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Help with ich


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Hello all! My clownfish has been having a few white spots recently. The strange thing is that they have been coming and going and as of now, my other clownfish doesn't have any white spots. I've treated with copper 2 days ago, but I placed the clownfish back into the tank since it looked quite lethargic in the hospital tank. The white spots almost completely dropped off while in the hospital tank. Currently the fish is still healthy and eating well with no other signs like rubbing against rocks. I suspect this had something to do with a recent mouth injury is sustained.

 

May I get some advice on what to do? Any help is appreciated!

 

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First thing to be aware of is ich will stay in the main tank as long as you have fish in it. treating them separately in a hospital/qt tank will eliminate the localized ich on the fish in the stage of their life cycle where they attach to a fish host and then detach and are killed by hyposalinity/copper treatment, but the main tank will still have ich unless you go fishless for the duration of the pathogenic parasite’s life cycle. that is why people keep saying “6-8 weeks”- they’re referring to the parasite’s life cycle.

 

that said, i wouldn’t go out of my way to completely eradicate ich from my system now by going fishless etc. if it means i’m just gonna reintroduce it by adding fish without quarantining/treating them before adding in the future.

 

one thing you could do to minimize the spread of ich(assuming you don’t qt) is dip your fish before adding them to the main display in a medicated bath or freshwater. i used to only freshwater dip for 5mins, but now I use seachem paraguard and give new fish a 2-hour bath in it according to the dose instructions after acclimating them to the water from the tank i want to place them in. IME this is less stressful on the fish while giving them a buffer before going in, effectively killing 2 birds with one stone as far as parasite management goes.

 

hope this helps

 

 

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First thing to be aware of is ich will stay in the main tank as long as you have fish in it. treating them separately in a hospital/qt tank will eliminate the localized ich on the fish in the stage of their life cycle where they attach to a fish host and then detach and are killed by hyposalinity/copper treatment, but the main tank will still have ich unless you go fishless for the duration of the pathogenic parasite’s life cycle. that is why people keep saying “6-8 weeks”- they’re referring to the parasite’s life cycle.
 
that said, i wouldn’t go out of my way to completely eradicate ich from my system now by going fishless etc. if it means i’m just gonna reintroduce it by adding fish without quarantining/treating them before adding in the future.
 
one thing you could do to minimize the spread of ich(assuming you don’t qt) is dip your fish before adding them to the main display in a medicated bath or freshwater. i used to only freshwater dip for 5mins, but now I use seachem paraguard and give new fish a 2-hour bath in it according to the dose instructions after acclimating them to the water from the tank i want to place them in. IME this is less stressful on the fish while giving them a buffer before going in, effectively killing 2 birds with one stone as far as parasite management goes.
 
hope this helps
 
 
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Thank you so much for the explanation actually I dont intend to add anymore fish into the tank. This pair of clownfishes have been with me for about a month and it's only recently that white spots have been showing on 1 fish, probably due to the stress from his mouth injury. Should I just continue to feed him and leave him in the tank now? I've also started dosing aquaforest fish v for more vitamins

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Thank you so much for the explanation actually I dont intend to add anymore fish into the tank. This pair of clownfishes have been with me for about a month and it's only recently that white spots have been showing on 1 fish, probably due to the stress from his mouth injury. Should I just continue to feed him and leave him in the tank now? I've also started dosing aquaforest fish v for more vitamins

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if they look like they’re getting better, continue as per normal. fishes are generally resilient if they’re feeding well and can build an immunity to ich over time as long as the stress levels are kept low.

cheers!


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I think I'll continue to feed as per normal then and keep up with weekly water changes . However, for short term treatment, could I still use paraguard and let the fish swim in it for a few hours?

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yeah you could do that if you notice visible stress from the parasite. otherwise i would just leave them be and feed well to keep their immunity high. just removing them from where they’re in and transferring back and forth causes some amount of stress which might lower their immunity


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I think I'll continue to feed as per normal then and keep up with weekly water changes . However, for short term treatment, could I still use paraguard and let the fish swim in it for a few hours?

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yeah you could do that if you notice visible stress from the parasite. otherwise i would just leave them be and feed well to keep their immunity high. just removing them from where they’re in and transferring back and forth causes some amount of stress which might lower their immunity


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Tbh I wouldn't worry too much about ich. The stress you're putting the fishes through by means of copper and meds are more likely to kill them than ich. Just practice ich management and feed them normally to keep them healthy. My ich magnet blue Tang had them when I first introduced it, now I barely see any. I may see some white spots once in a while in some fishes but they always go away without major outbreak. UV helps eliminating free swimming ich if u can control the flow through it by reducing fishes' effort in fighting them

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Thanks soggycookies and junyan for the advice I'll leave him in the tank and continue to feed with some vitamins too also a noob question but how many times should I be feeding a day? I'm currently feeding small amounts twice a day.

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depends on the fish. if they have a high metabolism like anthias or chromis, more frequent but smaller feedings are the way to go. if bigger fish that don’t move around as much generally you can feed them heavier but less often. for clownfish i’d say twice a day medium feeding is fine


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