Is this ich? It's been too long.

[GobyWanKenobie]

I have a powder blue tang that has been battling something for about a month. He is the only fish that has it. He looks pretty good in the morning, but by night he is covered with what looks like ich. He still eats well. I had ich a year or so ago and lost all the fish in the tank (4 in total) so I know the symptoms. If this is ich again, why is he the only one and how could this go on for so long? There are four other fish with no symptoms. With my power still out, I'm reluctant to qt him etc., but this whole ordeal is making his night time outbreak much worse. Is it just stress?

 

[reefsane88]

my friend just lost all her fish to something similar , its started with a lavender tang . is he gasping and scraping against the rocks ,also does it look more fungal or like sugar specs on the fish

also ich has to find a host it can take over if thi fish has a strong immune system he could battle it for a while but imo eventually they all go

 

[CoreyWoulds]

yeah probably stress, pic would be nice where on the fish?

 

[pallobi]

What are the other fish? Some jus arent as prone to it as other fish.. and if u feel its ich and have seen the symptons before, it most likely is... i guess u have a couple options at this point, as to how u want to manage/attack it...

 

[JohnK]

PBTs are often referred to as "ick magnets" as they seem to be particularly vulnerable to it. This maybe that they are less resistant than other fish, or even that their color makes the spots particularly easy to see, but whatever the case they do have that reputation so I wouldn't be surprised if a PBT was the one fish in a tank that was showing symptoms.

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

Well, I spent all day making water so I could set up my hospital tank. The powder blue looks terrible, but is still rather strong. I freshwater dipped him, and put him into a hospital tank. I only dipped him for 2 minutes because I thought he was dead, but when I put him into the hospital tank, he went crazy. He does not like it in there. I am limited on the number of things I can plug in so he has no lights. When I shine my flashlight on him he hides in the pipe so I can't really get a good look at him. If he makes it through the night I will try to take pictures. I have told my neighbors that I am leaving the generator on all night from now on. I think these last few days have taken a real toll on my FOWLR. I have a small generator that I am using for all four of my tanks. Luckily, coral doesn't care when it runs out of gas, but the fish get freaked out. Plus, I turned my skimmer on today, and J have more skimmate than usual. I think when my power comes back on, I am going to take any surviving fish, distribute them into my other tanks and break down the tank. I don't know if I bought bad sand or rock or whatever, but this tank is contaminated with something evil. I have had nothing but bad luck with it since I started it three years ago. I think I need to restart it with all fresh ingredients.

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

my friend just lost all her fish to something similar , its started with a lavender tang . is he gasping and scraping against the rocks ,also does it look more fungal or like sugar specs on the fish

also ich has to find a host it can take over if thi fish has a strong immune system he could battle it for a while but imo eventually they all go

No gasping, no scraping. Seems strong just covered with bumps inside and out. Before the hurricane, it seemed like he had bumps inside him with occasional white spots on the outside. With all the on/off crap of using a generator, he got more white bumps on the outside. They don't look fungal. I think it's parasitic in nature. Bi-color angel and small yellow tang never got spots. Mandarin shouldn't get ich, and the damsel will live forever. I'm not really sure what or if I should treat him with. I'd rather not do copper, especially since I'm not sure what he has.

 

[JohnK]

"it seemed like he had bumps inside him with occasional white spots on the outside."

I've never heard ick described like this?? Spots inside? Can you elaborate on this?

 

[JohnK]

"it seemed like he had bumps inside him with occasional white spots on the outside."

I've never heard ick described like this?? Spots inside? Can you elaborate on this?

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

"it seemed like he had bumps inside him with occasional white spots on the outside."

I've never heard ick described like this?? Spots inside? Can you elaborate on this?

I'll try. You know how when yellow tangs eat a big piece of seaweed you can see their stomach is kind of bumpy looking? His whole body looked like that. Not external spots, but not a smooth body. Not like HLLE, not pits, just not smooth. I tried to look at him with my flashlight, but he's pretty stressed out. I think now he has open sores and white spots. I'm guessing ich combined with something else that he's been fighting off and finally lost. Perhaps tomorrow I can get a better look. Even if I can save him, and it turns out my other fish are immune, I'm going to have to take them out and go fallow or I will never be able to add another fish. I've never had this much trouble with a tank before. I think it's cursed.

 

[pallobi]

At this point, i would.make.sure he has lots.of.nutrition and vitamens, and lots.of.flow and.oxygen... give him a couple.days to.settle.down, and then treat.with meds... jmo

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

The powder blue didn't make it. Died with clear eyes, white spots probably ich and about 7 brown spots on each side of his body that looked like hlle but were not near the head or lateral line. Just in random locations. Also, they didn't look like holes, just brown circles with white, like targets. These might have been where the bumps were previously. They were not ruptured, but were encircled in white, maybe dead tissue. The brown spots only appeared yesterday when he stopped eating. He always ate well and I feed a variety of foods. Can't figure it out. Maybe he had fish cancer or something. I regret turning my generator off at night. I wonder if things built up in the sump, etc., and then released into the dt. I did not test each morning, just looked for life with my flashlight. How should I disinfect my qt now? Should I run some bleach through it? I want to put my remaining fish in it and go fallow, maybe even break down. The power came back on this morning around 11 and everything else looks good, but I know I probably have ich in my tank, if not something worse.