One ich spot, what to do?

[elpezgrande]

I have a realtively established tank (9 months) and I have never had an outbreak of Ich before. Right now I only see one spot on one of my clown fish (I have 2 false percs and a Royal Gramma). I have also noticed the infected clownfish rubbing against the LR and seeming to favor the side with the spot when hosting in my RBTA. I can't get a usable picture, but based on descriptions of looking like a grain of salt, I think it is ich. If it is ich, would the fact that there is only one spot on only one of my fish affect how I should treat? i.e. Can I do a fresh water dip on the one clown or do all of my fish need to go into a quarantine tank for a month for treatment?

 

[elpezgrande]

Thanks for the reply. I did add an RBTA that was attached to a piece of LR in the last week or so, but the last fish I added was more than 3 months ago. I'll try garlic and hope it doesn't worsen.

 

[beth]

Post back if things develop with the spot problem.
Also, love that avatar. Crocs are just wonderful creatures.

 

[elpezgrande]

The first spot became much smaller and less bright white, almost as if my clown fish had knocked the part above the skin off by rubbing on the LR. However, now several more are forming on the first clown and the second clown is starting to develop a few spots on its tail. The new spots are not bright white like the first one I saw, you wouldn't even notice them unless you looked closely at the fish. The royal gramma has no spots on it. I do not have a QT right now but does it sound like I need to start setting one up for this? I have a few questions about setting up a tank if this is officially becoming an outbreak.
1) Do I need to put all of my fish in QT whehter they have ich or not, and if so is a 5 gallon large enough for 2 false percs and a royal gramma?
2) Since I don't already have a QT tank set up, is it ok to use water from the display tank and avoid the cycle?
3) What is better treatment, hypo or ich medicine from the LFS?
4) I read in one of the stickies not to have any substrate in the QT, but to have the bottom painted a color so the fish don't get disoriented by too many reflective surfaces. Is having the tank sit on something like black colored construction paper sufficient for this, or do I need to paint the bottom?

 

[beth]

1) Do I need to put all of my fish in QT whether they have ich or not, and if so is a 5 gallon large enough for 2 false percs and a royal gramma?
You do need to threat all fish once all fish have been exposed, whether they show symptoms or not. 5 gals is too small. 10 at the very least, but if you can get a 20 gal LONG up and going that will be best. If you don’t have corals/live rock/inverts, you can do hyposalinity right in the display tank. If you haven’t already, take a look at the FAQ TRHEAD’s post on ich.
2) Since I don't already have a QT tank set up, is it ok to use water from the display tank and avoid the cycle?
If the water in your display is good, then definitely use 100% water from the display. If you have a piece of LR you can “sacrifice” to the QT, go ahead and use it. I suggest this because your QT will be uncycled so you will need all the help you can get in kick-starting a new system.
3) What is better treatment, hypo or ich medicine from the LFS?
The only really viable options is hyposalinity and copper. I would definitely not use copper in your situation because you have an uncycled tank. Go with hyposalinity following the procedure outlined in the FAQ Thread.
4) I read in one of the stickies not to have any substrate in the QT, but to have the bottom painted a color so the fish don't get disoriented by too many reflective surfaces. Is having the tank sit on something like black colored construction paper sufficient for this, or do I need to paint the bottom?
Yes, that would be fine. You can add a few cups of substrate from your main tank to the QT in this situation to kick start the QT’s biofilter. If you will not be treating with medication, absorption of the medication by rock or sand is not an issue. Do you have a refractometer or a quality glass hydrometer?