I have a question about my particular ich situation.

[dumerils]

I have battled ich several times and i am pretty experienced, but this is absolutely stumping me.

My purple tang has gotten white spots twice now. but the problem is that the spots are disappearing within 18 hours. both times. in my experience, this phase of the ich's life cycle, it usually takes 3 to 7 days for the white spots to come off right?

now both times this has happened, it has been right after water changes, so it might be sand/debris. but it looks so much like ich! the first time was around 5 spots. but since they disappeared within 18 hours, i dismissed it as debris/sand stuck to the tang.

yesterday was around 4p.m. was something like 30 white spots. so i scrambled around to get a quarantine tank ready by this friday and now at 3:16p.m. next day, not a single spot is to be seen.

both times, the tang or any other fish have not displayed any other symptom. no flashing/scratching against rock, no rapid gill movement, no loss of appetite(eats way too much), and still the most energetic fish i have in there.

i have no idea what to think. should i just QT anyways with copper? or just leave the fish be? i realize quarantining with copper is going to be quite stressful for the fish.

temp: 79 F
salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.0
NH3/NH4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0

ask for any additional info. thanks for your input guys.

[jbvdhp]

Honestly, it's probably ich, seeing how the second infxn was worse. Was anything else added to your DT recently? Did you QT the fish the first time? Read up on tank transfer method on how to separate fish from ich, and if it is indeed ich, you'll have to treat your other fish and leave the tank fishless for 72+ days.

[dumerils]

Yea. I'm going to take the safe route and be safe than sorry. yes, they were all in quarantine and no, no new fish were added after the tang. which i've had for two weeks now.

Im going to quarantine all the fish. Unfortunately, i don't have two tanks large enough for all of my fish. i think im just going to go the copper route.

[triggreef]

I'd make sure first. They certainly can get specs of sand that looks like ich especially in a low flow area but it usually drops off quickly. Sometimes while your looking at it.

If you see the spots on the fins, I'd lean more towards ich.

[kmbyrnes]

+1 on TTM. At the very least, get some tanks at the next $1 / gallon sale so you will be ready for the next outbreak. As there certainly will be one, unless you let your DT go fallow for 72+ days

[tassod]

I had a purple tang that displayed the exact same thing as you are describing, i let him be and nothing ever happened to him. He actually was getting bigger and stronger and was also being very aggressive so I had to sell him.