A couple of questions.

[Sand.man]

Hi all,

I currently have 2 clownfish in my QT, and I've just finished the 4th transfer using the tank transfer method.

I just have a couple questions regarding the health of my fish before I throw them into my display:

1) One of my clowns has ONE "dot" which is white, on one of his pelvic fins. Now this "dot" has been there for about 3 days, and hasn't expanded/multiplied or changed in any way.

Is it possible for ich to show up as only ONE dot? and remain that way for up to 3 days? I have a feeling this isn't ich, but rather something else, possibly an injury?

Would ich behave in this manner at all? I'm thinking if it was ich, it would have multiplied by now, or fallen off, or changed in any way. The other clownfish shows 0 signs of ich/white dots on him.

Any ideas? am I just being paranoid?

Thing is, I THINK it might just be a "hole" because when I look at the pelvic fin from the other side as well, there seems to be a white dot on the same spot, but it's weird to think that he found a way to make a "hole" in his fin, rather than a tear.

My second, unrelated question:

2) The other clownfish has weird stool patterns. Sometimes he has really long, stringy white poop, similar to that of an internal parasite. Picture attached:

http://i.imgur.com/FbmPswN.png

Now this poop looks very similar to what an internal parasite looks like, but both of my fish have gone through a prazipro treatment twice.

The clownfish will show this poop one day, and then the next day he'll have somewhat "normal" poop, which would not be long white and stringy like pictured.

Is it normal for a fish to show this type of stool one day, and then seemingly normal stool the next day? It seems like he'll go a week without showing stringy poop, and then one random day he'll show it for a day or two and then go back to normal poop. Do fish get different poop from stress? or diarrhea? haha. Any ideas?

I want to throw my fish in the display in a couple days, as they seem healthy and happy, but I'm just worried about these two issues right now, which makes me doubt if they are 100% ready.

Any input is much appreciated, thanks.

[pyithar]

i wouldn't take the risk if i were you. i wouldn't want to catch all the fishes again off the display and treat them again for a month while fallowing the display for another 10 weeks. that one spot might be ich, and the rest are hidden in gills, underneath skins, etc. the trophonts drop off the fish after 3 to 7 days.

some people don't wanna use copper but seachem cupramine works really well treating ich ime. i think cupramine also treat all kind of parasitic diseases at the copper concentration of 0.5 mg/L maintained for three weeks. it also solves your second problem.

[igot2gats]

You might also want to try a freshwater bath as well. That and Cupramine should do the trick, if done correctly.

[Sand.man]

Hmm.

I'll have to think about that, maybe give it a couple more days.

The longer I think about it, the more I'm inclined to believe that it might just be a hole in his fin, because I wouldn't be able to see the ich dot from both sides would I?

I'm just a little hesitant about nuking them with copper, that's all, although you guys do make a valid point.

I feel like if it was Ich though, and it showed up as a dot on his body (rather than hiding) the fish would slowly get weaker and weaker, correct? but he has not shown any signs of changes in his behavior at all, therefore I'm just being a bit more hesitant before I nuke them with copper when they might not need it at all.

Would a freshwater dip cause the "dot" to fall off? I thought freshwater dips were only good for flukes falling off, I wasn't aware that it also had the same effect on Ich attached to the skin?

Thanks for your inputs so far!

[buddhafish]

+1 good advice from the other posts. I would personally copper dose just to be careful. Do a water change in the qt tank. Put the water you are removing into a bucket and do the dosing in that. Better to be careful than have any issues arise down the road.

[Reef noob_]

my clown has done that all its life and is doing great, maybe its just something in the food.