Brand new tank and clowfish with ich

[Ivydoodles]

Just set up a brand new tank, went to fish store got 2 occularus clowns and think one of them has ich.   I only have a snail and peppermint shrimp in the tank so far with the 2 clowns.  What the heck do I do now?  

[Ivydoodles]

[Chadicus Meridius]

How new is the tank?

 

were they acclimated properly?

[Ivydoodles]

Set up on Sunday with live rock and live sand......LFS tested my water and told me the clowns will help with cycle.  I let the bag sit for 30 mins then introduced my tank water slowly until they were transferred.  I did not use the lfs water I took them out of the bag with the net.  

Is that ich?

 

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

Did the fish visibly have ich at the store? It'd be a huge shame if they did and the LFS actually went ahead and sold you ill fish.

[Ivydoodles]

I didnt notice it because she gave me any fish she could catch with net.  It was tough for me to even see it now without looking at it real closely in the tank.  Is it actually ich?

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

Ich being the most common fish disease. I think it is, but here's a pictoral guide from another reef forum: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/fish-disease-index-pictorial-guide.199/

 

Ideally, you should treat the fish in another tank or system with no inverts. Generally copper or chloroquine phosphate treats ich.

[Ivydoodles]

If i bring the fish back to the LFS what do I do with the current water in the tank to get rid of it?

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, Ivydoodles said:

If i bring the fish back to the LFS what do I do with the current water in the tank to get rid of it?

The only way to get rid of ich is by taking the fish out, treating them in a tank and letting the tank go fallow for 8 weeks.

 

The tank must go fishless for 8 weeks to get rid of ich

[Tamberav]

4 hours ago, Ivydoodles said:

Set up on Sunday with live rock and live sand......LFS tested my water and told me the clowns will help with cycle.  I let the bag sit for 30 mins then introduced my tank water slowly until they were transferred.  I did not use the lfs water I took them out of the bag with the net.  

Is that ich?

 

 

Cycling with fish causes stress which lowers the immune system and leads to disease.

 

3 hours ago, Ivydoodles said:

If i bring the fish back to the LFS what do I do with the current water in the tank to get rid of it?

76 days without adding any fish. 

[treedog5]

Or if your tank is as new as you said you could just start completely over. Empty the tank and let the sand and rocks dry out for a couple of days then start over, it sounds like you were in the early stages of cycling your tank anyway. So nothing loss there, and maybe do a fishless cycle this time.

[Ivydoodles]

Much to my surprise the white spots are gone this morning!  Could it still be ich?

[Clown79]

6 minutes ago, Ivydoodles said:

Much to my surprise the white spots are gone this morning!  Could it still be ich?

Yes.

 

There are stages to ich, it's only visible for a short period.

[Ivydoodles]

Didnt notice the spots when we took them home yesterday, the spots appeared once they entered the tank at home and now overnight they are gone.  Do you mean it can be visible for only a couple hours?  

[Tamberav]

If you have fine sand...that is another possibility it was stuck on the mucus coat.

 

You should test ammonia and add bottled biospira and do water changes to keep ammonia low if it shows up. Ammonia burns the gills of fish. It is not PC to cycle with just fish these days.

 

 

[Ivydoodles]

1 minute ago, Tamberav said:

If you have fine sand...that is another possibility it was stuck on the mucus coat.

 

You should test ammonia and add bottled biospira and do water changes to keep ammonia low if it shows up. Ammonia burns the gills of fish. It is not PC to cycle with just fish these days.

 

 

Yes I do have fine sand in the tank.  I am hoping that is what it was.  My son has purchased all his fish from this LFS withoutt any diesease so I was very surprised.  I really hope it wasn't ich, but the spots appearing then disappearing over night was weird.  

[TalonlV]

I have a Biocube 32 Gal. Went thru fish less cycle no problem and added 3 small goldfish (fancy-2 inch). Apparently adding 3rd fish brought ich and although I treated with copper (Cupramine 2.5-3 ppm) for 17 days with temp @ 76 degrees I lost one of the fish. Ich has been gone since about day 9 but ran treatment for additional 8 days to be sure.

 

While I am sure Ich is gone I have a Lion Head Oranda who occasionally flashes and I see no physical signs on him which would cause this. Copper kills all parasites and my water reads 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites and about 5 ppm Nitrates. I am in process of changing the water at a rate of 20% per day (already returned activated carbon to filter) so copper is about gone.

 

Any ideas what causes flashing in a situation like mine?

 

I want to add another fish but would like some info from any of you who have experienced this sort of flashing.

[Tamberav]

@Humblefish may know. I don't know anything about freshwater 

 

I believe copper itself can be an irritant and make fish flash though. 🤔

[TalonlV]

46 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

@Humblefish may know. I don't know anything about freshwater 

 

I believe copper itself can be an irritant and make fish flash though. 🤔

You may be right. I have read something to that effect. In any case the copper should clear in a couple of days and I will find out.

 

Thank you for the input.

[Humblefish]

I'm totally confused. 😳 Unless it was sand stuck to the mucous coat, white spots coming & going < 3 days would likely mean velvet: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/404078-marine-velvet-fish-disease-information/

 

It sounds like you might also be treating for Freshwater Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) in another tank. If you are using Cupramine to treat, the freshwater dosage is 0.25 mg/L for at least 2 weeks.