[krazykarel]

Guys i have a royal gramma and a cherub angel which look like they have sugar on their body (this happens in the AM), but by the afternoon all the spots seem like they are gone.

Is this ick? What is going on here?

[CaptainK]

Hi krazykarel,
First. Welcome to the Board!!!!!!

Just my thoughts but the spots might very well be sand. Do either of the fish sleep directly on the sand bed?
I have a clownfish that sleeps on the sandbed, it actually dug a little pit for itself. So occassionally there is sand on its belly, and mouth also...sometimes.

I don't think that it is ick because I have not heard of ick only appearing during certain times of the day or for only that short of a period of time. I think you are OK.

CaptK

[Penguin]

I'm going to have to disagree. It does sound like ich to me. I've found ich spots look worst in the early morning.

[Bughead]

I have to agree with Penguin. Ich spots are usually worse in the morning, dropping off during the day and sometimes the fish will be completely spot free by evening. The parasite only lives on the fish 24-72 hours before dropping off. It then divides, or reproduces and encapsulates and must find a host within 24 hours or it dies. This is when we try to kill the ich, by interupting its life cycle and not allowing it to attach to a host fish. Freshwater dips and certain medications will kill the ich while it's on the fish, but unless you can stop it from reattaching when its free floating it'll just continue.

The royal gramma could have sand grains on it sometimes--my convict blennies who live in sand burrows always have sand grains on their bodies. But the angel most likely would rarely have sand grains on its body. Occasionally, if sand was stirred up and it got into the "sand storm", but otherwise, no.

Sorry, sounds like you've got a little case of cryptocaryons irritans going.

[krazykarel]

Is there a safe, stress free way to find out whether or not it is ick or sand?

Someone also told me it could be velvet...how can i tell the differences between the two?

As far as treatment if it is ick ive ordered some rx-p from kent marine and im currently soaking their food in garlic.

[Penguin]

Here are a couple of links to pages with good pictures of ich.

http://www.livingreefimages.com/Page76.html
http://saltwater.8m.com/diseases.htm

Also, velvet kills very quickly if not treated early. If your fish have had spots for more than a few days it's probably not velvet.

[jwtrojan44]

I too had a royal gramma that had several ick spots almost every morning. they would all be gone in just a couple hours. The owner of my LFS said that sometimes in the morning when he first checks his tanks, he will notice the same thing on a few of his fish but that the spots also go away. I've sinced moved the gramma to another tank, and the incidence of the spotting has almost cleared up. don't know why, but none of the other fish have it. I had a maroon clown that would wallow in the sand and it sometimes looked like he had a bad case of ick, so don't discount the sand idea on some fish.

[krazykarel]

Thanks for the replies...the Cherub Angel doesn't have the spots anymore...the Royal Gramma still does in the mornings. They have had it over a week so I agree with you that it is prob. not Velvet.

Thanks again...let me know if you guys have anymore insights.