Ich ID on Pink Tail Trigger

[alovely12]

I think this is ich, but read that it's often mistaken for ich when it could be something else, so I thought I'd ask here for confirmation. I just bought this fish, er, rescued this fish, since he was in a section of someone's sump for a week. I guess the history was he was eating small fishes, so someone gave him to a friend, who then stuck him in a sump and posted him for sale. Anyway, the morning after I got him he had white spots all over. I think it is ich from all the stress he's been under. I plan to do a hypo on him for 4 weeks min, but wanted confirmation first before I begin. My qt tank is a 30gal. He is currently in a tank with live rock, which has the following parameters:
Nitrite = 0
Ammonia= 0
Temperature = 80
pH = 8.1
Specific Gravity1.025
Nitrate10
Calcium490
Alkilinity3.31
KH9.3
What should the sg be for the qt tank when I acclimate him, if it is in fact ich? I know it says lower it gradually over 2 days. Could someone give me a guideline as to how much water a day that would be for a 30 gal tank and how many times a day you change the water?
I can try to get better pics if these aren't clear enough, but he's still a shy fish.

 

[sepulatian]

Are the spots white and sticking out or do they look like faded color? Take a close look with a magnifying glass.

 

[beth]

I'd say it is ich. How do you plan to treat him? If he is already in your display tank, then you have risked contaminating your QT.

 

[alovely12]

No, he's in a 43 gal tank with live rock, and unfortunately, a clown fish. I set up a 30gal qt tank Monday night, ran the canister in the 43gal tank for 24 hours, then put it in the qt tank. I just got the Kent's for pH adjustment, if necessary, and think I am ready to move them to the qt. The DT is a 144 gal which, so far, has no ich that I am aware of and I'd like to keep it that way. I had to buy some more drip tubing, so I wouldn't contaminate the 144 with water top offs.
The trigger is not breathing hard at all, and is eating well. The clown shows no signs of getting ich yet, but I figured I'd treat them both, leave the 43 fallow for 6 weeks, and then move the clown back to the 43 gal and the trigger to the 144 gal. I know it's a risk with a trigger in the 144 reef, especially for the inverts, but I figure I'll have 6 weeks to think about it. So far he has shown no interest in eating the clown or any of the snails. I am feeding him twice a day. I made a point to give him shrimp with the shell on to wear down his teeth.
So now, I was going to catch him, put him in a 5 gal bucket, acclimate him to the 30gal, and then tonight start to lower the sg.

 

[alovely12]

I don't think the spots are just a discoloration. I would say 70% are gone from what it had Tuesday morning. He's hiding behind a rock now so I can't get a good look. I have a scopas tang that gets white patches when he's stressed and it doesn't look like that at all.

 

[beth]

How are you going to treat them?

 

[alovely12]

The plan is to follow your plan, and lower the s.g. over the next two days to 1.009. I plan to leave them there for 4 weeks, then slowly bring it up to 1.025 over the following two weeks. I did put some dead coral in there because I didn't plan to do any fw dip or medication, and I didn't have any fake decor. Another web site recommended 60 days, so if it ends up 8 weeks, that's ok, as long as the fish are acting well.
They are both in the 30 gal now. The clown seemed her usual good natured self. The trigger was just hugging the coral, I think hiding and now sleeping, since it's night. Almost all of the white dots are gone. I suspect the ich has hatched.
Tomorrow morning, I'll add more RODI water, and then again in the afternoon. I was planning to do 2 gallons at a time since I don't know how fast the salinity will drop, having no experience with this treatment. If it takes me 3 days to lower it, so be it. If the clown and the trigger start to have issues together, I have a 10 gal I can use and separate them, but 3 tanks going at the same time is really all I want to do, so I am hopeful they'll be ok.

 

[sepulatian]

Don't add two gallons at a time. Remove the SW then add the fresh slowly. I just did hypo on a 15 gallon. I poured about half of a gallon at a time, slowly. I then waited a few hours and added the rest of the gallon, slowly. Then in a few more hours I dribbled in the next half gallon. Gradual is better. Being the parasites just dropped off of them, they will get a chance to multiply before hyposalinity is achieved. Feed the fish foods loaded with vitamins and fresh garlic. They will take a beating in a few days. Have their immune system high.

 

[alovely12]

Ok, thank you. This morning they both seem fine, both are eating. I will be sure to soak the food in vitamins and add fresh garlic.
What is the best way to clean the buckets and the hose I use to remove water from the tank? Right now I am just labeling them "Ich" so I don't cross-contaminate, but I'd like to use it in the future, if possible.

 

[beth]

Soak in bleach, rinse very well afterwords, or only use dedicated equipment in you QT.

 

[ca161406]

im doing hypo on my humu as we speak. do you mind if i post updated in your thread so we can keep the answers to questions in one place? i think it would be nice to have the updates in the same place to see how progress goes between the 2 triggers

 

[alovely12]

Sounds good to me!

 

[ca161406]

awesome
well as i said before my humu has ick but its only 2 spots and is super active and eating. its in a 10gal qt right now and today i just reached hypo level. it scared me today because it wasnt in the tank. but then swam out of the power filter haha. so it just chills in there for some reason. but yeah looking good except the 2 spots. ill try to get a pic of the spots for progress

 

[alovely12]

Well, the ich has come back with a vengeance after mostly being gone. The tank is at 1.010, and tonight I should get it to 1.009. It's been slow going. Hopefully the ich won't last much longer. He's still eating, and hiding a lot. The clown fish has zero ich. I regret only having a salifert pH test kit since it is not very accurate. I've been shopping for a monitor.
Attached is the latest pic...

 

[ca161406]

well my humu is down to one spec left on the tail. ill post a pic if i can get a good one

 

[sepulatian]

It is not unusual for ich to come back. Once the SG is at 1.009, and kept there, ich will not be able to reproduce again.

 

[alovely12]

It's day 8 of hypo. I check it twice daily w/ a refractometer. The trigger still has ich spots. He is eating less, but breathing ok. The sg is 1.008. Can that cause a problem? It's tough to adjust it to exactly 1.009 and I'd rather error on the low side, unless I am causing some other issue.
I am not using any chemicals. I have a Fluval 305 and was wondering what media you'd recommend in it. I am having trouble keeping up with the water changes because I want the water to sit 24 hours minimum, and I have 3 tanks running right now. Maybe I should be mixing a 40gal batch of the 1.009 sg. I keep changing 10 gals a day from the qt tank, and still don't have 0's across the board for trate trites and ammonia. I suspect that is why he has had a loss in appetite. I try to do the water change after I feed so I can suction out the excess food. I added carbon to the fluval yesterday.

 

[sepulatian]

1.008 will not hurt him for a few days. Yes, mix separate water at 1.009. How have you been adding it so far? Do you dilute it in a bucket first? The nitrate does not have to be kept at zero, but ammonia and nitrite should be.
Keep doing what you are doing. The spots will fall off soon.

 

[alovely12]

I have been mixing 5 gal buckets. When I saw the ammonia was not zero, I immediately did a 10 gal change. The next morning it was still not at zero so I did a 15 gal change. I also needed to do 15 gal change as part of regular maintenance on the 144 gal, so you can see how I much rodi water I've been making! I wish I didn't need to go to work, or maybe had an automatic shut off for the rodi making side of it.
Anyway, that did the trick, and the ammonia is zero. I am making more water so I can plan to change at least 5 gal a day. The clown fish still appears unaffected.
Latest shot of the trigger. He looks like the ich has left spots where they've fallen off. I think you can make it out in the pics. He did start eating again. I did look with a magnifying glass when he was hiding in a spot I could see him with it. They look like pieces of salt stuck to him.

 

[sepulatian]

Yep, he has ich pretty bad. Keep up what you are doing. It wouldn't hurt to pick up some Amquel plus for those times when you do get ammonia spikes. It works well in a pinch.