Ich? not sure

[loopy]

my coral beauty angel has been doing some flashing....but that is not so unusual, I have seen it do this before as well as most of the other fish....just like to flash I guess...welcome back to the 70's??? I dunno, the cba seems to have a slight color change, above mouth and eyes, less blue, more orange...can't tell if there are white spots cuz the thing moves too fast. I hesitate putting it in the hospital tank as I am afraid that might be worse until I'm sure??? any suggestions? Appreciated...thanks!!!!!!!!

 

[lefty]

It's good to be cautious, but my advice would be to wait until you can actually see the white spots (or the absence of). If you have a decent camera, sometimes taking a picture of the moving fish will help you determine if there are spots or not. My fish are constantly moving, so taking a picture really helps when I want to see something up close.
If it is indeed ich, you would need to quarantine all of your fish anyway, so waiting a little while longer won't affect anything.
-lefty

 

[90reefkepr]

if you dont see any white spots there is also a chance you are dealing with black ich which you would be unable to see on the cba due to its deep purple skin
my flame angelfish had black ich and i was barly able to tell because most of the ich was located on the vertical blick stripes.

 

[loopy]

Lefty.........if I would have to quarantine the whole tank...yikes...they would die in a 10 gallon, that's my qt tank. I have an arrow crab, other inverts are ONE snail...whoopie..(the other's have been 'lunch',) and a few crabs, but mostly the lmblenny and angel and arrow clean the bottom great. In fact all the fish seem to feast from the bottom leading me to feed less often.
But...what to do if I need to treat them all?
Picture, great idea! thanks.
feeling helpless again.......

 

[scubadoo]

Erratic swimmng can be a sign of disease. I would soak their food with vitamins and garlic.
A mild case of ich can be overcome with boosting the immune system of the fish, a solid diet for each animal, water temp around 80 and constant, reducing stress and keeping good consistent water quality. This also is a good way to prevent disease from wiping out your tank...JMO

 

[loopy]

I have an erratic clown, now I'm worried. Got the garlic though. Thanks scuba!

 

[loopy]

all the fish seem to be flashing now. I have added garlic to their daily diet of pellets, mysis, flakes and seaweed. I soak it for a long time. Will this work....possibly? Am I gonna lose all my fish? Very worried. Don't see white spots on any of the fish. Have inverts and live rock, so can't do copper. any more suggestions.
gees, just when things were going so good......

 

[scubadoo]

Yes, feed them the soaked food...keep the temp 80 or 82, and maintain a diet that fits the recommeded one for the animal(s).
Make sure your water quality remains in excellent order. You can remove and treat with copper if you prefer that method...but it sounds like you are not certain if they have ich...right?
If your fish are swimming as they have from day one things are probably okay. Watch for rubbing against surfaces. Still not a definite indicator as some fish do this. My Sohal does it all the time...for the past 5 plus years.
Also, I saw on another post where you just added another fish. This increases the possibillity of disease being intorduced and could increase stress on all the other fish in the system.
If you totally rearranged the rock when you introduced the new fish then all fish will feel some stress as thier comfort zone has been removed to some degree. I usually wait to see if one fish will pick on the new addition. If so I only move a rock or two near the favorite spot of the agressor. This usually works to some degree and has little if any disruption on the rest of the animals. Total rearranging along with a stranger in the tank can stress out the oldies for a brief period.
You do have a problem though if you decide to remove and treat...not sure how many fish you have but I know your QT tank is 10 gallons. hard to take ALL the fish out of a 55 and place them in a 10 gallon tank for 45 days...which is how long it will take for ich to die off in your display tank.... if it is present. You may try hyposalinty in the display tank and remove any inverts that can not live in the low salinity.
I would just monitor and relax. THink about how you wish to approach this as you have a few options should you see the disease. The fish may be fine. You will have ich from time to time...but if your fish have strong immune sytems there is no reason to panic.
Figure out which approach you want to take (other approaches besides my suggestions too) develop a plan...this way you know what to do should the time come.
Concentrate on prevention by maintainig water quality, a solid diet, vitamins with a little garlic, temp at 80-82 and low stress or no stress.

 

[loopy]

thank you Scuba, you always calm me down. I'll just watch the tank and see what goes on for a few more days and post questions as they come up. I probably did stress out the fish. No one is bothering the new tang, everyone is getting along fine, but they are all flashing...so this could just be from stress, or is it probably the beginning of something bad? ......breath....loopy breath..lol!