Marine Ich =(

[lgarvey]

Hi,

My clownfish appears to have ich and is kind of rushing back and forth in the tank, and swimming rapidly at the top of the water as if it's itchy. When I look closely I notice small white specs (quite hard to see) on one side. I have a fire fish which looks OK, though there may be a single small spec on that fish too.

I have a small 25L tank with heater, light and filter that I can use to quarantine and treat the clownfish, BUT obviously the tank is not cycled. How are you supposed to keep a quarantine tank cycled anyway?

I have inverts in my main 45L tank and a couple of corals so I suspect there's no treatments that will suffice.

Any ideas how best to proceed to get the fish healthy?

My tank params are OK-ish. I posted recently that there's issues with the nitrite (it seems to have stopped processing it since I removed the protein skimmer). The nitrite is stuck at about 0.05ppm, Am is 0, nitrite is about 10ppm. SG is 1.024, temp is about 25 Celsius. Have not checked the other parameters as I suspect that weekly 30% w/c will keep them in check.

I have a skunk cleaner shrimp and have noticed it hovering near the fish, but I haven't noticed any cleaning taking place.

Cheers,
L

 

[seffieuk]

Set up the QT tank asap, just need a powerhead and heat and maybe something to hide behind (but remember you will have to throw this away)

You don't have to cycle the tank as you will change the water regularly. get any fish out that has sign of ich (before they drop off in to the tank .

Treat QT tank with an ICH medication

Seffie x

 

[lgarvey]

OK I'm now not convinced the fish has itch. It was hard to see anything, but occasionally I'd notice small amounts of white on one side of the fish.

Spending more time staring at the fish, it seems that the white bits are from the fishes slime coat, which would be understandable with the small amount of nitrite in the tank, I suppose.

What I have noticed as well, the fish is calm and placid, but as soon as I go near the tank it freaks out and gets very active, pacing back and forth and then also running up and down the sides of the tank. It may be afraid, I don't know, but it's certainly a bold fish. If I put food in the tank it comes right up to the water to eat. It looks fairly healthy too, but often appears to be manic as if stressed, or itchy. It also eats a lot.

By contrast the firefish is very still, peaceful, placid, eats well, and looks healthy.

So I will do another w/c and leave it for now. Fingers crossed I don't have an ich outbreak so soon! And hopefully this Ni issue will resolve sometime soon, too.

I am possibly just worrying too much. ;-)

 

[seffieuk]

Spots can be caused by stress! Ich looks like little grains of sugar

Seffie x

 

[lgarvey]

Spots can be caused by stress! Ich looks like little grains of sugar

Seffie x

Hard to tell anything, but this may be a good sign. If the fish is still for a mo, and in the right light I thought I could catch a glimpse of white sugar like dots. But I look today and really what I think I am seeing is a mild overproduction of slime. From pictures I have seen of whitespot, it seems fairly obvious when a fish has it, yet I am struggling like hell to ID anything.

I supsect fish with whitespot also flash, which neither fish ever do.

Speaking to the LFS guy he said there's nothing to worry about and that clownfish in particular can take awhile to settle in and be very boisterous because they were reared in large groups and are used to having other clownfish around to feel secure. Maybe this is to do with it, and perhaps a reason why a fellow tank mate would be a good idea.

L