ich?

[doryarlin955]

I bought a yellow clown goby from MO yesterday and it looked healthy except for a couple small tattered places on it's fins. I put it in QT (5.5 gal tank, heater, sponge filter, couple pieces of lr rubble) and today it's got a few white bupms on it's body and fins, could this be ich? I've never dealt with marine ich before and this is only the 2nd marine fish I've had except for the seahorses, so I'm still new to the procedures. I'm working on getting pics.

[josh.vince]

sounds like ich... multiple treatments out there, hyposalinty, copper, medication.

all are options for you since you have a QT tank.

I personally use this with success:

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...nidazole5grams

[bjromaine]

If you have only had the fish a day or two, I would call MO and get their input before treating.

[johno4]

I have found in the past that hyposalinity works the best with the least chance of harming the fish.

[tmz]

It could be "ich"( crytocaryon irritans) or it could be flukes which seem to be showing up a lot lately.Or it could be both or niether. Confused yet. It's almost always difficult to figure out what's wrong with a fish and then you need to choose the right treatment and worry about the other fish catching whatever it is.

I don't think I've seen or heard of a seahorse catching" ich" but my experience with them is very limited. I do believe they are susceptable to flukes, though.

Take a look at this thread . The symptom descriptions and pictures may help you.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5#post11276835

If it were my fish.

And if I concluded it was flukes. Iwould treat it with prazi pro. I've used this product and it works. If you can't get prazipro quickly you can do a fresh water dip for 3-5minutes or better a bath in formalin at the reccomended dose( depends on which formalin product you use,. some are 3% others 37%) for 50 to 60 minutes. The formalin bath should also kill any fluke eggs on the fish. The freshwater dip will not. The prazipro is milder and less stressful but if your carefull with the formalin or fresh water option ,the fish will tolerate it well.

If it is cryptocaryon irritans "ich" you can try hyposalinity. Drop the salinity in the quarantine tank to 1.09sg ( you have to be very accurate with this and nedd a refractometer to do it)for several weeks and then raise it back up slowly over the course of a week. Many have success with this method. I tried , the ich went away but when I raise the salinity back up some eggs musta have hatched and it came back but appeared weak (hagin on the fish but not really penetrating. At this point I treated with copper sulfate, This is the other option and it will kill the parasite with a two week course of treatment.

The live rock you have placed in quarantine should not be reintoduced to your main tank. For more denitrification if you need more you can place a small tray of crushed coral or sand from lyour tank on the bottom of the qt tank. Check the ammonia carefully and frequently. There is a device that sells for a few dollars called an ammonia alert badge wihich is usefulll.You do not ahve to worry about nitrite or nitrate in a fish only quarantine tank. Nitrite is exponentially less toxic to marine fish than it is to freshwater fish due to the abundance of chlorides in salt water which neutralize ist's toxicicty greatly.
Godd Luck

[tmz]

Correction: Hyposalinity is at 1.009 sg not 1.09.

[doryarlin955]

Thanks for the help, I'm sure it's not flukes, those I'm familiar with. I'll try the hyposalinity treatment, but I don't have a refractometer (and wasn't planning on buying one) so I'll have to try and get one asap. I'll call MO too just to see what they say.

How should I go about lowering the salinity? Over the course of a day or a week?

[tmz]

Lowering salinity is less stressful to a fish than increasing it. If it's ich you can't take too long. I would do it over the course of 24 hours.

[NirvanaFan]

When I did my hypo, I lowered it over the course of 3 days. I took 6 days to raise it back to normal when hypo was done. Check out this article on hypo. It is what I followed when doing it.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...osalinity.html

[Gary Majchrzak]

I saw that Goby. It looked healthy when I saw it. Is it the only fish in the 5 gallon?

[doryarlin955]

yeah it's the only fish in the QT, I've always wanted one of them and I had never seen any at MO that looked healthy before so I snagged it. At one point I had thought I saw two gobies in the tank, maybe she bagged the other one? I really don't want to lose it because I lost $16 with the clownfish that I brought there since it died before they sold it.

Would it be helpful if I used my hydrometer to lower the sg to around 1.019 or 1.020? Something lower but not low enough that a misread will kill the fish? The earliest I could go get a refractometer is tomorrow afternoon. (where are they the cheapest? )

[Gary Majchrzak]

Personally, I wouldn't do anything to your Goby. I base this on my personal experiences with Clown Gobies that have cryptocaryon (ick). Keep conditions in it's aquarium similar to a reef aquarium (ie: optimal). Give it a branchy SPS skeleton to hide in. Feed HUFA enriched mysid or brine shrimp.

A refractometer is a good piece of equipment to have and it's a worthwhile investment if you have a saltwater aquarium.
TRS usually has refractos for around $40- $50. I'm sure CF (and perhaps MO) sell them as well.

[josh.vince]

what is HUFA?

[otiso777]

Highly unsaturated fatty acids

[doryarlin955]

So you think it'll fight it off on it's own? I'll try it your way for now. I'm constantly hatching bbs anyways and I have some HUFA enrichments. I've been feeding him sweetwater zooplankton although I've haven't witnessed him eating yet, he has been more active then when I brought him home.

[Gary Majchrzak]

I think it's important to have some water motion in your 5 gallon. Don't go crazy with water motion but keep it nice and warm with water circulating. A small dead Acro skeleton would make a perfect "home" for your Goby.

[johno4]

Ive done hypo successfully many times using just a regular hydrometer. I personally would drop the salinity down using that and would not simply let it clear on its own. From experience, it never clears up on its own, it simply disapears for a while and will come back later. Why risk it? Dropping the salinity is such an easy cure, you already have the fish in qt.

[doryarlin955]

I started the hyposalinity and he seems not to be getting worse but not getting any better.

Is it true that they don't do very well without a live coral host? I have a brown digitata colony that I was going to sell, should I keep it?

[johno4]

Originally posted by doryarlin955
I started the hyposalinity and he seems not to be getting worse but not getting any better.

Is it true that they don't do very well without a live coral host? I have a brown digitata colony that I was going to sell, should I keep it?

Im not sure about needing a coral host. From my understanding, the parisites will not be killed while on the fish. Once they fall off the fish then they will be killed. Be patient, make sure he is eating and the water stays stable and he will be fine. Good luck

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by doryarlin955
Is it true that they don't do very well without a live coral host? I have a brown digitata colony that I was going to sell, should I keep it?

it's not true and I wouldn't sacrifice a live coral to this fish. JMO

[doryarlin955]

Thanks for clearing that up. I haven't witnessed him feeding yet, what else should I try to entice him to eat? I've tried live brine shrimp, live enriched baby brine shrimp, sweetwater zooplankton, and cyclopeeze. I have some vibragrow but that's it except for frozen baby brine.

[doryarlin955]

Pics. He's not doing well, breathing heavily and rapildy and leaning against the glass. I've only lowered the salinity from about 1.025 to about 1.022 so far.

[doryarlin955]

[tmz]

Are you sure it's ich? If it is the move to hypo may be too slow or copper soon might still help. I would consider a fesh water dip for three to five minutes at this stage or better a 50 minute formalin dip,followed by copper treatment.The freshwater dip will kill any parasites on the fish not those in the fish nor any aeggs on the fish. The formalin dip will kill parasites and eggs but not those inside the fish.
Good Luck

[johno4]

I would drop your salinity much faster. I have dropped the salinity to 1.009 over the course of 1 day, no not ideal but it worked and the fish survived. Your drop to 1.022 will do nothing to help your fish, you need it down to 1.009 to start to work.