ICH or Velvet? Pls help me identify

[seahorse_saps]

Hello all,

My fishes has got these white Ich like spots on their skin.

I tried catching all my fishes out to treat for hyposalinity, but i was able to catch only my Jaw fish, blue and yellow tang. But unfortunately they all died the second day in my 10 Gallon Quarantine tank.

Not sure if that is because of stress or hyposalinity or water quality

Now im not ready to kill rest of my fishes myself by catching them.

LFS adviced me to leave them as is and its a marine velvet (oodinium) disease. They asked me to starve my fish and feed once in 3 days as feeding my fishes will feed the parasites as well.

My Engineering Goby, Maroon clown, Firefish, watchman goby seems not to be affected by this disease. they are doing really good.

But my blenny and jaw fishes are badly affected followed by coral beauty, tangs.

Pls identify this disease and a recommended treatment.

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Pls help.

[snorvich]

First, I would change LFS since they clearly are not knowledgeable. Next, read the stickies in this forum. And I am sure many folks will chime in on this thread to help.

[snorvich]

I am not visually acute with pictures, but it looks more like velvet than ich.

[Fishfirst]

Wow... terrible advice from the lfs... not feeding will only make your fish weaker. It looks like velvet but the tang may have a secondary infection. A 10 gallon is pretty small to do any kind of quarantine... a stock tank would be a cheap option to consider. I would treat with a formalin bath and copper.

[HumbleFish]

I think it's likely you've got multiple ailments going on in this tank. The only thing I can tell for sure from the pics is that what you're seeing on the Purple Pseudochromis is not Ich or Velvet. That's either Lymphocystis or a bacterial infection. I'm thinking bacterial infection is more likely because it also looks like the tail fin is rotting off.

[Mrscribbled]

+1 on finding a different LFS, the fish won't be alive in three days regardless if you feed them or not. Velvet is nasty stuff, nothing to take lightly. The chance of saving these fish is very slim, even with treatment. Regardless if you can't catch the fish, the only chance they have is to be removed and treated with copper, QS, or CP.
It does look like velvet and upon treatment of the fish, the DT will need to be fishless 8 weeks, and any new fish quarantined before entering the display.

Hyposalinity will not work for velvet.

[Fishfirst]

Originally Posted by Mrscribbled

+1 on finding a different LFS, the fish won't be alive in three days regardless if you feed them or not. Velvet is nasty stuff, nothing to take lightly. The chance of saving these fish is very slim, even with treatment. Regardless if you can't catch the fish, the only chance they have is to be removed and treated with copper, QS, or CP.
It does look like velvet and upon treatment of the fish, the DT will need to be fishless 8 weeks, and any new fish quarantined before entering the display.

Hyposalinity will not work for velvet.

I disagree... fish that are not "conditioned" (fed well and have a healthy weight) during treatment/illness will die faster than a conditioned fish. These fish have a greater chance due to their immune system not being as compromised as anemic, skinny fish.

[Fishfirst]

Originally Posted by HumbleFish

I think it's likely you've got multiple ailments going on in this tank. The only thing I can tell for sure from the pics is that what you're seeing on the Purple Pseudochromis is not Ich or Velvet. That's either Lymphocystis or a bacterial infection. I'm thinking bacterial infection is more likely because it also looks like the tail fin is rotting off.

I also think the psudochromis has lympho or a bacterial issue, but I believe that getting the root cause of velvet will also see improvement of these symptoms/ailments

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by Fishfirst

... fish that are not "conditioned" (fed well and have a healthy weight) during treatment/illness will die faster than a conditioned fish. These fish have a greater chance due to their immune system not being as compromised as anemic, skinny fish.

I agree. While the pseudochromis has other issues which I cannot determine visually with any accuracy, the root cause of the velvet is the binding constraint on the fish surviving.

[Mrscribbled]

Originally Posted by Fishfirst

I disagree... fish that are not "conditioned" (fed well and have a healthy weight) during treatment/illness will die faster than a conditioned fish. These fish have a greater chance due to their immune system not being as compromised as anemic, skinny fish.

The point I was going after was with velvet, its only a matter of days before the fish die regardless of how much they are fed during infection. Suffocation from the parasites attacking the gills is certain.

[seahorse_saps]

Thank you so much guys for your advice. Im not sure what to do now. My Coral beauty seems to be having heavy breathing. All my other fishes are doing great. Esp my maroon clown seems to be doing good.

If possible i will try catching all fishes and treat it with copper.

Any suggestion on copper medication?

[Fishfirst]

I think you fail to realize gravity of the situation. These fish should already have been in a hospital tank and getting medicated or face certain death.