help!! I think my fish have ich.

[pontius]

10 days ago, I bought 2 percula clownfish and put them in my qt. all this time, they appeared to be very healthy, good appetite and everything. last night, I noticed little white sand looking spots on one of the clowns. I immediately worried it might be ich. today, I got home from work, and that fish was covered with these same spots and the second clown had a few spots on it too. they seemed to be ok, and still had appetites, but I wanted to take immediate measures.
so at 6pm today, I put both clowns in freshwater for 5 minutes. it didn't seem to stress them out at all other than a little heavy breathing at the end of 5 minutes. in the meantime, I treated the QT with Mardel "CopperSafe" as directed on the bottle. now at 8:30pm, the clowns seem worse off than before. they are both breathing heavy and the small one seems to have a problem swimming straight.
is their anything else I can do? is "CopperSafe" even any good? I really don't know what else to do because everything else has gone well. my damsel and clown goby in the main tank have been pictures of good health (knock on wood) and they both came through QT ok. thanks.

 

[tizzo]

The medication dose using copper is very close to the lethal dose. After a freshwater dip, then a copper treatment I would not hesitate to say that your fish are stressed to say the least. That's one heck of an ordeal for them in this period of time. I would check out Beth's hypo treatment sticky at the top of the disease forum. Anything else is likely to be the straw that broke the camels back if you know what I mean.

 

[tizzo]

Sorry, it is the FAQ sticky...
'bout mid way down you'll see hyposalinity...
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/127007/faqs-fish-diseases-treatments-quarantine-health-info

 

[fishcake]

I had an ich problem with my clown and i put him in qt and treated with copper and he's now ok .hyposalinity is another route but it's not for beginners...trust me

 

[dskidmore]

If you get a copper test kit, you can find out if the dose is correct. Check the copper you're using to see if it recomends a specific test kit.

 

[tizzo]

In the past when I have had ich (freshwater), I used a copper treatment. I would prolly use it again. But he mentioned that his fish were worse off after the copper treatment. I was trying to find another route. I hope all turns out well...keep us posted.:nervous:

 

[pontius]

would the copper immediately kill ich? should I change out a gallon or two of the water with water from the main tank? wouldn't the freshwater kill the ich? because the spots are still on there for now. thanks.
I don't know if the brochure with the CopperSafe recommends a test kit, but I couldn't get one at this time of night anyway. by the time I could buy anything else and get back to the clowns, it will be tomorrow after work. if I knew the ich (or whatever it may be, it's white sand looking spots) was dead, I could put them in a safety net in the main tank, but I'm sure that probably wouldn't be wise either. thanks.

 

[pontius]

they are both swimming better and their breathing is not as labored. but they are still absolutely covered with the white spots.

 

[fishcake]

i use seacure copper with great success. It's what my lfs recommends and he's been doing this business for over 20 years.You wait to much longer and they are goners! Take all fish qt them with copper and keep them out of main tank for at least 3 weeks so ich in main tank will die from lack of host!

 

[pontius]

the clowns haven't been in the main tank, they've been in the qt since I bought them. I've already put CopperSafe in the qt. they are acting a lot better now than a couple hours ago, but the spots are still there.

 

[zap800]

well bud if you are looking for something else. i am curently in an ich outbreak in my tank and i am using a product called RX-P by kent. this product is safer then copper because, copper will lead to hole in head disease like copper does. this product can be used as a quick dip, a new addition 3 day treatment, or an overall tank treatment. ive been doseing my tank for about a week now and no one else has it but my two clowns. the bottle says to use it for at least 2 weeks every other day. so we will see if it works ok or not. i dont have a qt so i am treating my entire reef tank. i hope this will give you another option.

 

[fishcake]

you will see spots on them for at least a week give the copper time to work.ich is a real pain in th ass,I know all to well what your going through!!

 

[matt52]

I recently had a ich encounter with my three stripe damsel so I went to the lfs and found some ich medicine its is in a small turqouise bottle and it says just one drop on it I cant rember the exact name ask some at your lfs. Anyways you ad one drop per gallon 10 gallon tank ten drops (etc.) you contiune this for 3 days and now he looks just fine and it did not stress him.

 

[pontius]

well, I'm sorry to say I woke up this morning and both clowns were dead.
I had put in a small powerhead to help churn the water around to see if that would help them any. both were sucked into the bottom of the ph. but I know that's not what killed them, because the powerhead way tiny, with very little power, and before I went to bed, the clowns were looking worse than ever. I've been bummed all day, they were so healthy and happy, and had such good personalities. maybe it was just too late, but as of now, I have to say I'll never use another Mardel product again. I used it when I first noticed the spots, and the clowns went nowhere but downhill after I used it.
for future reference, can ich in a fish go unseen for a period of time and then just show up, or is it caused by stress? the fish seemed perfectly healthy with no spots or anything when I bought them, and after 10 days, the spots just showed up. thanks.

 

[tizzo]

Originally posted by Pontius
for future reference, can ich in a fish go unseen for a period of time and then just show up, or is it caused by stress? the fish seemed perfectly healthy with no spots or anything when I bought them, and after 10 days, the spots just showed up. thanks.
Sorry to hear about your loss.

But to answer your question, yes it lies dormant. That is the purpose of quarentine. You can stare all day at a fish and see nothing, in fact there is nothing to be seen sometimes. But the stress of the move/acclimation/change in water params/tankmates...and so on, those are all contributing factors that will cause the outbreak.
I read somewhere that there are 2 different opinions about ich, one is that all fish have it and they always have, but stress suppresses their immunie system and there-fore causing the outbreak. The other is that it is a parasitic disease that is passed from one fish to another via water, surface area, etc...
Personally, I don't know which to believe. I have heard of people have an outbreak in an established tank with no new additions, including water or used filter media. But it doesn't matter I guess, you will however need to not add fish to your tank for a period of time so that the parasite will starve and die off. I don't know how long, but it is mentioned repeatedly in the threads, you'll have to search.
Sorry about your clowns...