PLEASE HELP! Little white dots on my coral beauty...what is

[tim000]

I've had my coral beauty for about 2 weeks now in my reef tank and it seems to be doing great, but 2 days ago it all of a sudden had very little white dots on it (i dont think it is ick, but i could be wrong) she is still eatting and swimming around fine. can anybody help me out here I have never had a sick fish before,and im new to keeping saltwater fish.
Please Help!!!
thank you!
tim

 

[kipreefer]

It could possible be velvet.

 

[tim000]

yea thats what john said at moby dick that i could be velvet. I dont know what to do theres no way i can get him out to quarintine him, im thinking about giving the garlic thing a shot but right now im clueless on where to start plus my $$$ is pretty low, I just had to pay a bill for next semester

 

[kipreefer]

I went to mejers and got liquid garlic. At first i didnt think it would be strong enough but when i opened it boy did it stink up the place. then just soak your frozen food in it for about ten minutes then feed them. I found it inthe spice isle and it was like 3 bucks.

 

[tim000]

hey kip did it work? how long did u dose it for?
thanks!

 

[kipreefer]

I didnt use it for any visible treatment. It is just some of the tangs we got in at work were scratching there sides and i thought hey it cant hurt. I would do a search on the board for more in depth details.

 

[tim000]

is that kick ick work on other perasites or just ick? and is that stuff worth buying?

 

[McReef1]

I have never used Kick ich, but I have heard GREAT things about it from some very experienced reefers. It's kinda expensive, though, and I am not a fan of adding chemicals to my tank. I have heard it does work for other parasites.

I have had luck with garlic. Try it for two to three weeks (on the frozen food as mentioned).

If you have a fish only tank try renting a UV sterilizer from your LFS and run that for about 10 days after you cannot see any more parasites on the fish. This, in my opinion, is the most effective way to kill them.

What makes you think it is NOT ich? Most often a fish will get it when newly introduced to a tank.

Good luck,

McReef

 

[Gatortailale1]

Sorry about your fish.

NOTE: Velvet looks like little cotton balls. Ick is more pinhead size white dots. Sounds like ick to me. kick ick is reef safe, and garlic is the new rage.

IF velvet: you could buy a 10 gal tank for like 10 bucks and make a hospital tank and treat in there, or you could try a Fresh water dip. The more nasty the PH the better. Then dip fish in FW for a minute then put fish back in tank. Make sure you have water temp of fw dip and tank same (float plastic dish in tank to acclimate)

Meijer, the only store I know where you can buy everything from fine wine to motor oil.

 

[Terry B]

If this was velvet it would be very difficult to see until it was very advanced, all the fish would be sick, and they would be panting and scratching violently. In all likelyhood it is ich. There are only two proven effective treatments and neither can be used with inverts or live rock: hyposalinity or copper. Garlic does seem to work often, but usually only with light infections when it hasn't spread to all the fish. All the other treatments are less than 50% effective. BTW, quarantine in the future.
Terry B

 

[tim000]

today almost all the pin head dots where gone????so that made me happy. BTW- it is ick. I think im going to try the garlic thing. can I just buy that garlic juice at meijer I think i saw it there for $3.50? and then i just soke the food in it for 10min or so then just feed it to the fish?

 

[Anonymous]

This article is not short but you will not have anymore questions abot the use of garlic after reading it.

How Garlic may fight Marine Ich

Good luck

 

[tim000]

thanks for the article, i just printed it out!

 

[MarkO1]

Tim, Ich enters a free swimming stage after it "bursts" out of your coral beauty's skin (white dots). The parasite is now in search of any "stressed" fish in the tank. (Chances are that there are many more ich parasites in the water now than before.)
I have found that if you can remove all of your fish from the main tank and quarantine them with copper, you will have the best results.
If you do decide to use this method, raise your main tank temp to 85º for 5 weeks and the Ich should die off naturally. The raised temp speeds up the life cycle of the parasite.

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: MarkO ]</p>
_________________
Prison Break Forum

 

[tim000]

when i reaise the temp up to 85 degrees can I still keep stocking my tank with corals and inverts ect?

 

[Gatortailale1]

NO YOU CAN'T CONTINUE TO STOCK WHEN YOU BUMP UP TEMP TO 85

I would advise the kick ick or garlic method first. You don't want to get into the pain of taking out all the fish and corals to bump the temp up to 85 for 5 weeks. I have used kick ick 3 times over my 15 months of reefing, I NEVER noticed any ill effects on inverts or fish.

 

[Gatortailale1]

Since your money is tight, I would try the garlic from meijers for $3.50 as your first step.

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: Gatortailale ]</p>

 

[Terry B]

It is part of the natural life cycle of ich to fall off and reproduce. I would not be celebrating, ich cannot be cured in a few days. Treatment should last a minimum of three weeks. Go ahead and feed garlic soaked food each day. I use Kyolic brand liquid garlic extract. Garlic is the only reef safe treatment that works with any regularity. When you want to use a sure cure then hyposalinity or copper are the only ones. Hyposalinity is a great treatment. I would not raise the temperature. It is highly stresful to the fish and not needed to starve out the parasite if the display is going to be fishless for a month.
Terry B

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: Terry B ]</p>

 

[Gatortailale1]

My reaction when I saw fishaholic posted ^

Image of what fishaholic has been doing this last week.

Like all us junkies, you can't quit cold turkey.

Image of the 2 of us after he reads this post.

TIME FOR ME to leave the past in the past and let the board return to normal and enjoy his support, advice, and tips.

everyone's response

Happy Holidays

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: Gatortailale ]</p>

 

[tim000]

wow thanks for all the help so far! but let me just double check with u guys on the garlic method before I go buy it this morning.
1. soak the frozen food in garlic for 10min
2. feed the fish
3. do this method for a minimum of 4 weeks

is this it? if there is anything I left out PLEASE fill me in!
tanks again,
tim