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Tell me this is not ich!

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I noticed this white patches on my big clown today... She has been very healthy and the most dominant fish in my tank. I don't think any fish is bullying her... and lots of image searches on ich shows white dots/spots (not such bigger patches). The patches are on both sides...

I don't have a quarantine, so pls advise any alternate ways to treat. Thanks (fingers crossed)

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Opinion : Brooklynella
I would have expected more salt like grains if it was Ich.
But the other big experts may know better.
 
No I don't have a QT. People on Facebook said it could be any parasite and suggested a 2-3min freshwater dip?!?!
 
I vote not ich, brook sounds reasonable too, just hope it's not.. I'd almost rather have ich.

You say you don't have a QT... at this point you want a hospital tank. And if it's either one of those, I'm not sure there's any "alternative" other than nuking your tank and turning it into a hospital tank.

My advise, get another tank. Don't say you don't have one, get one. 10 gallons is more than enough and easily purchased at any store, there could even be a reefer near you that has something you can buy off them for cheaper. If you're unwilling to go this direction, then just sit and wait and feed well and hope for the best. Freshwater dips wont do anything long lasting, and the stress might do more harm than good. If you get another tank get yourself some chloroquine sulfate (phosphate?) pronto, and use that.
 
I'd say ich, but brook is possible. Chloroquine Phosphate treats both, so it's probably your best bet for treatment. I have a few doses of CP and a hospital tank. You need to treat all your fish and leave your reef fallow for 6 weeks min. Bummer. Both suck, but brook is worse.
 
It doesn't look like Ich to me. Ich shows up as small white spots, looks like salt.

I'm not familiar with brookynellisis but to me it looks like flukes.

BAR has tanks you can use if you want.
 
Oh oh, now I'm super stressed :( This was the healthiest most active fish and I wonder how it could get it! No new fish in the last 3 weeks...

So none of u suggest a freshwater dip? Is it ok to observe it a few days (to see if it disappears) and then decide on treatment?

Phillip, I guess u r my man ;) if no improvement in next day I'll probably drive up and get the tank, and some pods...
 
Doesn't look like any ich I've seen. Brooklynella looks more like a white coating, as does velvet (Oodinium). My best guess would be lymphocystis.

If it is lympho, it is not treatable. Should go away on it's own.

How is the fish acting? Flashing (rubbing on bottom/objects), lethargic, eating normally?

I don't believe there are any treatments that can be done in the reef tank. All medications are NOT reef safe.

Good luck!
 
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Well, the lifecycle of marine ich is anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks, so I'd blame your last fish if it's been in that timeframe. I'm assuming that you don't quarantine. :-(

If it's brooklynella then you really need to be treating now, otherwise it's probably too late. If it's ich (more likely IMO), then you need to suck it up and start treatment ASAP. It's most likely only going to get worse and waiting doesn't improve their chances.

IMO, a freshwater dip is too stressful to be worthwhile. You'll have to net the fish from your reef, dip them, and then put them back in the reef. Eventually they have to come back out to go into the hospital tank since a freshwater dip isn't a cure. Assuming that you can get a hospital tank tomorrow, everyone can be safely in there and being treated in 24 hours or so. I'd just wait unless the fish look like they are having problems breathing.

Do you have any new torch corals, duncans, anemones, etc that the clownfish could be rubbing against?
 
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They are happy as ever, just hogged a lot of mysis and pellets. Didn't notice any strange behavior.

My biggest concern is that it's going to be near impossible to get the fish out. Midas blenny is never going to leave his deep hole in a huge rock!" Yellow wrasse and diamond goby are going to go missing under sand in a split second :(
 
We preach this all the time... gotta quarantine or it'll bite you in the ass. If you don't, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. You really can't rush things in the hobby... you'll pay for it. Trust me, I have and I'm sure many others have too.
 
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Only ReefRaft NorCal. I know they QT every fish for 3 weeks and run light copper on all their fish only tanks.

And I agree QT is the way to go. Just that I couldn't deal with a second tank in my small apartment (space, effort, costs, etc)
 
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Nav said:
And I agree QT is the way to go. Just that I couldn't deal with a second tank in my small apartment (space, effort, costs, etc)
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I get that, I honestly do, but if you can't do that then you need to come to the cold realization that your tank could possibly get a disease that you can't treat (due to you having corals and what not) and that you'll have to just live with it. There is no magic bullet that allows you to treat fish inside a reef tank.

If it were me, and I absolutely couldn't do QT, or think I couldn't, I would stop getting fish. What I have is what I have and live with that choice.

Also do note due to contrary belief you CAN get fish diseases/pests via corals.
 
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