I think my brown clown goby is showing ich

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Hey everyone... Sadly, I think my brown clown goby is showing ich... Weak sauce. I am in the process of setting up a 20 gallon QT, and am going to run my main tank fallow for 4 weeks, and treat my fish. Thankfully, I was running a sponge in my main filter, and am just going to transfer it over for BB. A few questions...

1) should I add copper meds before the fish go in the QT or slowly add it in after?

2) because ALL my fish are going in the tank, the ones that aren't showing ich, will they benegatively effected or killed by the treatment

here's my stock:

1 6 line wrasse
2 mocha clowns
1 anthia
1 clown goby
1 algae blenny
1 tiger goby

4) I know my CUC can stay in the display tank while it is fallow, should I be putting food in there?

5) how do I know the ich is gone from the main tank?

6) do I do water changes in the QT or just top offs?

Please help, I always appreciate it!! Thanks everyone!

[uh.oh...]

I'll be following along with this, treated ich in my fw, but never had to deal with it for my salt. Have you got any pictures? You're sure its ich, not just sand right?

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Here's a pic... I appreciate you following along, I do know that fresh water ich is very different than marine ich. But please help if you can






My LFS said he couldn't really tell from the pic. I was on the phone for 25 mins with him last night. There's no tell tale sighs tho, no heavy breathing, no flashing, I'm just going to try to be safe than sorry... I'd like to get a QT set up, if I don't need it then that is a good thing

[Flaxon-Waxon]

And those spots on his tale are actually just seeing substrate behind him because of the transparency of his fins

[Rosesrblu1]

Don't use the sponge, as the copper will kill any BB you have on it. Just make sure the water parameters are good, testing every day if ness and doing pwc to,avoid spikes in ammonia, trates, and trites. Also, when you do the pwc, you need to add copper back in to,keep,at therapeutic levels. Grab a copper test kit to,check it out.

You can put a little food occasionally in the tank, but they prob don't need any if you,are established enough. I've been their and it sux! I would also go,6 weeks to,make sure.

Someone pls correct me, if I'm wrong, but I have treated many this way before ,

[Flaxon-Waxon]

So if the copper is going to kill the BB, then a hospital tank never really cycles? And you just need to stay on top of water changes? I'm going to have all 7 of my fish in a 20 gallon, I would imagine my ammonia is going to skyrocket..!?

[Schism]

Originally Posted by Rosesrblu1

Don't use the sponge, as the copper will kill any BB you have on it. Just make sure the water parameters are good, testing every day if ness and doing pwc to,avoid spikes in ammonia, trates, and trites. Also, when you do the pwc, you need to add copper back in to,keep,at therapeutic levels. Grab a copper test kit to,check it out.

You can put a little food occasionally in the tank, but they prob don't need any if you,are established enough. I've been their and it sux! I would also go,6 weeks to,make sure.

Someone pls correct me, if I'm wrong, but I have treated many this way before ,

Negative, copper treatment does not kill beneficial bacteria.

But on a side note hypo salinity is in my opinion a better treatment for ich without needing to get copper test kits etc. also copper is much harsher on fish.

Also by the picture im not convinced thats ich either. Keep a close eye on it and snap a few more pics when ya can.

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Thanks Schism... Here's another pic:

[Schism]

Originally Posted by Benamayer

Thanks Schism... Here's another pic:

Ok yep i think that pic does it more justice for calling out ich. I would quarantine. Not sure if you know anything about Hypo-Salinity treatment but its much easier and less stressful on the fish than copper treatment. Also if you do water changes its simple to just match the salinity without all the copper testing etc.

[Flaxon-Waxon]

I do just want to add this: there's no raised spots
on him, it's more of a discoloration. But I would imagine hypo won't hurt to do, if done properly, if it turns out to be nothing?

Ok, so here's the scoop. I had set up a 10 gallon the other day, and added the copper med, and put a sponge in the filter from my main tank. Is it safe to assume if I scratch all the water, and start from scratch, new water, new tank, even though the filter and tank was exposed to copper (I know it sticks to everything)... Can I still do hypo? The reason this happened is because I didn't really know ich too well, and thought if I QT'd the infected fish, it would be good. But I don't want I put all 7 fish in a 10 gallon, so I bought a 20, and want to do hypo. Am I still good to use the sponge that has had copper running through it for 2 days?

[Schism]

Originally Posted by Benamayer

I do just want to add this: there's no raised spots
on him, it's more of a discoloration. But I would imagine hypo won't hurt to do, if done properly, if it turns out to be nothing?

Ok, so here's the scoop. I had set up a 10 gallon the other day, and added the copper med, and put a sponge in the filter from my main tank. Is it safe to assume if I scratch all the water, and start from scratch, new water, new tank, even though the filter and tank was exposed to copper (I know it sticks to everything)... Can I still do hypo? The reason this happened is because I didn't really know ich too well, and thought if I QT'd the infected fish, it would be good. But I don't want I put all 7 fish in a 10 gallon, so I bought a 20, and want to do hypo. Am I still good to use the sponge that has had copper running through it for 2 days?

Thats a tough call.

But my opinion would be to do it and keep an eye on copper levels and do water changes if it becomes 'elevated'.

Just be sure not to stick that sponge back in your display tank. Also you could clean out the tank however the sponge cant be cleaned so you would have to keep an eye on it. Honestly i think it would be fine but thats my opinion.

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Well how long would it take to seed a new sponge if I put one in my display tank filter? I would rather do this the right way... Would I be ok using the filter itself, or should I scrap that too?

[Rosesrblu1]

Sorry, my fish guy said it did...my apologies, but I did learn something. Thanks!

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Or should I drop a bag of bio balls in my filter for a couple weeks?

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Originally Posted by Benamayer

Or should I drop a bag of bio balls in my filter for a couple weeks?

Bio pellets as aquaclear calls them...

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Ok Schism, I'm going to go get a new filter and tank. A LFS has a used 20 gallon for $12. Not bad. I don't want to take my chances with copper, so I'm going to start over. This sucks. So how does the hypo process go? Could you give me a timeline maybe? Do I mix water in the QT at 1.009 and drip acc the fish, or have it match the main tank and slowly lower it through water changes? Any help on this is great, no clue what I'm doing lol

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Sniper, Mrc, Nikki, Con? Where you guys and gals at in my time of need lol 8-(

[Mrc8858]

Sorry didn't see the thread :/ schism got you covered so far but for hypo treatment for parasites your looking to shock them to death so if you acclimate then you are also acclimating the parasites. Many fish that live among the reefs can go up to the shore where water can be as low as 1.005 around freshwater run offs I believe so the parasites have adapted the same as their hosts. This is by far not my expertise though so I would wait for someone that has treated for diseases and parasites more often, sorry.

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Ahhh no problem Mrc! Good looks though, sorry for the shout out, you guys have all been very helpful so far, so I figured I'd do some advertising for you

[Mrc8858]

No problem I'm actually honored you asked for me specifically as I bet the others will be too wish I coulda helped but I imagine there's plenty of people bout to get off work soon that will take care of you