flmae angel has ick????

[atf88]

my flame angel had a few white spots on its side...i saw my fire shrimp cleaning him and they seemed to have gone away. then now today, his mouth is all white...could this be from digging in the sand, or could it be ick?

 

[ajroc31]

It can be both, but if your cleaner shrimp is cleaning him regularly, he should be ok. I have never seen ich on the mouth, so it is probably sand. Sand on fish is much bighter. You can tell that ich is attached to the fish. The sand sticks out more, and looks out of place.

 

[atf88]

i dont know, its not spots, but it doesnt look like sand...it kinda looks like a white rash or somthing like that, id like to take a picture but i dont have a camera =/

 

[ajroc31]

Sand grains are little bigger. If the spots are very small, and they appear as if they are growing from inside of the fish, than it is ich. I don't think that, that many grains of sand would stick to the fish. It has to be ich. See if you can see the angel scratch himself against the rocks. Ich is usually a sign of a weak fish. My regal tang has it for about 3 months now. My other figh fight is and they do not have any spots, but he can't shake it off. Try a fresh water dip if you can catch him.

 

[atf88]

hes swimming, breathing, and eating as normal. and now today the whiteness is gone from his face =/ what could it be???

 

[dreeves]

If you can catch him...fw dip him...then put him in a QT with anti-biotics to prevent/treat secondary infections/injuries caused by the ich...
When you fw dip him...ensure the water is dechlorinated and at the proper temp...keep a close eye on the fish, and do not exceed 3 minutes or so...
As mentioned..the fw dip is stressfull on the fish...the dip does a few things for the fish...it removes the cysts from the gills and internal mouth as well as exterior cysts...it is an immediate removal due to the cysts basically rupturing from the rapid absorbtion of the fresh water...osmotic pressure...
The fish should then be put into a tank with an anti-biotic...with new fish with ich...I myself use amoxicilian 500mg capsules, I have found this to work extremely well, for about 8-10 days.
Keep in mind, most users on this board advocate the hyposalinity stuff...I do not as it is time consuming and is basically accomplishing the same thing as a dip without the stress.
A good note though...I have never lost a fish to a dip yet...and saved a few with the combo fw dip/antibiotic regime, whom I doubt would have made it...

 

[atf88]

what if i cant catch him???

 

[ajroc31]

If you can't catch him, nature will do its part. Make sure he has the best died available. Give him vitamins. He is an angel so dried sea weed will also help him. Make sure you are not stressing him out. Leave him alone. Maybe you can add another cleaner shrimp. Maybe a cleaner wrasse, but they are hard to keep. The longest time I was able to keep one alive was two weeks. Some people have more success.

 

[dreeves]

If it has ich...chances are good it will die...but you never know...it could survive...follow the above advice on the nutrition and have a good clean up crew...