Help... Is this Ich

moorea2

moorea2

Member
A little less then two weeks ago I added an Emporer Angel and Silver Fox Face to my tank. Yesterday the Emporer Angel had little white specs on him and as well as a few spots of discoloration. Today the Angel looks better, still has the small splotches of discoloration (or dull spots) but much fewer white specs. The fox face now has a bunch of white specs (but no discolored spots). The white specs are bright white and about the size of the head of a pin or needle.
The Tank:
120 gallon
75 gallon sump fuge
200 lbs live rock
3/4 inch sand bed in display
4 inch sand bed in fuge
hermits, crabs, snails, shrimp (2 fire, I cleaner, 6 sexy) and a star fish
1 yellow tang (been in the tank for about 5 months)
3 clown fairy wrasse (been in the tank for about 4 months)
A ton of mini feather dusters that came with the live rock as well as 12 large dusters I have I had added
Right after I got the new fish I had a PH drop. The next day I started using kent marine PH buffer. I slowly brought the PH to 8.24 and stopped using the buffer on Friday (about the same day the spots appeared)
I feed a home made food containing Shrimp, squid, krill, mysis, clam, mussels, nori and garlic about 2 - 3 times a week. On other days I feed a dry food, blue zoo Ultimate reef fish and coral diet. I also add DT's live marine phytoplanketon about every other day.
Please let me know if a picture would help.
Everyone is eating fine!
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
It sounds like ick, but without seeing it it's hard to say. Canyou post a pic? :thinking:
 
moorea2

moorea2

Member
I'm going to try... I'm charging batteries now for my camera. The white dots are so tiny I dont know if they will show up in a picture.
 
moorea2

moorea2

Member
No they do not look fuzzy at all. They are tiny bright white specs. I guess more like an air bubble then cotton. But they aren't like an air bubble because of the fact that they are bright white.
No I have no treatment handy, but unless I am wrong I cant treat in the tank anyway. Wont that kill all my inverts, live rock/sand etc.
 
moorea2

moorea2

Member
OK I am going to post pics in a minute... If you stand back about a foot from the tank it does look like the fish swam through a pocket of air bubbles and got them stuck to them. But if you get right up on the tank they then look to white to be air bubbles. Plus the specs have been there in the same places all day!
 
moorea2

moorea2

Member
As i thought the camera did not really capture what I was seeing. The dots look bigger in this pic because the fox face wouldn't stop swimming to say cheese!

 
moorea2

moorea2

Member
any suggestions that dont include pulling every fish out of the tank or killing rock and inverts?
Can it go away on its own? I only ask because the Angel looks a heck of a lot better today then he did yesterday...
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
i don't think so. there's a link up top that you can read up on the life cycle of ich. just because it goes away, doesnt mean its gone--just done feeding before reproducing.
good luck, assuming you dont have a qt?
 
murph

murph

Active Member
Looks like the dreaded marine ich to me. You most likely introduced the parasite to the system with the new fish. It is also possible the parasite was in the tank before the new fish and the other fish being established were able to ward off the parasite.
Bottom line is even if the existing fish are able to live they will still carry low level non lethal infections that will allow the parasite to live in the tank and make new additions vary difficult as you have found.
I know you don't want to hear this but a treatment tank will be necessary if you wish to rid the system of parasites. A month or more of having the DT fish less will cure that problem and hypo treatment in a separate tank for the exposed fish will cure them.
Immediate action is necessary to save the infected fish also. The parasite will likely be lethal within a week and with compromised fish to feed off of the parasite population will rise quickly and most likely become a problem for your established livestock as well.
 
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