Identifying Ich, Help Requested

[mess7777]

Hi All,

I am a green newbie who made a dumb mistake. I thought I was too good for quarantine, it appears I am not. Now my sailfin is showing signs of ich. I read on here a lot and saw the available treatments, and the only one that I will truly feel good with is hyposalinity. I don't have many corals so I have thought about removing them from the display tank to just treat the whole tank with hyposalinity....but I do have a brittle star and 50+ hermit crabs that would be impossible to get out. I am also worried about losing beneficial creatures from the live rock(see paragraph below on potential pod activity).

My LFS gave me anti parasite food, and because I really really didn't want to quarantine so I willing to give it a go. I tried it. 3 days later, and there is no improvement, not that I really expected it deep down.

Anyway, the interesting thing is that earlier this week I had little white specks all over the tank glass(and after cleaning they come back quick). I was initially happy as my reading leads me to believe they are pods which are a good thing to have in a healthy tank. However, the glass also had some algae spots so I scraped it. It was within minutes of this scrape that I noticed the first appearance of 3 white spots on my sailfin, ironically close to the same size as the specks on the glass. I haven't found any reading that indicates stages of ich are visible other than when it is on the fish. The specks are very small, I can't really see if they have legs, antennae, etc. The shape would be similar to a grain of salt, much like the shape of the ich cysts. Coupling that with the appearance right after the cleaning makes me wonder if I have an all out insane outbreak going on. So, either this is all a conincidence......or......

I am going to set a pop bottle trap to try and start catching the fish. As I don't have a QT, I think I am going to disconnect my sump (30g) and use it to QT for 8 weeks. My skimmer works hang on or in sump, so I can hang it on the display tank for the time being.

Anyway, take a look at these pics and tell me if you think this is visible ich of some sort of tiny marine life(pods or otherwise). Any advice for a noob is GREATLY appreciated, please don't hate on me for being stupid!

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb464/mess7777/IMG_7077.jpg

[snorvich]

I would suggest reading this. (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1992196)

[mess7777]

I would suggest reading this. (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1992196)
Thanks Steeve. Very good post.
What do you think about the white dots on the glass?
thanks again

[snorvich]

Thanks Steeve. Very good post.
What do you think about the white dots on the glass?
thanks again

White dots on the glass are most likely no issue. Cryptocaryon will not attach to glass (or acrylic)

[MrTuskfish]

White dots on the glass are most likely no issue. Cryptocaryon will not attach to glass (or acrylic)

Yeah, and I doubt you could see it anyway. The white spots on fish are not the actual ich parasite, its much smaller and buried under the skin.

[snorvich]

Yeah, and I doubt you could see it anyway. The white spots on fish are not the actual ich parasite, its much smaller and buried under the skin.

True on both counts.

[mess7777]

Ok guys, here is the moment of truth.

The ich has "gone away" for now. I don't plan on adding anything new to my tank for a couple of months so it can stabalize and develop as is. Anything after that will go through a quarantine period prior to being introduced. Should I still go ahead with getting these fish out now to quarantine right away or am I ok to see if there is a resurgence(not sure if that is the correct spelling)? These fish have been through a lot, and if I can just leave them be for a while that would be nice.

Also, since the white spots seem to be some sort of pods, I guess I should go pick up a mandarin to eat them right ;) ...... kidding

[sgrmagnolia]

I've been through this one. I would still quarantine the fish and leave the system fallow (free of any fish hosts) for at least 11 weeks or so. Crytopcaryon has life stages that it goes through. Only one of the stages is visible on the fish. You may see the fish clear up temporarily only to become infested again and possibly worse as the cycle completes itself again. If you remove all of the fish and "starve" the parasites of any hosts, then you may be able to free the system of the parasites.

I had a yellow tang come down with crypto in my reef system a year ago. I removed him to Q for 3 months and let the system go fallow. I later reintroduced the tang and now three more fish to the system (all quarantined) and am still crypto free (knock on wood). It's really the only safe way to treat the system for the parasites with the inverts in it.

[MrTuskfish]

I've been through this one. I would still quarantine the fish and leave the system fallow (free of any fish hosts) for at least 11 weeks or so. Crytopcaryon has life stages that it goes through. Only one of the stages is visible on the fish. You may see the fish clear up temporarily only to become infested again and possibly worse as the cycle completes itself again. If you remove all of the fish and "starve" the parasites of any hosts, then you may be able to free the system of the parasites.

I had a yellow tang come down with crypto in my reef system a year ago. I removed him to Q for 3 months and let the system go fallow. I later reintroduced the tang and now three more fish to the system (all quarantined) and am still crypto free (knock on wood). It's really the only safe way to treat the system for the parasites with the inverts in it.

I agree. But if you want to let the fish rest a while now, that's fine. Unfortunately, these brief periods of appearing to be ich free are usually short-lived and when the parasite returns, it brings a lot of friends. If you want to; wait until you see a couple spots and then QT, quickly. There seems to be a lot of disagreement; but (IMO & IME) ich needs to be eliminated, not just managed. Waiting for a few spots will also let you know that you've made the right diagnosis; I've become absolutely convinced that ich is being mis-identified very often; which leads me to guess that a lot of velvet is being diagnosed as ich. While there seems to be a lot of good opinions on both sides of the question on whether to treat all ich cases; this isn't the case with velvet. It is very deadly & contagious. Oddly, judging from the number of ich posts, velvet seems to have disappeared. Scary.

[mess7777]

I am planning to redo the aquascape and add some sand. While doing this I'll pull the fish out anyway, so perfect time for a QT experience. Just sad that it will be 2 months until I can have my system back to normal. :(

I suspect the move stress will be enough for a potential reappearance of symptoms anyway, not to mention the fights and rallying for the new choice spots in the rockwork.

[MrTuskfish]

I am planning to redo the aquascape and add some sand. While doing this I'll pull the fish out anyway, so perfect time for a QT experience. Just sad that it will be 2 months until I can have my system back to normal. :(

I suspect the move stress will be enough for a potential reappearance of symptoms anyway, not to mention the fights and rallying for the new choice spots in the rockwork.

Yeah, but if you keep using QT on everything, you'll never go through this again Its amazing how many hobbyists (me included) discount the value of QT until its too late. Good luck.