Help with possible Ich??

[ziggy1010]

I bought a mandarin dragonet 2 weeks ago and it seemed to be doing great. However on Sunday I noticed 2 white spots up near his mouth area that looked like pieces of sand. So I quickly ran out and got some 'Kick-Ich' and immediately treated my tank. I do not have a quarantine tank set up, so I can't remove the fish from the tank. On Monday I noticed that the spots are gone from the fish, but now there are 2 huge sores on my fish from where the skin was. Today my dragonet is at the bottom of the tank, very listless and appears to have difficulty breathing...... please help?!?!?

 

[cmj]

Get a cleaner shrimp if you can. They probably wont do well if the tank has been medicated though. My Strawberry Pseudochromis was near death and as soon as I introduced the Cleaner Shrimp to the tank, they bonded. Four years later, I still have my "Pseudy." Good luck!

 

[ziggy1010]

Thank you for your help!! I am on my way to the store right now to pick up a cleaner shrimp!

 

[beth]

How long have you had this tank set up? Does it have live rock?

 

[ziggy1010]

this tank has been running for 1 year and yes it has 50 pounds of live rock

 

[sepulatian]

Has the rock been in there for a year as well? Was the spots under his chin read at all? Can you please post your water readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, KH, SG, and temp? What else is in the tank. What kind of tank was he in at the store? Was there LR in the tank?

 

[ziggy1010]

My dragonet died shortly after I posted the thread last night, I guess I was too late to save it.

 

[itom37]

Sorry to hear that.
How do you appropriately QT a mandarin since their diet is so specific? I suppose you can transfer some pod-laden rock into a QT, but what if it needs treatment (hypo or copper)?