Need Advice -- possible Ich?

[aumontmatthew]

I will try to keep this as short as possible with enough information for people to give me an informed decision for me.

 

I have a Reefer 170 tank set up.  Been running since October 2018.  

Current parameters:

 

Salinity 1.025 (always constant with ATO)

Temp 78 (Neptune Apex controlled)

ph fluctuates from 7.9 - 8.1 (time of day dependent)

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 1

Alkalinity 8.4

Phosphate 0

Calcium 410

Magnesium 1500 (never been able to lower this)

 

I have 2 juvenile Davinci clowns, 1 royal gramma, and up until recently I had a Radiant Wrasse (introduced a month ago - RIP)

 

3 days ago I noticed my wrasse having trouble burying himself at night and ended up hiding in a rock instead.  I believe he ended up in my Royal Grammas regular hiding spot.

 

The next morning the wrasse was dead on the sand.  Removed him from the tank.

 

Now I am noticing that my Royal Gramma is flashing the odd time against the sand.   It is rare but he does it maybe a few times a day.  I have also noticed a few very tiny white spots on the Gramma's tail fin and around his forehead.  I do not see any spots on the clownfish.  

 

All of the fish are eating like pigs when fed and otherwise seem very healthy.

I did not quarantine the wrasse as it requires a sand bed and I took a chance of adding it directly to my DT.  

 

Is it possible the wrasse introduced ich?   And if so, what should my next course of action be?  Would prefer not to have to catch my fish and quarantine them all.

 

 

[Humblefish]

It sounds like Ich: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/402060-marine-ich-fish-disease-information/

 

Or possibly even velvet: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/404078-marine-velvet-fish-disease-information/

 

Some live with/manage the problem, but that's going to be difficult to do in that small of a tank. I recommend pulling all the fish, and treating with copper in a QT for 30 days: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/401731-copper-fish-medication-information/

[aumontmatthew]

3 minutes ago, Humblefish said:

It sounds like Ich: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/402060-marine-ich-fish-disease-information/

 

Or possibly even velvet: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/404078-marine-velvet-fish-disease-information/

 

Some live with/manage the problem, but that's going to be difficult to do in that small of a tank. I recommend pulling all the fish, and treating with copper in a QT for 30 days: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/401731-copper-fish-medication-information/

Thanks Humblefish! 

[Clown79]

Sounds like ich.

 

All the fish will need to be removed for treatment in a hospital tank and your tank must go fishless for 8 weeks to kill the parasite. 

[mcarroll]

That tank is too small for a Radiant anyway...I've had them just from much much much larger systems.  Unless he was a tinyr specimen, he was probably very stressed....which would stress the other fish out as well.   As has been pointed out, he may also have been carrying a parasite.

 

If your tank and your other fish were BOTH actually healthy before, then now that the source of infection (an autopsy would have been nice to confirm) is gone AND the source of stress is gone, they should recover on their own, maybe with a little help.

 

Things to try:

• Keep the tank clean.  Lots of TLC.
• If you can catch the fish in question, a freshwater dip will bring him lots of relief.  Don't cause a lot of stress in the process...that could defeat the purpose.
• If you can run a UV filter or DE filter in the tank, that will cut down on any parasites in the water until the remaining fishes' immune systems can do the whole job.   
• Using one of the available reef-safe treatments would not hurt either.

[aumontmatthew]

On 6/9/2019 at 10:43 PM, mcarroll said:

That tank is too small for a Radiant anyway...I've had them just from much much much larger systems.  Unless he was a tinyr specimen, he was probably very stressed....which would stress the other fish out as well.   As has been pointed out, he may also have been carrying a parasite.

 

If your tank and your other fish were BOTH actually healthy before, then now that the source of infection (an autopsy would have been nice to confirm) is gone AND the source of stress is gone, they should recover on their own, maybe with a little help.

 

Things to try:

• Keep the tank clean.  Lots of TLC.
• If you can catch the fish in question, a freshwater dip will bring him lots of relief.  Don't cause a lot of stress in the process...that could defeat the purpose.
• If you can run a UV filter or DE filter in the tank, that will cut down on any parasites in the water until the remaining fishes' immune systems can do the whole job.   
• Using one of the available reef-safe treatments would not hurt either.

Thanks very much.  Yeah I think you are correct in noting that the tank was too small for this particular fish.  I should have trusted my gut feeling about this and the only reason I tried one was due to our LFS having one in their display 20G cube in store.  All fish have recovered and show no signs of parasites whatsoever.  Thanks to everyone for your help!

 

[mcarroll]

On 6/12/2019 at 12:56 PM, aumontmatthew said:

I should have trusted my gut feeling

That's almost always true!  :-)

 

Glad to hear things are back on track too!!

[mcarroll]

(Check out what this dude says about listening to your gut.  (Hint:  "Why" on the chart is analogous to your gut.)

(Ignore that he looks like he walked off the set of Saved By The Bell. 😉 )