Ick-like spots in hypo...

evilmantis

evilmantis

Member
Hello,
About ten days ago, I noticed ick in my tank. Dropped the salinity and the spots went away. Maintaining hypo still, but I noticed today that my heniochus has tiny white spots. However, they don't quite look like ick spots. They almost look fuzzy. What could this be and what should I do?
Stats:
Salinity - 1.010
All other parameters are within reason.
Thanks,
Goldie
 
evilmantis

evilmantis

Member
It is one of those plastic swingarm thingies. My LFS (there are 2 of them) doesn't carry anything else (except variations on plastic thingies). It reads 1.010. It seems to be accurate at midrange, but I guess it could be off at low-range readings. Hard to tell without something to compare to.
Could this be velvet? It showed up very quickly and is all over his fins and body. He did not originally have signs of ick; obviously he is being treated anyway since he was in the tank with the sick fish. However, the two fish that did show signs of ick (sailfin tang and percula clown) do not show this different disease. My flame angel, though, does show a few of these spots on his tail.
Should I try treating with Maracyn-2? If so, do I continue hypo while treating? I am afraid that if I raise the salinity before treating the fish may die before I have raised the salinity enough to treat. Right now, the spots are the only symptoms the fish has -- he does not appear to be scratching or rubbing. Also, do I use the recommended dosage for Maracyn-2 if I use it? It says it's safe for inverts, but will it still kill off my biological filtration and force a new cycle?? Grrr............
What type of specific gravity meter do you recommend? Since LFS does not have anything else, I will have to order one online somewhere, but I am not sure of what the best kind to get would be.
Thanks again
Goldie
 
evilmantis

evilmantis

Member
Thanks for your help, Terry.
Only 2 of the fish right now show ick symptoms, and these are new spots (within last two days). I have already separated fish and inverts since I am doing hypo. The main reason I was concerned is that these spots appeared suddenly during hypo and they don't look quite the same as the original ick spots on the other fish (less... granular, I guess). No one is scratching or breathing hard. As for quarantine, I do always quarantine my fish. What happened here was that I purchased some snails and a scallop from a LFS. These snails and scallop were all in invert-only tanks. Since they were inverts and in invert-only tanks, I did not quarantine since I didn't think ick could be brought in. What I imagine happened (since the ick appeared just 3 days after the inverts were introduced) is that the invert-only tanks somehow -- whether they were on a cycle with other tanks, or whether they had recently had fish in them-- had some ick in there in the free-swimming stage. When I transferred the scallop, some of the water indeed got splashed into the tank (not much though). I think this is where the ick came from. And to think, I already had some other fish waiting out their time in quarantine - I was suspicious of the wrong creatures...
Will order a refractometer today. So 2 big questions then--
1. Do I go ahead and put in the maracyn-2? No inverts, LR or LS in this tank -- it's QT.
2. Should I drop the salinity more before I get the glass refractometer?
My heniochus thanks you.
Goldie
 
evilmantis

evilmantis

Member
Sorry, another question -- if I use the Maracyn-2, you said to give the "first day dose" every day for 7-10 days. Where does this fall with respect to hypo, then? Should I continue hypo for another 3 weeks after the maracyn treatment is finished? Also, what % of a partial should I do before the next treatment?
Rabbitfish showing two spots now.
Thanks
Goldie:help:
 
evilmantis

evilmantis

Member
Thanks again Terry. I talked to my LFS and they can't even tell me where to get a refractometer ("a what?"), so I will order one. Until it gets here, I will lower the salinity and start over. BTW, it was easier to go hypo on my display tank than in QT simply because it meant moving fewer creatures and worrying less about who was eating who in the smaller QT tank. This way, only LR and snails have to put up with the small hospital tank.
Will post again if I still have problems.
Thanks alot!
Goldie
 
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