Coral Beauty Angel

[JesseMessykinn]

Well, Yesterday I went to the LFS and ended up picking up a Coral Beauty Angel. I Watched him in the DT at the LFS, Seems Fine. We returned to Accamted them to the tank and put em in. Well Say 5 Hours later I Noticed 100 Micro Specs on the CB, First though was ich, but im not sure. If it was ich I don't think ive seem ich like this before. Maybe but im not sure.

Can Ich show 100s of spots in the matter of a few Hours? Any other ideas?

Pic will be Uploaded Soon.

 

[TheTodd]

Yes it is possible. Stress lowers the immune system, Ich pounces on weakened/stressed fish. Could it be sand though?

 

[JesseMessykinn]

Im thinking ich, gonna have to qt. Thinking hypo or copper?

 

[TheTodd]

I prefer hypo. Copper is more harsh on fish, IMO. With hypo, you really should have a refractometer to make sure your levels are what they are. Hydrometers are notoriously off. If you go copper, you've got to make sure that those levels are accurate too.

 

[JesseMessykinn]

Well now the spots are gone, in the matter of 72 hours. Sign of ick, or just sand?

 

[George9]

Well now the spots are gone, in the matter of 72 hours. Sign of ick, or just sand?

Sand would probably have dropped off sooner. Once the ich detaches from the fish, it goes into the substrate to reproduce. In a week or so you'll see it come back stronger than ever if left untreated. I hate ich

 

[TheTodd]

Could be either. As part of its life cycle, Ich drops off the fish and goes into/onto rock and substrate. It multiplies and usually comes back worse. This is where people think they had some kind of miracle cure. Ich doesn't work that way though. Its there until it's treated (copper or hypo) on the fish and the DT is left fallow and it dies off because it has no host.

If fish are strong enough, they can sometimes keep the Ich at bay and while its in the tank, its not doing any damage. I would wait and see. Ich usually does not totally disappear all at exactly the same time, so it might have been sand. Kinda odd that the sand would all disappear at the same time too though.

 

[JesseMessykinn]

Yeah, it not like any ich ive seen before. Im on alert.

 

[JesseMessykinn]

One odd thing ive noticed is it seems to head right camel shrimp kinda head butting it. Kinda asking to be cleaned.

 

[JesseMessykinn]

Yup it is ich and its spread. Well Im on thw fence of trying to let the tank work through it, probly wont work or get another 2 or 3 tanks and tare down the whole 55g rock scape and remove the fish.

Im leaning toward taking the tank down, and replacing the stank, re set up the rocks so let hope it works out.

 

[melosu58]

It definitely is ich.

Read these for treatment options

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro

 

[JesseMessykinn]

The tank is mildly heavy rocked, Sadly to remove the fish im gonna have to pull all the rock. Since im gonna be pulling some rock im just gonna replace the stand.

I get to thinking would it be a good or bad idea to replace most of the sand bed? Its more of shallow sand bed atm, or just add more sand to it and let it go like that?

 

[JesseMessykinn]

The wife has a good idea, since we run a little heavier load of fish then we do coral. Seems like it would be easier to remove the coral/nverts from the DT, and place them in holding tanks. Then drop the DT into hyposalinity. This seems like it would be easier, then to QT all the fish off.

One question, will ick live on the LR that my coral would be attached to? Should I QT the Corals for 6-8 weeks?

Tips please help.

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

I did just that!! It's working great, 6 weeks later everyone is ich free, just my corals are still separated for another 4 weeks!!

 

[TheTodd]

Ich needs a host (fish) to survive. Some might be in the water or on the rock when you switch it over, but anything in the coral "QT" will die off while the fish are going through hypo. That's probably easier, just keep in mind that corals want consistency, so their tank needs to be monitored closely while you are doing this. I assume also that the "QT" has proper lighting?

 

[JesseMessykinn]

Well thats the thing, I have 2 options. 1. Use old 48in T5HO Fixture. 2. Take down Taos, but I dont know how I would mount them over QT.

Wasn't finished, im switching out the sand on my DT at this time since I figured im pulling rocks to get fish out anyway. I had a slight idea, Thinking I might just pull the sand bed a replace the sand in the tank? Run the DT bare bottom during hypo treatment? As I replace the sand im also adding a new 25ish gal sump/refugium. Also ordered a Refug kit thing, come with live sand, little mud, BB booster junk, and purple up.

This is all kinda happening at once, since ive been wanting to replace my junky DIY stand. Just so happens to be working out, waiting on sump to shipped and order stand yesterday, both should be in around the same time.

Think replacing sand, would help rid icks chance of return, run bare bottom for 6-8 weeks maybe longer?

Ideas? tips?