clownfish with ick????

[keish24]

yesterday i bought a new clownfish from my lfs which is a couple of hours away. i brought him home and drip acclimated him for 2.5 hours. i dont have a qt yet so i put him in my tank in a hatchery kind of box. figured i would release him into the tank if all looked well this morning. well this morning he has white dots all over him which i would assume would be ick? does stress cause ick? what can i do to get rid of it and are my other fish guaranteed to get it now?
here is what is in my tank now:
1 false perc
1 molly (which i am planning on getting rid of)
1 rbta
snails,crabs
and then this new clown in the hatchery box
i want to make this tank into a reef tank so i dont want to dose with anything that will harm corals down the road.
any advise is much appreciated! thanks!

 

[sepulatian]

First, be sure that it is ich. New fish often get micro bubbles on them, especially in a breeding box. Use a magnifying glass and look very closely at the spots. If the spots are solid white and embedded in the skin then it is ich. Bubbles would be clear. If the fish does have ich then your best bet is to set up a QT and treat the three fish with hyposalinity. Another option is to remove all of the rock and inverts into a tub and treat the display with hyposalinity. There are in tank medications that will "control" ich. In your case, you are better off getting rid of ich completely now before your tank is a full reef. It will be much harder to treat ich later on. In either case, be sure to set up and cycle a QT for future purchases.

 

[beth]

Unfortunately, the answer is not an easy fix. While stress does not cause ich, ich is a parasite, stress can make the fish more susceptible to worse ich. This fish had ich at the LFS, as do most fish.
the problem is that ich is also highly contagious, and now your other fish are exposed.
Please take a look at the info in the FAQ Topic stickied at the top of the Disease Forum. Look at QT, ich, and hyposalinity.

 

[keish24]

ok....well....so most of the spots are already gone. so do you think it is probably micro bubbles? it had quite a few of them but now i see only one or two. ick wouldnt just disappear like that would it?

 

[kube]

i did the hypo treatment on the display tank that septula talked about and had great success

 

[beth]

I don't know if they are micro bubbles, but ich will fade, and then return, usually worse.
You can not hypo a tank with live rock and inverts.

 

[sepulatian]

As I said, take a close look with a magnifying glass. Bring the breeder box right up to the front glass and look closely. If it is ich, you will have to remove the rock and inverts to perform hyposalinity in the display. Look closely first though.