Marine Itch whitespot outbreak Help, Fish dying! :(

Hi,

Recently I have noticed on a royal gamma fish I have, it had white spots/eggs and upon closer investigation its an outbreak of whitespot/marine itch. I acted quickly and took the advice from local professionals. I treated the tank with a solution of drops which was BOTH friendly for fish and invertebrates.

After two days of treatment the Gamma seemed better hardly any spots and no other fish effected. I followed the dosage correctly and followed advice of limiting/turning off the lights to prevent reproducing of the parasites. Normal feeding has applied as per normal routine.

I am unsure of the treatment name but on the packaging it is advertised as not copper based and safe for fish and Inverts.

I come to the tank today and I find my blenny which was not effected now passed away and being eaten by by shrimps, normal for them to feast I know, but the death is unexplained. Furthermore I was unable to locate the gramma, after an hour of looking I located it in its favourite hiding place not moving and his eyes fixed and white.

Please can someone tell me what I need to do! I have followed all professional advice and treatment to the book, and no my livestock is being affected. I am really upset about this revelation and I am unsure what the best thing to do now is. :-/

I have a clownfish, a shrimp and crabs all seem active and well, happier than ever.

All water has been tested upon discovering such outbreak and it was confirmed as perfect all levels of PH Ammonia etc are what they should be for the livestock. Maintenance and feeding has been kept up to date and regular

Any help will be greatly recieved during this awful time

 

Benjamin,

After reading your post it seems you have been given incorrect information from the fish store regarding how to treat and recognize Marine Ich.

To completely treat or understand Marine Ich you have to understand it's life cycle, otherwise you're chasing your tail.

Please see links below.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/fish-diseases/life-cycle-marine-ich-96343.html

Marine Ich - Myths and Facts

An image of any currently symptomatic fish will help to solidify an ID.
There are also many good thread on ich in the Fish Disease section of 3reef.

 

Thank you ever so much for your prompt reply!

I have read through the documentation you have supplied, once again I thank you.

I am however admittedly a little confused and may not of understood it correctly, if you could spare the time to clarify this would be great!

What do I need to do now exactly to irradicate it, do I need to stop with the treatment I am using it, or now that its happened do I stop and perform the water changes?

Now that the deaths have happened I am not sure in lameness terms exactly what it is that I need to do now to stop it getting worse

 

I'm sorry for your loss, +1 for Coraillines links.

 

Ich can pretty much only be cured through copper treatment or (my preferred) hypo-salinity. Anything else is a crap-shoot.

 

What about 8 weeks no fish?? I know he has a clown left maybe a QT for the little guy with copper

 

Yep, 8 weeks with a fallow display tank will work. However, you still need to treat the fish if it's in a quarantine tank. I still recommend hypo-salinity over copper, as copper can cause permanent damage to the fish's immune system. And hypo is basically free.

 

Marine Ich is a opportunistic parasite. It is present in the majority of tanks. Fish become symptomatic when they experience stress be it decline in water quality, aggression, transport, overcrowding, acclimation.

IMO your best course of action would be to enhance the diet of your fish with foods high in HUFA, addition of Selcon and garlic. Avoid all stress factors listed above as able.

Unless you are extremely strict with quarantine for and prophylactic treat of every fish you buy in the future you will not eradicate it. That includes holding all inverts and frags in QT. Any drop of water can introduce the parasite.

Most people find such strict methods hard to do consistently.

Many hobbyist report that the use of a UV filter has assisted them in keeping the parasite population numbers lower.

Fish do build up a certain degree of resistance to the parasite after the initial outbreak, however any stress can start the cycle all over.

 

Kick ICH is a reef safe treatment that has really good reviews.