Hey guys so I’m new to the hobby and recently finished cycling my tank. Me being dumb I didn’t quarantine my clowns before I put them in the tank and now one of them has white spots all over him and I don’t know what to do. Parameters are fine everything is at 0 just did the weekly water change salinity is at 1.024 idk if u can see the picture because he moves around too much but there’s white spots all over him and it really pops out when the moonlights are on he’s been eating and swimming normally and it’s been a week or two since I started noticing the spots
need some help
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It’s ich for sure, not good ich lives everywhere in the tank and spreads rapidly, I recommend dropping the salinity to about 1.020 over a period of time don’t drop it from 1.024 to 1.020 in a day raising the temp very slowly to about 80-82 higher temps will kill ich off
lmforbis
Well-Known Member
It is well known that salinity at 1.020 won’t get rid of ich. It may suppress it but it won’t kill it. increasing the temp will speed the life cycle slightly but it won’t kill ich. The temp necessary to kill ich is very high and will kill everything else. Keep in mind, ich is present in the ocean. On the reefs the temp is often above 90 degrees these days. Two years ago I was diving in Grand Cayman the temp was 94 degrees in the water. I saw plenty of fish with ich. As soon as the salinity goes back to normal, ich will be back with a vengeance.
To kill ich with hyposalinity it needs to go down to 1.009 for 4 weeks. A slow drop in salinity over 2-3 days and a slow increase over about 2 weeks. Salinity can go down fairly fast but it has to be raised very slowly to prevent osmotic shock. It can’t go above 1.009 at all or the time starts all over. I like to do 1.008 to be safe. You need a Calibrated refractometer to do this accurately. This is best done in a quarantine tank with the display left fallow for the appropriate amount of time. In the display tank hypo needs to be maintained much longer. It can be done but it is a lot of work to keep the tank topped off so the salinity stays at 1.009. There is a risk of ich being attached to the substrate rocks etc. nothing kills it unless it is in one of its free swimming stages. The research shows 72 days fallow is necessary to kill all the ich in the tank.
Here is a wright up from reef keeper magazine on ich. It covers treatment quite well.
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If you can safely catch the fish, give him a fresh water dip for about 2 minutes. Order some garlic extreme and frozen mysis to help it build it's immunity and slime coat back up. Make sure the dip water is filtered and the same temp as the tank. No need for mass panic. A small UV sterilizer will help avoid future issues. Monitor your chemistry when you start feeding the mysis.
You may notice some varying degrees of treatment options here. What I can say to that, is try to follow the treatment path that is reasonable and within your means. A fresh water dip and boosting the immunity of the entire tank through good chemistry and feeds is easily achieved by almost any hobbyist and can buy your fish time as you observe the severity of the situation and decide if a more aggressive treatment protocol is necessary. Keep us posted and feel free to ask any questions you may have. We're rooting for ya and look forward to helping you learn and grow as a hobbyist. Keep calm and reef on.
Alright ty guys I think I’ll start with a fw dip and see how it goes from there. I also got some coppersafe I’m not sure if that’s the best treatment but it’s the one I bought but I forgot to get a copper test kit so I can’t use it yet. Besides that my clownfish has been doing good he’s still eating and swims around fine but it looks like he’s starting to breath heavier so I don’t think that’s good
Bullying can occur as sexual dominance is being established. If it persists for an extended period, you might want to remove the larger fish to QT for a few days, then re introduce to the tank. Fish are weird lol