Rapid Ich outbreak

So I all of a sudden have ich on three of my fish, when I say all of a sudden, I mean all of a sudden. None this morning, I look at my fish constantly, then boom this evening you would think someone used a white pen and put dots all over them.

I have a blue hippo, flame angel and copperband butterfly that have it, my 2 maroon clowns are fine.

I have no idea what would cause this all of a sudden, the fish have been eating fine, swimming and very active, so signs of stress.

All of my parameters have been great, 90 gallon FOWLR tank.

QT may not be an option here considering I have three fish with it and I know the flame angel is very sensitive to elevated copper levels so meds may not be the answer.

I really need to try to do this in the DT if at all possible.

Any suggestions as to what I should do here.

 

If they are still eating fine, I would soak their food in Metronidazole. Seachem. Metronidazole Hopefully, you are already supplementing your fish' diet with HUFA/vitamins. If not, soak their food in that too. (I.e. Vitachem, Selcon, GVH, etc).

 

I agree. Don't remove the fish. This is a fowlr so I would treat it In The tank. I would begin soaking they're food in a high quality vitamin and garlic mix before feeding. Keep your params in check and keep them eating an they should pull through.

Good luck.

 

Thanks I will start them ASAP on the garlic, I have to order it because the LFS never seem to have any.

I fed them this morning and they all ate great expect for the copperband but that is nothing unusal for it.

Just a little fyi, the hippo's dots are now dark colored instead of white but the other fish are still white.

The only thing that has changed was the intro of the flame angel (was in QT for a month before I got it) this weekend and my normal water change that I did earlier in the afternoon.

No real stressors in the tank other than the fish this weekend the water change.

What I am wondering is why it cam on so strong and on multiple fish at once, it was like someone dropped an ich bomb in the tank

 

Hmm. Yeah the angel must have stressed the other inhabitants. There is another form of ick, black spot I think.

 

This usually hits clowns the hardest, and it's called clownfish disease as a result, but it most certainly is not limited to clowns.

Think of ich like the flu. If you are getting good sleep, are not royally stressed out at work and/or home, and you're taking your vitamins, exercising and eat a good diet, when someone with the flu, sneezes, coughs, shakes your hand, or kisses you......nothing is going to happen. Your body is going to fight it off. This is the reason I don't worry about ich. I worry more about their nutrition and minimizing stress. (Stressors include poor water quality, wrong temperature, adding aggressive fish, allowing kids to bang on the glass, etc.)

 

So an update on the dreaded ich situation.

I woke up this afternoon to check on the fish and noticed that the spots on the hippo have become dark no longer white, very weird. The Flame and Copperband have way less on them, now only on the fins and maybe one or two that I can see on the bodies, still none on my maroon clowns.

Very odd chain of events here.
They are still eating and swimming great and still very active.

Thanks for all of the adivce, I still plan on using it to make my tank stronger

 

I've also become a believer in UV Sterilizers if you have one laying around. Selcon is great when it comes to disease as well.

 

Ich? Where did it dome from? Any new livestock in the last 2+ weeks? Then I seriously doubt it's actually Ich.

That Garlic going to treat the Ich? No. It may help if they're not eating though, which they are!

Keep us posted., And, where did it come from?

 

My latest addition was my flame angel and it was in QT for a month before I got it. As of last when I went to work and by the time my girlfriend gave them the last feeding for the night all was well. Everyone was still very active and eating well.

My biggest question is why my 2 maroon clown got away scott free, not even one dot, thank god