I made a terrible mistake.

[Jack22]

I've been looking for a moorish idol for a long time. My wife found one at our LFS and she surprised me by buying it for me for valentines day. It looked good at the store and was eating. Because my QT tank is small and I know they are very delicate fish I was worried that the stress of quarantine in a small tank would kill it. So I acclimated and put him in my DT. A few days later he started showing signs of ich. It's been 8 days. He's swimming normally, he eats algae sheets like crazy, and the streamer on his top fin has even grown back, but he looks TERRIBLE. Color is splotchy and white spots all over him. I have a cleaner wrasse that is trying to clean him off, but he keeps chasing the wrasse away. The rest of my fish look good, no visible spots. I run a UV sterilizer on the return of my canister filter, but I think the flow might be a little too fast to kill the parasite.

I'm thinking of using a product called Ruby Reef Kick-Ich. I've read mixed reviews about it. Or should I just wait it out and hope he can fight off the parasite. I want to do everything I can to make sure he survives, but I don't want to do more damage to my tank. Please help.

 

[TheTodd]

Not to be nasty, but its kind of a double mistake if this is in your 55g, because these are "expert only" fish, that are one of the most difficult to feed and keep alive and much like Tangs, need big tanks (125+). Places like liveaquaria even say they are not good for home aquariums. Www.advancedaquarist.com has a great article on these fish.

Better to go with Heniochus butterflies. Look kind of the same, but much easier to keep.

For Ich, its the same old story. QT the fish and treat with copper or Hyposalinity. Keep the DT fallow for six to eight weeks to let the It die off. In the end, you have clean fish going back into a clean tank. Anything else is not going to do the trick. Try to feed with garlic supplemented food to boost the immune systems. It helps, but is not a cure. When the spots disappear, understand that its just part of the life cycle, the fish is not cured unless you did copper or hypo.

Is it white patches or little white spits?