Help me diagnose my fish

Discussion in 'Diseases' started by pjbrandon, May 4, 2010.

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  1. pjbrandon

    pjbrandon Plankton

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2009
    Messages:
    6
    Here's my story: I am a longtime freshwater aquarist making my first foray into the marine world. I had two monos and an archer fish (plus more freshwater fish) in a 115 gallon aquarium and I decided to convert the aquarium to salt (so got rid of the other freshwater fish). All three survived the transition and I added live rock and live sand to the aquarium. The fish have been stressed as the aquarium cycles (no surprise). My ammonia is on its way down, and nitrite is up currently (its been about 9 days since adding the LR and LS).

    I was getting excited the cycling was progressing well, then a couple days ago I noticed some white spots speckling on of my monos. Then the next day it is worse and the other one has some spots. Now my archer even has some spots. When I get a view of the first mono's side when he is swimming straight toward me it looks rough, but I don't see any frank spots. The spots are mostly on the face/head and fins. All three have spots on the tail fin, usually one or two each and it looks like a grain of salt stuck to the fin with a slight discoloration around it.

    Other than the spots, the fish are acting totally normally. No flashing or rubbing, and in fact the are eating better than they have since the ammonia went up. The are pretty much voraciously eating the last couple of days, while previously they were just picking a bit of food each day.

    So what is it? I would guess Marine Ich, but can you get it with a brand new aquarium. I have had these fish in a freshwater tank for about 7-8 months prior to this with no symptoms. There was a freshwater ich outbreak about 6 months ago, but nothing since. Is it possible the illness (whether it be ich or not) came from the LFS in the live rock/sand?

    TIA
     
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  3. irr0001

    irr0001 Purple Tang

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,822
    Location:
    Auburn, Alabama
    Hmm..it does sound like marine ich. I'm trying to figure out how freshwater fish acclimated to a brand new saltwater setup got it though. Where did you get your live rock from? If you took it directly from another tank then there is a possibility that the tank you got it from had ich and a few parasites took a ride over to the new tank. Hopefully after your parameters stabilize the fish will fight it off.