My fish has ich...

Razzagas · 01/11/2007, 06:47 PM

This afternoon I watched all my fish for at least a half an hour. When I came back an hour later, I noticed that my cherub angel had very small white dotes on his fins, but he was acting normal. I am assuming that it is ich, but I am not sure. My tank is a reef, and I have never had ich before. What is the best plan of action? Could it just pass? My other fish are 2 percs, 2 mandarins, 1 tomini tang, and a rabbitfish. I do not have a hospital tank to medicate him in, and I don't think I would ever be able to catch him to take him out...
Any ideas?
Thanks!

Marsfrogie · 01/11/2007, 07:23 PM

If you have ANY invertebrates you cannot treat them in the tank. Your only option is going to be to setup a hospital tank ASAP and start treating them with an ich treatment. Copper based medications work extremely well. It will not "pass". Ich has many differnt life stages. It is only vulnerable in one of those stages. Since it has a short life cycle it is easy to eliminate it. You must have NO FISH in your display tank for about 35 days and it will all die out because it has nothing to feed on.

HBtank · 01/11/2007, 07:25 PM

I often find bits of sand on my fish stuck to their slime coat, and that can fool me for a minute. My angels would have this more often than other fish because they are in the rocks so much rubbing on them.

The fact that it was fine an hour before made me think that.

See if it is gone now, might have just been sand...

As for catching him, a trap is the best. Many forms of traps out there and understand that it may take 1-2 days before the angel overcomes it's natural fear and goes in... Angels are tough to catch, let's just say that with my last trap I couyld have caught all my fish 100 times before the angel went in. They seemed to "know"

Marsfrogie · 01/11/2007, 07:26 PM

BTW, a glass vase works wonders for trapping fish. Put something very tasty and stinky in there and they will go nuts trying to find it. They will all fall victim to your ingenious trap and you can lift them out. Make sure the vase is in the upward position so that they have to swim down to get the food.

01/11/2007, 06:47 PM	#1
Razzagas Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 653	My fish has ich... This afternoon I watched all my fish for at least a half an hour. When I came back an hour later, I noticed that my cherub angel had very small white dotes on his fins, but he was acting normal. I am assuming that it is ich, but I am not sure. My tank is a reef, and I have never had ich before. What is the best plan of action? Could it just pass? My other fish are 2 percs, 2 mandarins, 1 tomini tang, and a rabbitfish. I do not have a hospital tank to medicate him in, and I don't think I would ever be able to catch him to take him out... Any ideas? Thanks!

01/11/2007, 07:25 PM	#3
HBtank Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 2,957	I often find bits of sand on my fish stuck to their slime coat, and that can fool me for a minute. My angels would have this more often than other fish because they are in the rocks so much rubbing on them. The fact that it was fine an hour before made me think that. See if it is gone now, might have just been sand... As for catching him, a trap is the best. Many forms of traps out there and understand that it may take 1-2 days before the angel overcomes it's natural fear and goes in... Angels are tough to catch, let's just say that with my last trap I couyld have caught all my fish 100 times before the angel went in. They seemed to "know" __________________ 80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA

01/11/2007, 07:23 PM	#2
Marsfrogie Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: MS Gulf Coast Posts: 463	If you have ANY invertebrates you cannot treat them in the tank. Your only option is going to be to setup a hospital tank ASAP and start treating them with an ich treatment. Copper based medications work extremely well. It will not "pass". Ich has many differnt life stages. It is only vulnerable in one of those stages. Since it has a short life cycle it is easy to eliminate it. You must have NO FISH in your display tank for about 35 days and it will all die out because it has nothing to feed on.

01/11/2007, 07:26 PM	#4
Marsfrogie Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: MS Gulf Coast Posts: 463	BTW, a glass vase works wonders for trapping fish. Put something very tasty and stinky in there and they will go nuts trying to find it. They will all fall victim to your ingenious trap and you can lift them out. Make sure the vase is in the upward position so that they have to swim down to get the food.