cow fish Ich?

[usirchchris]

I have a young cowfish...bout the size of a grape. A few days ago I noticed some white spots on his body. Seems to almost make a v pattern on the front of his head, and more widely dispersed elsewhere. He is new to the tank. I have had him for about a week now. He is not showing any signs of being stressed particularly by typical signs of ich. He is eating fine, not scratching, or displaying any odd swimming, not breathing hard. Is this something common on a cowfish...I know they are prone to getting ich. I don't want to stress him with moving to a hospital tank if I don't have to. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As A sidenote...I picked up some no ich today...anyone have any experience with this product?

 

[fedukeford]

Try mixing some fresh garlic in with its food, it may help, and it may get rid of it, but its not a deffinate cure. Also, if your running a FO system you may want to look into a UV filter
Feduke

 

[beth]

Those type of products are mostly unreliable. How many other fish do you have that may have been exposed to ich? Try heavy garlic feedings using he garlic method described in the FAQ Thread at the top of this forum.

 

[usirchchris]

I only have 1 other fish in the tank, a domino damsel, aside from that just a cleaning crew (buncha crabs and snails etc), and a cleaner shrimp. got the shrimp because of this...darn cowfish won't go near it though lol.

 

[sepulatian]

Do you have LR or LS? What sized tank is this and how long have you had it? Ich is in your display. Garlic will not kill it. It will help your fish resist it. The ich will continue to host and live.

 

[usirchchris]

it is a 20 gallon tank. I only have 7.5 pounds of lr...so expensive. I have cc as my sub . The tank has been running for about 2 months now. I just don't think it is ich as the cow does not have any spots on his fins or tail at all, and as stated above he is not displaying any typical actions a fish does when they have ich. The domino does not have anything either. I noticed the spots on the body about a week ago, and it does not seem to be getting worse. Not sure what it might be...for all I know it is just natural for him. I did pick up some garlic today, and added it into the food...I am assuming I am just trying to get the oil out of it...I think my fish would probably choke on an actual piece of garlic.

 

[usirchchris]

This is what he looks like. Any ideas?

 

[usirchchris]

Here are the photos of what my little cow looks like. Again, he is not showing any real signs of stress. No strange swiming no scratching, and he eats like a machine...so no problems there. But it looks like ich to me, but there are no spots on his fins at all, and the other fish in the tank which is a domino has no spots either.

 

[beth]

Here is a picture of a normal, healthy cowfish. If the spots you are seeing are like this, then its normal.

 

[usirchchris]

He has dark spots that look like those...the white spots are in a v shape between the eyes, and lower on his...I guess, nose>> They appear to be external on top of the skin.

 

[usirchchris]

I am setting up a 125 tomorrow...Once that is established I will change my current tank to a quarantine. could I move the invertebrates into the new tank without worrying about ich, or can they carry it as well...and what about the coral and lr can I move those. My thinking would be since there will not be any fish in the new tank the ich would die, because of no host. Then I can hypo or copper the 20, and then move the fish over. Does this sound like a good plan, or could the inverts and lr establish ich in the new aquarium.

 

[beth]

All hard surfaces are potential carriers of ich, including hard shelled inverts, and LR, corals mounnted on rock and hard corals. However, if you leave the tank fish-less for 1 month, it won't matter, the ich will die off.
Use a magnifying glass to get a close look at the cow and see if you can tell if those spots are raised, or get a macro shot of him, like the pic I posted, so we can see the spots better.