Possible Ich/ick...please Help!

[LI Pinky]

I purchased a Red Fin Butterfly within the last 2 weeks. He's gorgious! Then today i go to feed my fish and it looks like he has ick/ich. Now i have never ever had this is any of my tanks so im having a hard time identifing it. I know it can be caused by stress, but the only thing i see stressing him out is the fact that my stripped grouper chaces him around a bunch sometimes! It is a full predator tank with some live rock. It's a 55 gallon with a lion-fish, snowflake moray, Lunar wrasse, stripped grouper, red fin butterfly, and huma huma trigger. ( a bit small, but i they aren't huge and i have a bigger tank setup slowly coming along as we speak). I have an extra 10g and a 30g laying around should i take him out and treat him by himself, shoudl i treat the whol tank, etc!?!?!? Any help would be awesome! Im scared to death to lose all my fish!! PLEASE HELP!

Thanx,
-Kenny, a stressed out and scared tank owner!

P.S. i tried to search and came up with nothing!

 

[dixaisy930]

What are your tank parameters?

Is the white spot white and fully looking, or slimy looking?

 

[LI Pinky]

What are your tank parameters?

Is the white spot white and fully looking, or slimy looking?

Parameters as in levels of ph, and what-not?? If so everythign is in safe ares. I ever have my salt contant down to 1.020, cause i heard with lower salt content that ick/ich has a hadrer time surving...

As far as fully looing?? idk what you mean, ha. But it's def not slimmy looking!

HELP! lol

-Ken

 

[dixaisy930]

I still want actual readings.

As far as the lower salinity (I could be wrong on this, if I am, a more experienced SW keeper please correct), but I think the salinity needs to be around 1.015 (maybe even lower?) to effectively hinder ich. Now, I only know seahorses handle low salinity just fine - other saltwater fish, I'm not sure about.

DO NOT treat your display tank. It will have to be treated in a hospital tank. Hopefully someone can give you a better idea for treatment (or do search for info in the marine section to treat).

I would think getting chased by another fish would be enough stress to cause the poor fish to get sick. You should probably start thinking of a way to remedy that situation as well.

 

[LI Pinky]

I still want actual readings.

As far as the lower salinity (I could be wrong on this, if I am, a more experienced SW keeper please correct), but I think the salinity needs to be around 1.015 (maybe even lower?) to effectively hinder ich. Now, I only know seahorses handle low salinity just fine - other saltwater fish, I'm not sure about.

DO NOT treat your display tank. It will have to be treated in a hospital tank. Hopefully someone can give you a better idea for treatment (or do search for info in the marine section to treat).

I would think getting chased by another fish would be enough stress to cause the poor fish to get sick. You should probably start thinking of a way to remedy that situation as well.

Well to my surprise i woke up this morning to him not haveing a single white speck on him at all! Confusing, but im happy! I'm just gonna keep my eye on it and make sure all the posssib;t ick/ich didn't just fall off him to pat eggs and what not. As far as fixing teh situation, that is being handled as we speak i pick up my 150g tank in the next couple weeks. Thinking of making it an inwall setup but we'll see...Thanx for the input all!

-Kenny

 

[SkiFletch]

Where in LI do you live Ken?

 

[Aqualife2u]

Hi, sounds like the fish you bought was probably carrying the parasite when you bought it, not always visable on the fish for some time, did you buy it from your usuall retailer?

 

[LI Pinky]

Ski Fletch - I live in SHoreham- If your not sure of that location it is on the Northshore of Long Island, it's a little less then 30 minutes from Orient Point! I LOVE IT OUT HERE! Some great surfing(south shore) and great for my waverunner (North and South Shore) It's Great

Aqualife2u- Yes it was purchased from a retailer "brians Aquarium ins Long Island New York, It was healthy wen i purchased it, and the store has little to no history with there fish having any ick/ich from reviews i have read!



UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT'S BACK I see the specks on him again I am still bummmmed, and as we speak i am testing my water and getting you guyz all the parameters!

Will post again in about 10 minutes!

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow thats pretty far out there, getting into boondock territory there . I make a pilgrimage to Coram once a year for the "Big Game" at the Cousins paintball field there

 

[LI Pinky]

Numbers-

PH- 7.6-7.8 Range
Nitrate- 60-80 mg/L range
Ammonia- 0.50 mg/L
Nitrite- 0.25 mg/L
Salt water Content- 1.021
Tank Temp- 78.4

Alls these numbers came from using my Salt Water Master Liquid test Kit made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. The tank is a little less then a year old however it was just moved 600 miles from pittsburgh, PA. where my old apartment was. That would wexplain my little nitrite cause i lost a lot of my water in transit Hope this helops guyz!! What do you think. I believe these are all safe levels! And i believe my Ph is within limits of my area...

 

[SkiFletch]

Not good at all actually. Do the tests again to make sure, and if you get the same readings again, take a sample to your LFS asap and find out whats going on.

What you should read:

pH 7.9-8.4
Nitrate < 40
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
specific gravity 1.021-1.027
Temp 76-83

Most disturbing is your ammonia reading. 0.50ppm (or mg/L same diff) is a toxic level of ammonia and probably causing the stress that you're seeing. Waterchanges, aeration, and patience is all you can do now

 

[dixaisy930]

*Ski types faster than I do*
The ammonia and the nitrite are too high. Both need to be zero. It sounds like it might be going through a mini cycle because of the move. Start up partial water changes to get those numbers down. Ph is low, too. It should be around 8.2. Salinity's good...temp seems ok...nitrates are high too (not sure if you have any inverts...nitrates should be 0 if you do). Ideally, for fish only tanks, I think 10-20 is preferred.

Do you use RO or tap water?

 

[LI Pinky]

SkiFletch- thats not what i wanted ot hear, lol btut im glad im on here learning! I will do a water change tomorrow and start the cycle of fixing it and waiting. My temp dropepd due to a colder day in the house, it should be back up to 80+ tomorrow. As far as safe ammoneia levels i wasn't sure what was good and what not so im glad i posted to find out.

dixaisy930- I believe your right, i think from my move is why my ammonia is high and why i now had traces of nitrite. As far as PH what can i do to up that? Also i have no invertes, It's a fish only tank. Idk what RO is?? I feel like such a noob (i kinda am though) I do infact use tap water that has sit for a good hour or so and wen i am mixing the salt i put in Aquasafe. (5mL for every 10 gallons)

**As far as my butterfly is concerned is there any reason why i saw the white specs yesterday and then not this morning, and that now i am again seeing them b4 bed? Is this common?! Idk if i should put him in his own 10g for the time being and treat him or not. And if i should, should i take water from my actual tank and put it in the 10g, or should i make my own and use my Aqua safe and get the temp. right and just put him in that

- ???
Kenny

 

[dixaisy930]

RO - reverse osmosis water. This is what most saltwater keepers recommend using. It doesn't have any of the impurities that tap can (i.e. copper, nitrates, heavy metals). I would probably start using the RO water now to do those partial water changes. I would keep a close eye on that pH, though. You don't want it to change drastically, or that could cause shock.

As far as the sick guy, I'll let someone more experienced with saltwater illness to guide you there. Since you don't have any inverts, I would be tempted to lower the salinity of the tank. But then again, this is just coming from the prespective doing this with seahorses. DO NOT DO THIS until someone else can help you. I am unfamiliar with "regular" marine fishes ability to cope with hypo treatments. A better route might be treating in a hospital tank with meds. Again, hopefully someone else can give you definate answers here.

As for it disappearing and reappearing, that's "normal". Part of it's life cycle is dropping off the host.

 

[LI Pinky]

RO - reverse osmosis water. This is what most saltwater keepers recommend using. It doesn't have any of the impurities that tap can (i.e. copper, nitrates, heavy metals). I would probably start using the RO water now to do those partial water changes. I would keep a close eye on that pH, though. You don't want it to change drastically, or that could cause shock.

As far as the sick guy, I'll let someone more experienced with saltwater illness to guide you there. Since you don't have any inverts, I would be tempted to lower the salinity of the tank. But then again, this is just coming from the prespective doing this with seahorses. DO NOT DO THIS until someone else can help you. I am unfamiliar with "regular" marine fishes ability to cope with hypo treatments. A better route might be treating in a hospital tank with meds. Again, hopefully someone else can give you definate answers here.

As for it disappearing and reappearing, that's "normal". Part of it's life cycle is dropping off the host.

Ok them im gonna get him in his own tank tomorrow and treat the fish with a recommended product. As for RO water where can i get it?! Or is this the water that your make using one of those water purifiers they sell at the fish stores?