New Fish Have Ich, or Do They?

[grandprixsj]

I set up a new 90 gallon tank three months ago and recently transferred all my fish with no problems. I left my old 42 gallon tank set up as a halfway house for new fish.


Tuesday morning I got a Heniochus diphredeus that I special ordered, a Randall's Goby, a Blackray Shrimp Goby and a Neon Cleaner Goby, all from Blue Zoo. I did a two hour drip and everybody looked fine. The next morning the Heniochus and the neon goby had white spots on fins and body that looked like ich to me, but all spots were gone by the afternoon, which seems kinda fast. Could it be something else that looks like ich?


I plan on treating with ParaGuard (copper), but the old tank still has live rock and sand in it. Since all the new fish are small, I am going out today to buy a 10 gallon tank to set up a proper quarantine. I will fill with freshly mixed water using RO water, and drip-transfer the fish after 24 hours. Any thoughts on this plan?

 

[theMeat]

Since you already saw signs of possible sickness, I would leave them in half way tank that is already cycled, and drop the salt down to 1.010. Leave them there for 4 weeks, then if all good slowly raise salt and leave them another 3-4 weeks. Maybe switch them into newly set up quarantine tank after hypo salinity, if it's cycled and ready.
The answer to your question is yes. All new arrivals have the potential to have or be carrying ich. If a new arrival shows no signs of illness, eat well and are fine in quarantine for 4 weeks, I take my chances and put them in display

 

[grandprixsj]

Thanks for the info and the quick reply. I was considering hyposalinity, but my refractometer only goes down to 1.015 (easier to read). Copper makes me nervous, so I'll look into buying another (cheap) refractometer on Amazon that goes down to 1.000. Question, the salinity in the halfway house tank is 1.022, should I dilute it with RO water all at once, or break it up into stages, say .004 every couple of days?

 

[theMeat]

Get on of these, or at least test your new float type against one at your lfs

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...BpBkIO6Px_nY2UR8j1lz8ORn7rdhwlI6XkaAu9l8P8HAQ

Dropping the salt quick will cause more stress, but also more damage to the pests. If the fish is generally healthy drop it fast. To raise it you must go slow. Couple of points a day.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

I use a common red sea plastic-came-with-the-salt-free hydrometer, for hyposalinity, it may be off by a little, but my fish don't know. As for ich, you can see it form on the skin and drop off within a few hours. It's pretty quick, which is why people can miss it the first time they hatch out of the fish.

 

[albano]

Tuesday morning I got a Heniochus diphredeus that I special ordered, a Randall's Goby, a Blackray Shrimp Goby and a Neon Cleaner Goby, all from Blue Zoo. I did a two hour drip and everybody looked fine.

IMO, a two hour drip is the worst thing you can do, especially to fish that were shipped overnight. Floating the bags in the QT to temperature acclimate, then a quick 10-15 drip to a matching salinity is all that is necessary.