Royal Gramma has ich, what to do?

[antigonus]

I got my first fish, a Royal Gramma around two weeks ago. He/she/it seemed shy but otherwise healthy for the first week and a half for so, often hiding but eating regularly. A few days ago I noticed it had some white spots, I bought ich treatment and have a 10 gallon hospital tank set up, but my  problem now is that I can't actually catch the fish. Every time I try it dashes back to a hole in the rock in a split second. Is there any way I could trap it? What would people recomend I do? I can't treat the tank directly because that would kill all the invertebrates in it. 

[righttirefire]

Inverted bottle fish trap.

Add food to bottle. Make sure the hole is big enough for the fish to enter

[ninjamyst]

Can you take all the rocks out?  If not, you can diy or buy a fish trap

[antigonus]

22 minutes ago, righttirefire said:

Inverted bottle fish trap.

Add food to bottle. Make sure the hole is big enough for the fish to enter

Thanks so much, i'm definitely going to try that. 

[mcarroll]

Most fish avoid those kinds of traps, so you'll have to get lucky IME......but it's free so still worth a try.   😉

 

If it doesn't work, you should be able to remove the rocks to a 5 gallon bucket and catch him.

 

If you still can't.....then drain enough water from the tank to fill the bucket and try again.

 

Put the rocks and water back in the tank when you're done.

 

(Can't do THAT on a big tank.)

[antigonus]

44 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

Most fish avoid those kinds of traps, so you'll have to get lucky IME......but it's free so still worth a try.   😉

 

If it doesn't work, you should be able to remove the rocks to a 5 gallon bucket and catch him.

 

If you still can't.....then drain enough water from the tank to fill the bucket and try again.

 

Put the rocks and water back in the tank when you're done.

 

(Can't do THAT on a big tank.)

I'm starting to think I might have to do that. 

[antigonus]

I was finally able to catch the fish and transfer it to a hospital tank with medication. I fear it might be too late though. He's still alive but has been just staying in the corner, at least iv'e seen him eating. 

[antigonus]

Never mind. Just looked and he had passed away, I have to assume too much time had passed between when I recognized the problem and when finally started treating it. Plus the stress of transferring it to a hospital tank may have weakened it.