Ich or something else

capspath83 · 05/29/2009, 12:37 PM

Hello All,

I recently purchased a powder brown tang from my LFS. After a few days in my tank it developed Ich. I knew that this would be a potential problem. I bought Kordons 100% Organic Ich Attack and it worked fairly well but I think my tang had a really bad case of it. It spread to my Desjardini and green leopard wrasse and killed them before the Tang itself died. I am very upset at myself now for introducing this Ich magnet into my tank even though it is a beautiful fish. I have a centropigi angel that I have had for about 3 years now and was doing great until today when I noticed he was swimming slow and then would look like he is trying to "shake" something off of him. I took a closer look before he dove into the rocks and he has 1 foggy eye. There were no white spots on the body and my 2 maroons, scooter blenny, flame hawk and blood shrimp are doing great. All my corals are thriving too. After my 3 fish died I did a 60% water change and checked all my parameters. Ammonia is back to 0. Salinity is 1.024. The tank has been up and running for 3 years now and the Golden pygmy angel is my last prized fish in the tank since all others died. Any recommendations? I do have more water here and am planning on doing another 50% water change soon.

Captinshinyside · 05/29/2009, 02:44 PM

You can try to feed with Garlic supplement and feed a bit more. In hopes it will boost the fishes immune systems and help them to fight off the Ick. Put a filter sock on your tubes to your sump and keep the water Parameters the best you can so your fish can use all the energy they have to fight this off. The filter sock is in hopes to catch the systs of Ick. Good luck to ya bro.

francis1123 · 05/29/2009, 02:51 PM

if you have something moving through your fish and system that quick, it leads me to believe it's probably not ich. i would personally pull your fish and QT/hospitalize them and treat. i had what i thought to be ich in my system and let it go for a few days thinking good feeding would pull everyone through just fine like always. well, it was not ich, it was velvet, and i lost all but 5 fish out of 30 due to my delay in treatment. i now always err on the side of caution and QT EVERYTHING before it enters my main system. i now have a disease free system, and i plan on keeping it that way.
best of luck
jon

GreatReefs · 05/29/2009, 03:49 PM

It could be oodinium which is much worse and harder to get rid of. Your fish is pretty much doomed before you even see the white spots appear. It attacks heavily in the gills and suffocates the fish.

capspath83 · 05/29/2009, 08:23 PM

I came back from work today (I work at Petco)..I found the Angel to be swimming fine, although secluding itself like it doesn't want to be seen...Through the cracks in my LR I could see that its fins and tail have succumbed to Fin/Tail rot. I have been feeding extra of Formula 2 pellets infused with garlic. I also dosed my tank with 100% Organic Rid Fungus before I left for work today. My skimmer is off and I also picked up Kent Marine- Garlic Xtreme extract and dosed the tank with 7 drops which is good for my 72. I am hoping with the dose that I give tomorrow that it will halt whatever it is and he will be ok. As I said before, there are still no white spots on him. I suspect it was just really stressed out when all the other fish died so fast that it ended up lowering its immune system to let in the fungus. I hope it works!!!

Thank you all for your responses..they were very helpful. I will update you when I get back in town after the weekend.

tmz · 05/29/2009, 11:35 PM

Sorry about your losses.

A couple of thoughts:

A virulent strain of ich(cryptocaryon irritans ) will kill and spread as quickly as amyloodinium(velvet) . Both are treatable with copper in a tank other than the display.

Either will survive in your display indefinitely unless you leave it fishless for 8 weeks. Shredded fins can be from either the protozoan parasite cryptocaryon irritans, the dinoflagellate parasite amyloodinium , a secondary bacterial infection due to parasitic damage to the skin , flukes or brooklynella. It's likely not a fungus since these are relatively rare in salt water.

Alaskan Reefer · 05/30/2009, 11:20 AM

I had a non-QT'd powder brown nuke most of my livestock as well. +1 for always QT, +1 for leave your tank without fish for 8 weeks, and +1 for sorry about your losses.

05/29/2009, 12:37 PM	#1
capspath83 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Edison, NJ Posts: 80	Ich or something else Hello All, I recently purchased a powder brown tang from my LFS. After a few days in my tank it developed Ich. I knew that this would be a potential problem. I bought Kordons 100% Organic Ich Attack and it worked fairly well but I think my tang had a really bad case of it. It spread to my Desjardini and green leopard wrasse and killed them before the Tang itself died. I am very upset at myself now for introducing this Ich magnet into my tank even though it is a beautiful fish. I have a centropigi angel that I have had for about 3 years now and was doing great until today when I noticed he was swimming slow and then would look like he is trying to "shake" something off of him. I took a closer look before he dove into the rocks and he has 1 foggy eye. There were no white spots on the body and my 2 maroons, scooter blenny, flame hawk and blood shrimp are doing great. All my corals are thriving too. After my 3 fish died I did a 60% water change and checked all my parameters. Ammonia is back to 0. Salinity is 1.024. The tank has been up and running for 3 years now and the Golden pygmy angel is my last prized fish in the tank since all others died. Any recommendations? I do have more water here and am planning on doing another 50% water change soon.

05/29/2009, 11:35 PM	#6
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	Sorry about your losses. A couple of thoughts: A virulent strain of ich(cryptocaryon irritans ) will kill and spread as quickly as amyloodinium(velvet) . Both are treatable with copper in a tank other than the display. Either will survive in your display indefinitely unless you leave it fishless for 8 weeks. Shredded fins can be from either the protozoan parasite cryptocaryon irritans, the dinoflagellate parasite amyloodinium , a secondary bacterial infection due to parasitic damage to the skin , flukes or brooklynella. It's likely not a fungus since these are relatively rare in salt water. __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals.

05/30/2009, 11:20 AM	#7
Alaskan Reefer Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Eagle River, Alaska Posts: 2,360	I had a non-QT'd powder brown nuke most of my livestock as well. +1 for always QT, +1 for leave your tank without fish for 8 weeks, and +1 for sorry about your losses. __________________ Unattended children will be given double shot espresso and a free puppy. Current Tank Info: 125g FOWLR -- Conversion Back To SPS In Progress

05/29/2009, 02:44 PM	#2
Captinshinyside Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Houston Texas Posts: 176	You can try to feed with Garlic supplement and feed a bit more. In hopes it will boost the fishes immune systems and help them to fight off the Ick. Put a filter sock on your tubes to your sump and keep the water Parameters the best you can so your fish can use all the energy they have to fight this off. The filter sock is in hopes to catch the systs of Ick. Good luck to ya bro.

05/29/2009, 02:51 PM	#3
francis1123 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: san diego, ca Posts: 164	if you have something moving through your fish and system that quick, it leads me to believe it's probably not ich. i would personally pull your fish and QT/hospitalize them and treat. i had what i thought to be ich in my system and let it go for a few days thinking good feeding would pull everyone through just fine like always. well, it was not ich, it was velvet, and i lost all but 5 fish out of 30 due to my delay in treatment. i now always err on the side of caution and QT EVERYTHING before it enters my main system. i now have a disease free system, and i plan on keeping it that way. best of luck jon

05/29/2009, 03:49 PM	#4
GreatReefs Moved On Join Date: May 2008 Location: in the reef Posts: 232	It could be oodinium which is much worse and harder to get rid of. Your fish is pretty much doomed before you even see the white spots appear. It attacks heavily in the gills and suffocates the fish.

05/29/2009, 08:23 PM	#5
capspath83 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Edison, NJ Posts: 80	I came back from work today (I work at Petco)..I found the Angel to be swimming fine, although secluding itself like it doesn't want to be seen...Through the cracks in my LR I could see that its fins and tail have succumbed to Fin/Tail rot. I have been feeding extra of Formula 2 pellets infused with garlic. I also dosed my tank with 100% Organic Rid Fungus before I left for work today. My skimmer is off and I also picked up Kent Marine- Garlic Xtreme extract and dosed the tank with 7 drops which is good for my 72. I am hoping with the dose that I give tomorrow that it will halt whatever it is and he will be ok. As I said before, there are still no white spots on him. I suspect it was just really stressed out when all the other fish died so fast that it ended up lowering its immune system to let in the fungus. I hope it works!!! Thank you all for your responses..they were very helpful. I will update you when I get back in town after the weekend.