Is This Ich?

[Dave21]

So a couple weeks ago I purchased a pair of tomato clownfish for my recently cycled tank. The fish have been doing great, eating and had no visible signs of illness; however, last night I noticed a white dot on the side of one clownfish. The spot hadn't disappeared as of today and looked almost like something hanging on the fish. It was quite small and hard to make out through the glass but definitely visible clearly as a white spot. 

 

So I feared it might be ich and purchased a 10 gallon tank to separate the fish into ( I know I should be quarantining and now that I have a tank set up for it will be going forward) 

 

After netting the fish and moving it to the quarantine tank the spot disappeared. It seems to have disappeared during the netting process. 

 

I'm still newer to saltwater and have been running another tank for about a year and a half but fortunately haven't experienced any illness in my other tank and have never delt with ich.

 

So my first question is did I over react or should I have left the fish to observe more before moving it? I don't want to un necessarily stress out the fish. 

 

Second will ich spots rub off or disappeared when brushed up against something like a net?

 

 

 

[Tired]

Could have been something like a sand grain stuck to the fish. Hopefully so, because if it was ich, the whole tank is infected- that stuff doesn't stay confined to one fish. You should reunite the pair of clowns, either in the QT or in the main tank, and observe closely. You might consider moving all fish to QT and treating prophylactically, as is good practice for any new fish, because then you can be certain (once the main tank has been fallow long enough) that there's no disease in that tank. Unless it gets contaminated from the other tank, that is. 

 

Moving a fish that appears to show signs of illness to a treatment tank is a good idea, though you do have to be careful with bonded pairs, and you have to keep in mind that just about any illness had by one fish will be present in the other fish as well.

[mcarroll]

On 3/4/2023 at 5:22 PM, Dave21 said:

So a couple weeks ago I purchased a pair of tomato clownfish

Locally or online somewhere?

 

On 3/4/2023 at 5:22 PM, Dave21 said:

After netting the fish and moving it to the quarantine tank...

This is VERY stressful to your fish....not always the best course to take since it can make a situation worse....

 

On 3/4/2023 at 5:22 PM, Dave21 said:

...the spot disappeared.

...when there may not even have been a real situation to begin with.

 

On 3/4/2023 at 5:22 PM, Dave21 said:

So my first question is did I over react

Yes.   Easy to do when you're exclusively following advice you find online.....lots of hyperbole and myth out there in the area of fish.

 

Always check the info you find online before USING the info you find online. 🙂 

 

On 3/4/2023 at 5:22 PM, Dave21 said:

I don't want to un necessarily stress out the fish. 

Too late.

 

On 3/4/2023 at 5:22 PM, Dave21 said:

Second will ich spots rub off or disappeared when brushed up against something like a net?

Ich spots don't rub off and they don't show up in sets of one.  🙂 

 

"Ich" also isn't Ich.....in saltwater it's Crypto....although symptoms are very similar.

 

In fact symptoms are very similar to at least 2-3 different parasites....without a microscope you (and we) are guessing.   This is another reason to hesitate with any treatment plan.

 

Assuming those fish were purchased locally, and that they were healthy when you got them, it's a bit of an assumption to say that was Ich.  None of the signs really point to a parasite – please take a moment to google the symptoms of Ich and other similar parasites since it's not just the spots that let you make the call.  There are behavioral signs you'd need to see as well, for one thing.

 

IMO put them back in the tank – ideally WITHOUT removing them from the water and without a net.  (Use a container to catch them with some water....the net can be used to "steer" them into the container.)

 

If you're worried, there are reef-safe anti-parasitic additives you can put in the water OR you can add a UV filter and/or micron filter that will kill or take parasites out of the water.

 

Again IMO you had none of the symptoms to indicate a need for any of this.....clownfish with a dot is not uncommon at all.   Like Tired said, it was likely a sand grain....they live on/near the bottom.

 

Clowns are also VERY resistant to parasites thanks to their relatively thick slime coat and immune system setup....Clownsfish are not like most saltwater fish.

 

Post a full tank shot and water test results if you want further advice.  👍

 

You might also like some of the reading I have saved in the fish section on my blog....check it out.  It's almost all scientific journal articles, BTW...just a few comments from me usually.  Post questions if needed!  🙂 

[Dave21]

Thanks for all the feedback. Definitely seems it turned out to be nothing. I put him back in the main tank and have been monitoring and no new spots or behavior issues have appeared. Both clowns and the other fish have all been very active eating well etc.