Ich ID on Pink Tail Trigger

[lionpaw38]

look.....dont go through all the bs you hear. All you have to do is slowly raise your tank temp to 80 to 82 ( about 2 an hour ). Get some metronidazole ( Fish Zole) and treat his food twice daily. Cut up a 1/4 tablet ( I desolve it in Kent Zoe with a little Garlic Extract ) and soak his food in it until it kind of dries fast and then feed. Do it twice a day and it will slowly go away after about 3 days. The fish will build a natural immunity to it over time. Lower you temp back down slowly after it is gone.

 

[alovely12]

Well, he is still covered with white spots. I checked and double checked the sg, and calibrated it with rodi water. It was actually only 1.006. The trigger hasn't eaten anything for two days that I have seen. I am still doing 5 gal water changes each day. The ph is 8. I am raising the temp to 80F, it's been at 78F. I am trying to slowly raise the sg back to 1.009. 15 days of hypo, 21 days in a qt tank. I thought the white spots would be gone by now. His body is looking mottled in color. I am not sure if the discoloration is where the ich was before. The ammonia is zero. This is so sad. I think I'd feel more optimistic if the spots went away. I did read it can take up to 28 days in this phase, so each day I hope this is the day. Is this common or is this some kind of resilient strain of ******? He is not breathing heavily, or scratching, just hiding all the time.

 

[ca161406]

maybe try a FW bath?

 

[lkgrenegade22]

Originally Posted by lionpaw38
http:///forum/post/2885872
look.....dont go through all the bs you hear. All you have to do is slowly raise your tank temp to 80 to 82 ( about 2 an hour ). Get some metronidazole ( Fish Zole) and treat his food twice daily. Cut up a 1/4 tablet ( I desolve it in Kent Zoe with a little Garlic Extract ) and soak his food in it until it kind of dries fast and then feed. Do it twice a day and it will slowly go away after about 3 days. The fish will build a natural immunity to it over time. Lower you temp back down slowly after it is gone.
I know Flagyl is effective for some types of parasites but if this is an effective method for ****** why is this the 1st time I have seen this info?

 

[lkgrenegade22]

I also meant to add...When I did hypo (and asked around about it) everybody told me you should see the spots fall off in about a week...So I would think something is not going quite right with your hypo. What I have not a clue.

 

[alovely12]

Here's a pic from this morning. The white spots now look like white threads instead of salt crystals. I am assuming this means the cysts have broken open and it's on to the next stage.
I think I will hold off on the fw dip since it looks different.
He still didn't eat today. I have tried mysis, shrimp, and pellets. I tried with fresh garlic, with vitamins, and just plain. The clown fish is still eating, loved the mysis both w/ & w/out garlic. She still looks ok, no sign of any white spots.
The temp is up to 79.8F now. I'll give him another hour to eat the pellets before doing a water change. I regret placing the tank in the kitchen, with the holiday, there is a lot more traffic than usual.

 

[sepulatian]

Do those lines move or is it more like cracks on his body?
FYI, raising the temperature to 80-82 is where most people keep their temperature at anyway. It will do absolutely nothing against parasites.

 

[alovely12]

I am raising the temp in the hopes he'll be happier, not to affect the parasites. They aren't moving. They look like the tops broke open. I just looked with a magnifying glass again. I think it's just the base of the white cysts left. They look flatter, not like crystals so much anymore. Well, if nothing else, I hope I am documenting the process for someone else. I just assumed when someone said they would fall off, it would be all at once, not in stages. I guess it makes sense they spots need fall off as his flesh heals, right?

 

[alovely12]

The lines are like clusters in a row, not moving, embedded in/on his flesh.

 

[lkgrenegade22]

My blue tang was absolutely COVERED in ick cysts and they eventually all completely went away after about a week. There was no trace of them ever being there whatsoever.
As far the FW dip, I did one, but at that point I honestly thought the fish was going to die so I did not have much to lose. Their effectiveness is questioned by many but regardless I would not do one unless it was a last resort.
If you think extra traffic is keeping the fish more stressed just put a dark towel over the tank during the day and turn the lights on at night letting his day actually be night time when their is not as much traffic.

 

[ca161406]

with my humu the specks fell off about a week into it. i did 2 FW baths and 2 methylene blue baths. been in the DT for a lil over a week and is doing great.
i herd that FW baths were only a last chance thing but i did mine and it didnt bug him at all so maybe it depends on the fish?

 

[sepulatian]

Is he still eating? How is he doing today?

 

[alovely12]

I think he's dieing. He can't swim straight, he has lost his coloration. I think it'd kill him to do a fresh water bath. I don't think he'll last the night.
The clown fish is starting to look unhappy as well, but is eating and swimming normally.
I am so sad, I wish I could force feed him or something. I don't think he'll last the night.

 

[lkgrenegade22]

How long has it been since he has eaten?

 

[alovely12]

I think this is the fourth day.

 

[alovely12]

This is a better picture. Does this still look like ich? It looks both deeply embedded and some looked raised a bit.
If he makes it until the morning, I'll give him a fresh water dip. Maybe 5 gallons a day wasn't enough of a water change. I suspect he needs an antibiotic.
I looked closely at the clown fish and it looks like it may have miniature ich now, but it's so tiny, I can hardly see it. I took a picture, but it's too small for the camera.

 

[lkgrenegade22]

Wow I have never seen ick (if that is even what that is) that bad. I don't see any reason not to try a FW dip now. If you have a bubble bar stick one in there and dip the fish. It appears he is laying on his side, and you don't have much to lose at this point. When I did the FW dip on my tang she was laying on her side on the bottom breathing extremely heavy and she made it through just fine.

 

[ca161406]

yeah id say do a fw bath asap, remember to buffer the water and put an airstone in there
hope he/she pulls through

 

[alovely12]

Well, I think that the fw bath was more stressful for me than the fish. They both seemed to handle it well. I buffered the water, used an airstone, and added AmQuel. I used a 5 gal bucket with 5 gal of RODI water. Seemed like a lot of water for less than 5 minutes. I think I could have used 2.5 gal for the two fish, especially since the clown fish is so small.
Should I do one every day until I see no more white spots?
I changed 10 gal of water last night, and will do another 10 gal this afternoon. The trigger seemed to be more alert this morning, so maybe the larger water changes help.
Thanks for all the advice. Today I am almost optimistic again.

 

[lkgrenegade22]

The larger water changes surely aren't going to hurt. I would keep doing them. As far as the FW dips, if the fish seems to be improving I myself would not do another one. Most everything I read on them said use them as a last resort. Still some people say they do nothing and some people say they are soothing to the fish.
I know this thread has gotten pretty long but are you supplementing their feedings any?