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Rid-Ich?

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humu

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Not having a QT and being impatient, I threw new fish into my reef. Added a Occ. Clown about 4-5 weeks ago. After a couple of weeks, I noticed a small whitish rash on the side...
IMG_2762_zpshewyjiau.jpg


Yesterday, I noticed the blue tang scratching his gill area (but no rash). Otherwise all other fish (another clown, blue flasher wrasse, wardy wrasse, firefish) look and act normal. All fish, including potentially infected feed great and don't seem to labor while breathing....

So, should I look into freshwater dip, Formallin (where to get), or Rid Ich?

Thanks...
 
IMPORTANT: First, decide if it is ich or Brooklynellosis
(Looks like Brook to me, but not sure)

Opinions on best treatments vary a LOT.
Mine are below, others will likely disagree.

For Ich:
I would suggest tank transfer method. That is the only thing that has ever worked for me.
Plus, it can be done with buckets, if you do not have a QT.
Cupramine and Chloroquinine may work as medications, but I have not had the best luck.
Rid-Ich is useless for everything.
Formallin is unlikely to work well.

For brook:
Most LFS should have Formallin or malachite green.
If not, I probably have some, but old. (Union City)
Not really sure on best cure for Brook.
 
Does not look like ich. Ich presents as white dots, not a rash. Not sure about brook since I've not had it and have never seen a fish with it.

Iirc, brook kills fast so might want to medicate asap.

+1 on TTM. Even if you don't have a QT, doing the tank transfer method is 1 of the prefered methods atm for disease prevention. But having said that, I had an ich outbreak even though I did TTM. I probably screwed up somewhere and contaminated the new clean water.
 
Last year one of my clowns had a slight brook attack, see post here

I did a freshwater dip and it cleared in a few weeks, not sure if it was the dip or he just fought it, he's been so happy/dominating ever since ;)
 
Thanks for the info... If it is anything I would guess it to be Brook. In which case Formallin would be most effective. Since Rid ich has Formallin, I think I might go with that...and try dipping it... but I don't have a QT, so hopefully the Rid Ich dip will be enough... *fingers crossed*

My biggest worry though is the tang and wrasses...
 
A QT does not have to be fancy.
A couple of buckets. A big rubbermaid brute trash can. Almost anything.

The concern:
Catching and dipping causes the fish a LOT of stress, plus it rubs already irritated skin and mucus,
and a quick dip is unlikely to be a serious cure.
You could easily do more harm than good.

Doing nothing may be the most logical option for you.
Feed well, lower the lights, and do lots of water changes.
Unfortunately, "doing nothing" is difficult.
 
Nav, Thanks for the link, I think I have the same thing your fish had. Clown is looking better each day... unfortunately Tang is scratching more and Wardy is show a slight rash. Hopefully it will pass...

Rygh, I am leaning toward "doing nothing".
 
Update.

Clown is mostly recovered. Tang is also mostly recovered and no longer scratching, BUT...came home yesterday to find the Wardy Wrasse with a big white pus above his right eye and discoloration on two patches on his body and the blue flasher Wrasse laying listless on a rock... Wardy ate when I fed the tank, but blue flasher didn't.... later at night the flasher was swimming erratically and also vertically floating around the current at times...so I took him out and stuck him in the freezer. Thinking that the Wardy will not make it either....

Wardy_zpszuslsgze.png
 
Hope some fish are still ok. For brook do a 1 hr formalin dip(1 ml 37% per gal of new water) then place in new tank/bucket with new water(with 0.1 ml 37% formalin per gal). Salt buckets or brute trash cans work great for this. Repeat 3 or more times over a few days(1 day break between dips) and your fish will be fine. Leave the display fallow for 2 months. Most important item-heavily aerate the dip water.

Tips-Do dips outside. Practice bio security protocols - anything wet can spread and carry parasites. Rinse clean and dry everything otherwise assume everything touched is infected. Cover buckets that have jumping fish. Do dips with higher surface area to volume ratio as possible. Don't drip acclimate fish to new water - get accurate digital IR temp gun to match buckets, and use constant(salinity etc) source of new water. I.e. Mix up a bunch first and use part for each dip/new bucket. If you have rabbitfish(high stress, insufficient oxygen), only dip them for 20 min. They may need more treatments overall.

Formalin kills fish that have open wounds, or are not getting enough oxygen.



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Also, brook mainly lives in gills. Your clown and tang may appear asymptomatic but they are still infected and will flare up and potentially die under any stress. They will also infect any new fish added to the tank. Brook is a much more potent killer than ich, so if you do have brook, I don't recommend trying the "live with it" approach.


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Thanks for the informative posts.

So I should dip for 4 days. Then do I place fish back in display. Or do need to keep in a separate system for 2 months?
 
The display will have brook so you have to keep it empty of all fish. I would do something like this:
Day 1 dip
Day 2 wait
Day 3 dip
Day 4 wait
Day 5 dip
Day 6 wait
Day 7-60(many people recommend more so if you want to be sure, go longer) hold in clean qt

The wait is in water with 0.1ml per gal 37% formalin. Qt doesn't need formalin, but you need to observe carefully and if any symptoms reoccur be ready to redo the dips.

Make sure you know if you have "formalin 3" or 37%. 37% is 10x as strong and is difficult to find locally. Amazon is your friend.


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Btw, just to confirm - this is a reef running at 35ppt/1.026 for the salinity, correct? I ask because if you were running a fowlr in hypo conditions, uronema marinum can cause the symptoms - but unlikely in full strength salt with a healthy reef.

You could try to live with it but you would likely get into the "rent a fish mode" as they periodically die. Cheaper to just zap it now and get a permanent QT running - your lfs may have it in their system to so new fish/rock/inverts/corals need QT. Everything wet is infected.
 
Yep running a reef at 1.025 sg.

Wouldn't most LFS have brook in there systems. Or would they be running it with medication to prevent its spread?
 
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