Quick Ich Question

One question.

My firefish apperead to have a bad case of ich the other night (covered in white spots).... i tried to catch him and failed horribly. One day later i looked at him and all his white spots were gone. he was in the tank with his other mates for about 3 week and nothing new was added. Is it possible for ich to go away that fast? if it wasn't ich (the white spots on him) then what was it?

thanks
Ryan

 

Very well could be ich. My fish did the same thing but they reappear within a day or so. (part of the ich cycle) I soaked food in garlic and within a week or so no more spots. I have also tried the freshwater dips and quarintine the first time we had this problem and IMO it just stressed the fish out even more and they died. Second time my clown was still eating good so I went with the garlic method and left him in my Dt tank and all is good. Havn't had any reaccurance of spots.

 

There are two possible reasons for this. One is that your fish was able to fight off the ich. The other is that the ich moved to the part in its life cycle where it goes back into the water column. This is good and bad, the good is that your fish is now healthy, the bad is that ich has populated your tank. I would try adding some garlic product to the tank to keep the fish healthy and stress free. Most tanks are "infected" with ich to some extent but as long as the fish are happy they are able to ward of the infection.

 

I had a problem with ich, also. I eventually lost my Blue Tang. My 3 Clown fish started to show signs afterwards. I used two products, including using garlic in the food. The only thing that seemed to work is Quikcure. This stuff did kill my snails, but my seastar survived. In addition to using this stuff, the mold was stained blue, but to me it looks cool. Some of my live rock also got stained, but again I like the look. 4 weeks after the treatment, no signs of ich. Hope this helps, in case you run into it again.

 

Do you use stress coat? That helps the fish with their slimecoat as well tp keep the parasites from reattaching.

 

I'm in the same boat too... My firefish is acting funny (brushing up against the substrate) however is still eating well...

Just keep checking the params of the water and if it gets more severe, QT them for a bit and monitor it there...

 

hey there thanks for your replies.

i think it may actually be my cbs. i read they clean fish.....so after it went away it came back then went away again. twice it happened. he is eating and seems healthy. do fish with ich not eat?

 

If the fish immune system is to weak to fight off the ick then yes they will stop eating and that is a bad sign. As long as it is happily eating and it is not spreading to other fish then there is a good chance it will fight it off. Have you fed with the garlic at all?

 

I used to have a lot of ich, I was reluctant to use chemicals but in the end got so bad that I tried soaking food in garlic with no luck, then tried freshwater dips which didn't work and in the end QT the infected fish and tried copper treatment which made things worse and 2 fish ended up dieing. The only way I got rid of it in the end was to feed the fish as normal, and made sure parameters in tank were as stable and stress free as possible. I bought a cleaner shrimp and neon goby which cleaned all the fish not seen ich since. I still see the goby and shrimp cleaning the fish but no parasites/ich. Just thought I would share my experience although chemical route might work better for others.

Neon goby cleaning female watchman goby:

 

nope... no garlic yet. I may start. I also tried to catch the infected fish.... but i think i know where dart fish get their name from .

That picture is cool. I debated on a cleaner wrasse but can't find one anywhere at this moment.