Sand or ick?

[mikestanked]

I have a maroon clown that has had these white sand like spots on its body and a black clown goby that has the same looking stuff. The spots may be ick, but I took my turkey baster feeder and blew off some of the "sand" but my BCG hasn't moved much in the last couple of days and won't eat basically anything, but my clown eats like nothing is wrong?
I do not have a QT, so will some body explain the freshwater dip method to me, or any other cheap method to find a cure?

 

[tonedogz]

You need a container with ro water get the temp. and ph as close to the main tank water as possible you can use 3 or 4 drops of methylene blue in the bath water then stir to mix put the fish in for 3 to 4 minutes, if the fish show any sign of stress or discomfort remove it immediately. But this will not kill all the ich only some and your main tank is probable infected also. You really need to invest in a qt tank and soon like yesterday or you will have the same problem again and again. But also at this point if the ich is in the main tank already a fresh water dip is really useless because once you put the fish back it will become infected again

 

[Schism]

You need a container with ro water get the temp. and ph as close to the main tank water as possible you can use 3 or 4 drops of methylene blue in the bath water then stir to mix put the fish in for 3 to 4 minutes, if the fish show any sign of stress or discomfort remove it immediately. But this will not kill all the ich only some and your main tank is probable infected also. You really need to invest in a qt tank and soon like yesterday or you will have the same problem again and again. But also at this point if the ich is in the main tank already a fresh water dip is really useless because once you put the fish back it will become infected again

Exactly.

Freshwater dips are a preventative measure when first buying a fish. Doing it now after the fact your tank is infected will not serve much of a purpose.

A simple 10g tank, a heater, a small powerfilter and a sponge from your main tank loaded with bacteria is all you need for a QT tank. So we are talking like 50 bucks total. Considering both your clowns probably cost atleast that much I would wager it would be cheaper to save your fish by QT then to have to replace them. Just saying, whatever your reasons are for not being able to QT. Technically all you need is a 10g tank and a heater. Any ammonia build up can be removed through water changes technically, so that brings a 10g QT to about 30 bucks maybe.

If your confused on how marine ich behaves, here is a couple articles.

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

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