wrasse eating "ick"

Reel North · 02/22/2014, 10:15 AM

I know that cleaner wrasses don't eat ick. I put one in my tank with couple of cleaner shrimp on the bad advice of my LFS. Ridiculous I didn't research it before.

Regardless. I am setting up my hospital tank to treat my fish for ick and general clean up. It looked to me even this morning that by Blue Hippo was covered in ick. It also appeared to be on my Emperor and sail fin, as well as my Naso.

Now the cleaner wrasse is going to town, cleaning them off, and there is almost nothing left on them this morning already.

Am I misdiagnosing this parasite? What else could it be?

Sk8r · 02/22/2014, 10:19 AM

It could be ich. It could be cysto. What is meant by the statement is that they don't cure it. What you see is the pimples which contain many, many, many ich parasites, and as they break, the parasites head out for the sandbed to complete their life cycle and infest other fish. They kill by obstructing the gills and generally weakening the fish.

Reel North · 02/22/2014, 10:26 AM

Ok. Im setting up a 75 g hospital right now. Ill update a thread on it with what I did. And how it worked out

reeferstace · 02/22/2014, 01:39 PM

The cleaner wrasses/shrimp can aide in removing dead or damaged skin cells caused by the infestation. However, many of the parasites are deeply embedded and out of reach of the cleaners.

snorvich · 02/22/2014, 01:39 PM

Ich is under the skin of fish and not available to be "picked off".

MrTuskfish · 02/22/2014, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snorvich

Ich is under the skin of fish and not available to be "picked off".

Yes, the "whitespot" is not the actual feeding parasite, just evidence of its presence. I don't think ich can ever be seen without magnification.

billsreef · 02/22/2014, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrTuskfish

Yes, the "whitespot" is not the actual feeding parasite, just evidence of its presence. I don't think ich can ever be seen without magnification.

Correct. It's far too small for the human eye to see without a microscope. In this case, could be simply the removal of dead skin being seen, or perhaps some other larger parasite such as flukes being noticable...which the wrasse and the shrimp would eat.

Reel North · 02/22/2014, 06:32 PM

its all done!

Rocks all came out. Fish all came out. I put the fish in the hospital with 3 x sponge filters and a heater. Going to get the 2 & 3" elbows tomorrow for them to hide in.

Poor guys. Its all my fault they can't enjoy their reef. At least they won't have to worry about this again.

reeferstace · 02/22/2014, 10:30 PM

Kudos to you for getting them in a hospital tank right away. Are you going to use cupramine?

Reel North · 02/23/2014, 06:42 AM

Did the first dose of cupramine yesterday. I figure its best just to learn from my first big blunder and fix the problem now. I love these fish and seeing them covered in ick was NOT my vision of my tank.

I redid the rock work yesterday and actually managed to add more rock but create more open swimming room in the tank, as well as more area to put corals.

I found 2 stomatella snails as well, so they were returned quickly to the tank. No eunicid worms this time!

now I need to keep the various hoses I use for water changes out of the hospital tank. I have a little siphon hose I found that will be for the hospital only.

I think after the ick treatment is done I will do prazipro after that. Thoughts on the prazi?

02/22/2014, 10:15 AM	#1
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	wrasse eating "ick" I know that cleaner wrasses don't eat ick. I put one in my tank with couple of cleaner shrimp on the bad advice of my LFS. Ridiculous I didn't research it before. Regardless. I am setting up my hospital tank to treat my fish for ick and general clean up. It looked to me even this morning that by Blue Hippo was covered in ick. It also appeared to be on my Emperor and sail fin, as well as my Naso. Now the cleaner wrasse is going to town, cleaning them off, and there is almost nothing left on them this morning already. Am I misdiagnosing this parasite? What else could it be?

02/22/2014, 10:19 AM	#2
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	It could be ich. It could be cysto. What is meant by the statement is that they don't cure it. What you see is the pimples which contain many, many, many ich parasites, and as they break, the parasites head out for the sandbed to complete their life cycle and infest other fish. They kill by obstructing the gills and generally weakening the fish. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

02/22/2014, 01:39 PM	#4
reeferstace I'm a little people Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Over Yonder Posts: 1,392	The cleaner wrasses/shrimp can aide in removing dead or damaged skin cells caused by the infestation. However, many of the parasites are deeply embedded and out of reach of the cleaners. __________________ Stacy

02/22/2014, 01:39 PM	#5
snorvich Team RC member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Outlander Posts: 40,953 Blog Entries: 46	Ich is under the skin of fish and not available to be "picked off". __________________ Warmest regards, ~Steve~

02/22/2014, 10:30 PM	#9
reeferstace I'm a little people Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Over Yonder Posts: 1,392	Kudos to you for getting them in a hospital tank right away. Are you going to use cupramine? __________________ Stacy

02/22/2014, 10:26 AM	#3
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	Ok. Im setting up a 75 g hospital right now. Ill update a thread on it with what I did. And how it worked out

02/22/2014, 06:32 PM	#8
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	its all done! Rocks all came out. Fish all came out. I put the fish in the hospital with 3 x sponge filters and a heater. Going to get the 2 & 3" elbows tomorrow for them to hide in. Poor guys. Its all my fault they can't enjoy their reef. At least they won't have to worry about this again.

02/23/2014, 06:42 AM	#10
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	Did the first dose of cupramine yesterday. I figure its best just to learn from my first big blunder and fix the problem now. I love these fish and seeing them covered in ick was NOT my vision of my tank. I redid the rock work yesterday and actually managed to add more rock but create more open swimming room in the tank, as well as more area to put corals. I found 2 stomatella snails as well, so they were returned quickly to the tank. No eunicid worms this time! now I need to keep the various hoses I use for water changes out of the hospital tank. I have a little siphon hose I found that will be for the hospital only. I think after the ick treatment is done I will do prazipro after that. Thoughts on the prazi?