white spot... ich?

[WahooFishing]

On my valentini puffer, he has developed 2 white spots about 1-2mm in dia. One is on the anterior dorsal and it has been there for over a week, a second just emerged on the on the fin directly below this one. There are only two spots as I've said so I'm not so sure that this is ich. He does rub himself against the rocks occcasionally, but otherwise he seems healthy, eating and brething okay. I have a small false percula in there too, but he shows no signs or symptoms, he does follow my puffer everywhere though...
Any treatments I could try, no quarentine tank and I have a baby horseshoe crab, numerous hermits and turbo's, and a coral banded shrimp. Im thinking Kent RxP... Any suggestions would me greatly appreciated, thank ya

 

[cdeakle]

White spots along with the rubbing on the rocks does sound like ich to me.

I have recently rescued a pj cardinal, mated perculas and a humu trigger from a new friend. I have them in hyposalinity treatment and its working wonders! I thought for sure that I would have at least a 50 percent fatality rate but there all still kickin. You would however need a quarentine tank though because you cannot treat the main tank if it has corals/inverts.

I belive hyposalinity is the best and only for sure way to cure this problem....

 

[Len]

You may also want to check out TerryB's mini-series in www.advancedaquarist.com about Ich. The last 3 issues have parts 1-3 (total of 5 parts, 2 forthcoming).

TerryB may hopefully pop in sometime this week to answer your question. He'd be the man to ask

Nice leafy seadragon avatar!

 

[WahooFishing]

Is it at all possible for this puffer to fight this off, or will this parasite just keep growing in numbers till it overwhelms both fish. For a basic quarentine set up, how does a 10 gal. tank sound? Also, should I use water from my main tank when setting this up, or should i just whip up a complete new batch of water, what about letting it cycle?


Glad you like the pic and thanks again for the help

 

[Unarce]

It might be a good idea to use parts of both tank water and new water. As long as you can catch the fish without causing it more stress, the hyposalinity treatment should work. You'll find that lots of LFS's maintain lower salinity to control ich.

In cases for reef set-ups, it's difficult to catch infected fish. Personally, I've had 100% success treating ich with garlic. Even before Kent's Garlic Xtreme was on the market, I'd squeeze garlic juice into the tank and chop up tiny pieces for them to nibble on.

 

[cdeakle]

Is it at all possible for this puffer to fight this off, or will this parasite just keep growing in numbers till it overwhelms both fish.

More than likely the parasites will multiply and overwelm the fish. Dont be fooled because the other fish appears not to be affected, he is probably in the earlier stages.

For a basic quarentine set up, how does a 10 gal. tank sound?

Its doable but you will have to constantly check water params to make sure everything is in check. I'm using a 20 gallon acrylic for my hospital tank and I do water changes daily. I also check and keep a log of water params 1-2 times daily.

Also, should I use water from my main tank when setting this up, or should i just whip up a complete new batch of water, what about letting it cycle?

You should use water from your main tank to start with to limit the amount of shock from the transfer. You do not need to wory about cycling because you will be doing far too many water changes.

Here is a really good link about how to do hyposalinity treatment:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevo ... inity.html

 

[WahooFishing]

Reefnutz, you say garlic worked for you? I been using food's that contain garlic, and it seems to be slowing the parasite down, but in regards to putting garlic juice in the tank, how much did you put in in relation to tank size? I think I might try the garlic treatment if it worked so well for you, or that Kent RxP stuff---->anybody had any trouble with this and inverts, I know it says invert safe but still, I've got a coral banded shrimp baby horseshoe crab, and lots of hermits and turbo's

Thanks again for the suggestions

 

[Unarce]

I really didn't measure what I was squeezing into the system back then. Alicin (I think that's how it's spelled) is what destroys them, and I probably couldn't squeeze out nearly as much compared to a drop of the Kent stuff.

The only effect it had on my inhabitants was of course the fish going crazy thinking it was feeding time. None of the SPS, clams, or cleaners reacted in any way.

Hopefully, others will share their experience.

 

[cdeakle]

Garlic is good for 2 reasons:

1) If the fish are refusing food garlic is an attractant to get them to eat.
2) Help boost there immune system.

If you trully have ich and want to get rid of it you need to do hyposalinity in a quarentine tank. The garlic is good to use in ADDITION to hyposalinity.

 

[Unarce]

Actually, it's really good for more than that. Some hobbyists go by assumptions or second-hand info, so it's always best to do your own research or at least be given something to back it up.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/h_ ... jorge.html