amandadee
New Member
I have 2 percula clownfish that I added to my FO tank a week ago. Only other inhabitants are a green chromis and a hermit crab. One clown had a teeny weeny white spot on his face I noticed after getting him home. In a week it has grown to about the size of his pupil, or the friendly end of a straight pin. Today I noticed a similar spot on the other clown.
Of course my first conclusion was ich, but after reading around here I got the idea that it might be something else called lymphocyctis. This is based on the observation that there are only one or two white spots per fish, and that they grow bigger instead of multiplying rapidly. I have also not ruled out the possibility that it may be some other type of fun parasite that I haven't read about yet.
The fish are eating well (yummy flakes 2x/day) and swimming around happily, in fact they've encouraged my poor shy chromis to come out of hiding and actually swim around with them.
I'm considering a freshwater bath to see if the spots fall off (or if, as someone described, the parasites "come out" which I have no idea what would look like but sounds interesting). I also admit, I come from a long line of pick-it-if-it-looks-weird people, so I'm tempted to try scraping them off with my fingernail, but I don't know if this would do more harm than good.
I've also considered doing the hyposalinity treatment, since that would eliminate the possibility of ich, but I'm not sure the hermit would survive it, so I guess I'd have to set him up in his own tank for 3 weeks.
Finally I've thought about doing nothing and seeing if it goes away on its own, but I would feel like an irresponsible jerk if all of a sudden we had a massive outbreak and my little guys all bought the farm.
I've tried to take pictures, but my camera just isn't good enough for anything clear to come out. I know it's hard to diagnose diseases without being able to see them, but any advice would be welcome.
Thanks,
Amanda
Of course my first conclusion was ich, but after reading around here I got the idea that it might be something else called lymphocyctis. This is based on the observation that there are only one or two white spots per fish, and that they grow bigger instead of multiplying rapidly. I have also not ruled out the possibility that it may be some other type of fun parasite that I haven't read about yet.
The fish are eating well (yummy flakes 2x/day) and swimming around happily, in fact they've encouraged my poor shy chromis to come out of hiding and actually swim around with them.
I'm considering a freshwater bath to see if the spots fall off (or if, as someone described, the parasites "come out" which I have no idea what would look like but sounds interesting). I also admit, I come from a long line of pick-it-if-it-looks-weird people, so I'm tempted to try scraping them off with my fingernail, but I don't know if this would do more harm than good.
I've also considered doing the hyposalinity treatment, since that would eliminate the possibility of ich, but I'm not sure the hermit would survive it, so I guess I'd have to set him up in his own tank for 3 weeks.
Finally I've thought about doing nothing and seeing if it goes away on its own, but I would feel like an irresponsible jerk if all of a sudden we had a massive outbreak and my little guys all bought the farm.
I've tried to take pictures, but my camera just isn't good enough for anything clear to come out. I know it's hard to diagnose diseases without being able to see them, but any advice would be welcome.
Thanks,
Amanda
