I fed Friday before I left so they only missed a day. When I bought the blenny and angel they had ich, but I did tank transfer treatment and QT'd for a few more weeks with no sign of further ich. Maybe it wasn't totally gone? I plan to do a water change today, and then do you think I should just see if the spots go away and don't come back? And here I thought I was so careful to keep ich out! It certainly looks like ich to me. Should I be concern about all my other fish contracting it too?

 

It certainly feels safest to do tank transfer and a fallow period, but a) no idea if I'm skilled enough to catch all my fish, I'd worry about aggression with all of them in a bucket/smaller tank and c) after seabass's clown had problems after being moved while gravid, I'm afraid to move mine especially since this is the first time.

 

Thanks for the help

[braaap]

If you put fish in the tank that had ICH at one point or another and didn't leave it fallow for atleast 8 weeks(12 is best) the tank still likely has ICH present. IF it is ICH on the fish currently all the other fish have it as well. Your best bet is to go pick up a 20H from Petco doing the $1 per gallon sale(currently happening I believe) and use that as a QT with a HOB filter. I currently have 2 new fish in my QT. Using Cupramine as the treatment. Even though they were both at the LFS for over a month in copper.

 

 

I learned my lesson with my current tank. Bought ALL of my fish at once from one vendor. I got them and they all had ICH. But I didn't have a QT ready. So I had to set one up and QT all my fish for 3 months while my display was fallow. I will NEVER not QT for atleast 2 weeks now.

[RIP Sebastian]

Your clown is preggers? Congrats! I've always wanted mine to become gravid, but i doubt she ever will. I don't have the time to raise the babies anyway.

[fishfreak0114]

If you put fish in the tank that had ICH at one point or another and didn't leave it fallow for atleast 8 weeks(12 is best) the tank still likely has ICH present. IF it is ICH on the fish currently all the other fish have it as well. Your best bet is to go pick up a 20H from Petco doing the $1 per gallon sale(currently happening I believe) and use that as a QT with a HOB filter. I currently have 2 new fish in my QT. Using Cupramine as the treatment. Even though they were both at the LFS for over a month in copper.

 

 

I learned my lesson with my current tank. Bought ALL of my fish at once from one vendor. I got them and they all had ICH. But I didn't have a QT ready. So I had to set one up and QT all my fish for 3 months while my display was fallow. I will NEVER not QT for atleast 2 weeks now.

Damn that sucks. Could the ich have been in one of their gills when I added to the DT? Because there certainly wasn't any visible. Sadly I'm in Canada so no $1/gallon, but I have some spare tanks kicking around, including a 25.

 

How risky is cupramine? I'll start reading on it. The problem here is I'm in a tiny town, and I can't get anything here. I may not be able to get anything until the weekend. Would it be better to wait for the clown to lay eggs so I don't risk egg impaction? I'm guessing tank transfer is a no go with 5 fish in a 5g bucket for just under 72 hours before being moved? To crowded? Risky for ammonia?

 

Ich in the DT is literally my worst nightmare and I'm really freaking out right now but thank you for responding so quick!

Your clown is preggers? Congrats! I've always wanted mine to become gravid, but i doubt she ever will. I don't have the time to raise the babies anyway.

She sure seems it. When I left I didn't notice anything but boy is it noticable now. Very large belly. They've been pecking at the same rock for months now, I figured their time was getting close.

[fishfreak0114]

I did some reading about cupramine, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable using it. I also read that sometimes angels don't do well with it. Is hypo in the 25g a viable option? The last time I did hypo I lost both fish, but they had pretty bad ich. I use tap water, and it's pH is 8-8.5, so I'm guessing I wouldn't have to worry about it dropping during hypo?

[braaap]

Cupramine is safe if you use it correctly. If you follow the directions you can't go wrong. All of your fish will handle Cupramine easily. Order on amazon if you can.

 

You will probably lose the eggs but if they are mating they will do it again once healthy.

[fishfreak0114]

Actually, I just realized I have 2 10g's. Tank transfer between those two? It's really the treatment I'm most comfortable doing, although I guess it didn't work one time or else there wouldn't be ich in my DT. I think the 10 would be enough space temporarily and then after 13-15 days of tank transfer they could chill in the 25 gallon until the DT is ich free.

[braaap]

Actually, I just realized I have 2 10g's. Tank transfer between those two? It's really the treatment I'm most comfortable doing, although I guess it didn't work one time or else there wouldn't be ich in my DT. I think the 10 would be enough space temporarily and then after 13-15 days of tank transfer they could chill in the 25 gallon until the DT is ich free.

 

 

If you don't treat it with some sort of medicine you won't be able to get rid of it. It really is only possible to do tank transfer successfully with 1 or 2 fish. The fish can all be in different stages of infections so the parasite is always active. You won't be able to get ahead of it.

[fishfreak0114]

Cupramine is safe if you use it correctly. If you follow the directions you can't go wrong. All of your fish will handle Cupramine easily. Order on amazon if you can.

 

You will probably lose the eggs but if they are mating they will do it again once healthy.

One of my concerns with cupramine is keeping ammonia levels down. Unable to use prime, I would have to do water changes pretty frequently and I'm not sure how effective I'd be at keeping the copper at the correct level.

 

I'm definitely not worried about losing the eggs, I don't I intend to raise any

 

I'm really wondering how on earth I'll get the clown goby out, it's hard enough to find him let alone get near him. It took me 6 months to catch him out of my rear chambers. It might take me a few days to nab him...and lots of cursing.

[braaap]

One of my concerns with cupramine is keeping ammonia levels down. Unable to use prime, I would have to do water changes pretty frequently and I'm not sure how effective I'd be at keeping the copper at the correct level.

 

I'm definitely not worried about losing the eggs, I don't I intend to raise any

 

I'm really wondering how on earth I'll get the clown goby out, it's hard enough to find him let alone get near him. It took me 6 months to catch him out of my rear chambers. It might take me a few days to nab him...and lots of cursing.

 

 

Buy a copper test kit and test your water. If you have filter media you can run in a HOB ammonia won't be an issue. I keep half a sheet of filter floss in my sump so it is always seeded and ready in case of emergency. And a small water change every 3 days isn't hard.

[fishfreak0114]

Won't the copper turn toxic because of the prime I have to use to treat the tap water?

[fishfreak0114]

Well I haven't stopped reading about treating ich since I got home. I'm still confused about why tank transfer wouldn't work with several fish, because wouldn't the ich still fall off and be eliminated with each transfer no matter at what point they fell off? Like if one fish had ich fall off day 1 in the tank, another at day 2, and one right before they were transferred, all the cysts would still be left behind before hatching. If I did a slightly longer tank transfer treatment could it be effective?

[Clown79]

Ich can be present in a tank without it being seen. It has many cycles of life.

 

As soon as a fish becomes stressed, malnutritioned, injured the ich will infect it.

 

Taking it out and treating it is a good option but the downside is, the ich parasite is still in your tank.

 

The ONLY way to get rid of ich, is having the tank go fishless for 6-8 weeks(same with velvet)

 

So treating the fish will help but as soon as its reintroduced into the tank with ich, it may get reinfected.

[fishfreak0114]

Yah I'm removing to treat and I probably won't put them back in for 3 months. Maybe two and a half, but I want to be sure the ich is gone.

[Clown79]

8 weeks is standard for fallow period. Don't add anything for the 8 weeks

[fishfreak0114]

Is more time better? Because I'm totally fine waiting for 3 months if that'll make it even 0.01% more likely that all the ich has died.

 

And I caught the goby! Treatment will begin tonight

[Clown79]

You can leave the tank fishless for longer, it won't hurt.

 

Just remember, theres no 100% with ich. Anytime you add snails, corals etc it can come in via those additions. It doesn't effect corals/inverts but can come in with them.