Ich and quarantine questions

ottbry

Member
Okay, just to start off, I think my fish might have ich, but I've never actually seen ich before, so I'm having trouble telling. What I'm wondering is first off, how do I tell completely for sure that it is ich? Secondly, is there any way for them to recover naturally, like if they were stressed, so they got it, but then their immune system catches up.
I've got inverts, so I'm pretty sure I would have to set up a quarantine to medicate, but I have some questions about that too. First from what I've read, you can't medicate with inverts, but if I could, it'd save me quite a bit of hassle. But yeah, as far as the quarantine goes, all I have laying around is a ten, so would that be big enough? If any of my fish do have ich, it would be my clown, which is still no bigger than an inch and a half, and maybe my cardinal, which is even smaller. I've also got a chromis and a yellow tang which looked clean, but I really wouldn't want to put the tang in there because its so small. So, if it is acceptable for the smaller ones, would I be able to put it in there just long enough to cure it if I need to?
Sorry, I know there are a lot of questions, and I rambled some, or a lot, but I'm still pretty new at this, and I'm worried about my system, so I like to be tripley sure of everything.
Thanks for any help you can give.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Let me post some pictures and some info on ich first:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/127010/diseased-fish-pictures#post_914785
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/a/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans
If your fish have ich, all will need treatment.
Do you have live rock in your display tank?
What do you use to measure salinity?
If you can post good digital pictures of your fish that sick, I might be able to ID the problem.
 

ottbry

Member
Okay, I took a look at those pictures and it looks like my clown has the first one listed, the brooklynella or whatever. My cardinal has white spots, but I'm like 95 percent sure that's just how its colored. I do have live rock, and I measure with with a hydrometer even though I should get a refractometer.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Are you familiar with hyposalinity?
Can you post digital pics of your sick fish? How is the clownfish acting?
 

ottbry

Member
As a cure, yes I've read a little about it. 1.009 salinity, if I remember right, but won't that hurt my inverts?
My clown was acting fine until just a few hours ago I noticed he got really lethargic between feedings. Around three he was fine and exited about being fed, but then at eight, he just ignored it. He isn't laying on the floor or anything, but I'm going to keep a close eye on him tomorrow.
 

ottbry

Member
Okay, so now I can't find my clownfish at all. I looked all around, I fed them, I even moved all my rock and checked my overflw. Now, if he is dead, should I treat my other fish? None of them are showing signs of anything, and they're all just ss chipper as ever.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Wait and see if the other fish come down with ich. In the meantime, be prepared to deal with it if they do get ich.
 
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