Confused about specs on fish... ICH?

[melliepooh]

Ok, question fish guru's out there... When I wake up in the morning to feed my fish, occasionally my yellow tang will have tiny grey specs on her which looks like grains of sand and my yellow eye tang will sometimes have tiny little white spots but when I come home after work around dinner time, they're usually gone. Today I woke up and OMIGOD! My yellow eye tang was COVERED in these white specs and scratching on rocks and my yellow tang had the sand specs... The white specs on my yellow eye tang are gone but my yellow tang still has the white specs... They're both eating fine... Is is ick or what? And should I be worried? I have corals and invertibrates so I wouldn't even know what to use! Thanx a bunch!

[zhenya]

Ok, question fish guru's out there... When I wake up in the morning to feed my fish, occasionally my yellow tang will have tiny grey specs on her which looks like grains of sand and my yellow eye tang will sometimes have tiny little white spots but when I come home after work around dinner time, they're usually gone. Today I woke up and OMIGOD! My yellow eye tang was COVERED in these white specs and scratching on rocks and my yellow tang had the sand specs... The white specs on my yellow eye tang are gone but my yellow tang still has the white specs... They're both eating fine... Is is ick or what? And should I be worried? I have corals and invertibrates so I wouldn't even know what to use! Thanx a bunch!

I think you are correct and what you see is indeed a Cryptocaryon irritans,or the infamous ICH. There is a thread in this forum somewhere about this very thing that was discussed very recently,do a search using term Ich and you will find it. It has some good links in it to read about Ich and how to combat this parasite.The main thing is not to panic, do some reading and decide on your treatment scheme. If you have a quarantine tank it should be fairly easy to fight it.

Edit: Here's the link I mentioned White spots.

[melliepooh]

Really, so it is ich? Can it come and go so quickly? Nothing I've read says that...
Unfortunately I don't have a quarentine tank Do you know offhand what I could use, keeping in mind that I have invertibrate and corals as well? I'd appreciate it!

[zhenya]

Really, so it is ich? Can it come and go so quickly? Nothing I've read says that...
Unfortunately I don't have a quarentine tank Do you know offhand what I could use, keeping in mind that I have invertibrate and corals as well? I'd appreciate it!

Hi melliepooh,

It is really hard for me to tell you exactly what it is without looking at the fish.I was hoping that after you have read the articles that are linked in that thread you'll be able to diagnose it by yourself,becouse you are looking at the fish and I'm not. Your description of the white specs match those of the Ich,however, and this is what prompt me to say that your tang had it. I have been through this before and had my share of disapointments and victories.
When I first started in this hobby(reef keeping that is),in my first year,my tangs developed Ich and I had used a product named "Kick Ich" with some success.The manufacturers clame that it is reef safe and not copper based. I must add that I really hate using any medicine in a reef tank,regardless of how safe it claims to be,plus, it worked on some fish but I still lost some.
I can only recommend that you research very well any medicine before you use it.In the interim, I'd recommend to use some garlic soaked foods for your fish and see if this helps first.

[melliepooh]

Hi Gene... I read those articles but I still haven't found anything anywhere on ich (here or elsewhere) that talks about it appearing and disappearing so frequently.. I agree about medicating the tank- I want that to be my last option... My fish are eating fine (Like piggies, actually) and acting normal. Its just these specs that are present for a few hours... I check the water every 5 days or so, do a water change every 2 weeks or so, everything is great so I'm stumped! I think I'll search the net, see if I come up with anything... Your advice is appreciated! Soaking food in garlic? How do I do it?
Thanks a bunch!
-Mel

[zhenya]

Hi Mel,
There's a product made by Kent Marine called GarlicXtreme,which is nothing more then a garlic extract,I imagine.I bet you can pick it up from any health store and just add few drops to the portion of flakes or other food that you are about to feed and let it soak into the food items. I'm not sure that it does indeed helps with Ich(I'll dig up an old article about it soon) but it does not hurt anything or anyone.I did indeed noticed increased appetite in my fish when I used it. It says on the bottle that no more then two drops to be used per feeding as fish will become confused,I think it makes me confused more then fishies
Here's that atricle http://www.reefs.org/library/article...tes-jorge.html

I'll be honest with you,I don't quite remember how I noticed the signs of the Cryptocaryon irritans or how those spots behaved.However, I do remember that they would disappear in the morning and reappear in the afternoon for a few days untill the deseas were fully blown and most of my fish had it .
Sorry for not being of more help but I hope you beat this if that's what it is.

[melliepooh]

Hi Mel,
There's a product made by Kent Marine called GarlicXtreme,which is nothing more then a garlic extract,I imagine.I bet you can pick it up from any health store and just add few drops to the portion of flakes or other food that you are about to feed and let it soak into the food items. I'm not sure that it does indeed helps with Ich(I'll dig up an old article about it soon) but it does not hurt anything or anyone.I did indeed noticed increased appetite in my fish when I used it. It says on the bottle that no more then two drops to be used per feeding as fish will become confused,I think it makes me confused more then fishies
Here's that atricle http://www.reefs.org/library/article...tes-jorge.html

I'll be honest with you,I don't quite remember how I noticed the signs of the Cryptocaryon irritans or how those spots behaved.However, I do remember that they would disappear in the morning and reappear in the afternoon for a few days untill the deseas were fully blown and most of my fish had it .
Sorry for not being of more help but I hope you beat this if that's what it is.

I will look for that stuff tomorrow Gene, thanks. Will it kill the stuff at the bottom of the tank,too? Or just what's on the fish? B/c most of the time the fish don't have anything on them.. I'll let you know how it goes!