Clown Trigger with ich & maybe puffer

[zepplin48138]

I just bought a clown trigger a week ago and just noticed some ich on him so I gave him a freshwater dip. I also have a stars and stripes puffer and I am not sure if he is getting it or not.He has some spots on his fin but it looks like it may be a part of his pattern. What is the best way to get rid of it other than hyposalinity? My two clowns got it a few months ago and the fresh water dip worked out well. Is this ok with puffer and trigger? They are both relatively young fish in a FOWLR.

 

[leopard_babe]

My puffer had ich. It was due to fluxuating temperature in y tank. After I fixed that problem I read that puffers are sensitive to nitrates, and that can cause there ick. I reduced the amount of food I was feeding, the nitrates went down, and the ick went away. I also treated the tank with greenex. there is no copper, and it is invert safe. At least for me anyways. I would check your nitrates, your ph and temp for fluxuations. If you want to use greenex. i don't know about freshwater dips, but the ick will come back, if you don't treat the cause. If you think the ick came from the clown, then I don't know what to tell you. I have not had ick exept for that one time. Hope I gave you some helpful information.
HTH,
Leopard

 

[beaslbob]

Just wanted to echo leopard-babe's ideas. Tank conditions can lead to a decrease in the fish' immunity system making them suspectable to such things as ICH. And that idea ties in very nicely with the ICH being on a new fish.
I would check the ph of the tank. If that is down under 8.0 or so, I highly suspect you have high carbon dioxide along with any nitrates. I had ICH when ph dropped. after adding macros to my display the ph rose, nitrates lowered and ICH went away.
Finally, If the fish is breathing normally and ph is still around 8.2-8.4, the best thing may be to do nothing. The fish could recover on its own. No need streeeing the fish with dips, meds, hypo etc etc, when in a week it would be fine anyway.

 

[clarion]

just fyi, cryptocaryon/ich rarely goes away on its own. your inhabitants might fight it off on its own to a sub-clinical level but generally eradication is the better method. Its one of the reasons why strict quarantine is recommended to have a successful tank. Greenex is some really nasty stuff - it contains malachite green and is just not very good nor effective at treating parasites. It's also very toxic.

 

[kev]

Don't do FW dips!! Take all your fish out and put them in a QT tank. Treat with either hypo or copper.. and thats it!

 

[canadiandude]

FW dips and greenex will not cure the ich. As earlier stated, hypo or copper is the only thing that will work. Chances are the ich was still in the tank from the clowns and adding the new fish stressed things out and caused the current breakout. Personally I find copper much easier to treat with although those in the disease forum will probably disagree. I have used both and had better success with copper. I would place the fish in QT and copper the QT tank, not the display tank. Leave the fish in QT for at least a month.

 

[zepplin48138]

I talked to the guy at my lfs and he told me that the freshwater dips will work, I was skeptical at first but I tried it with my clowns and it worked well. I have done them on both my puffer and trigger and so far it is working. I think that the addition of the trigger is causing a lot of stress so I think I am going to have to return him once he is 100% healthy, he is looking about 90%currently. It is a shame because he is such a beautifull fish, his colors and pattern are the best i have seen for a small clown trigger. One more point, my lfs manages over 40,000 gallons of saltwater and handles a lot of livestock, they told me that they use freshwater dips to take care of all their ich outbreaks. they haven't told me wrong yet so I am going to stick with it. Thanks for the advice though.

 

[canadiandude]

The FW dips will only work towards eradicating the parasites on the outer skin and gills. It will not do anything for what is still in the tank. You have to understand the ich life cycle to effectively treat it. Check out this link for some basic info or you can do a search on it. Also refer to the disease forum.
http://www.bestfish.com/saltich.html

 

[tony detroit]

FW dips will only help you momentarily, they will not completely solve the problem.

 

[moraymike]

Yeah, fresh water dips are a "quick fix." You'll still have free swimming and larval stage ich in your tank.

 

[ordsway]

so how long do you "dip" them for? most peopole suggest about 5 minutes, isn't that too long for a sw fish to be in fresh water??

 

[pyrrhus]

5 minutes is fine for the FW dip although you have to watch the fish carefully for any distress and return him to his home at teh first sign of discomfort. but as is being said it will not eradicat the ****** they can live in the tank for 10-38 day and if there are any fish in the tank during that period you risk reinfection.