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Is this ich?

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Wingnutt021

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I've heard about ich, but haven't actually seen it yet.

My ocelleris is only in the tank for about a week and has become speckled with white dots. I tried to get a picture of it. If it is ich, what treatment can I use that is reef safe?

Everything else in the tank (fish, inverts, mushrooms, zoas) are healthy and thriving. All water parameters are good, except for phosphates which are high. Which leads me to how can I safely remove the phosphates in a 10 gal tank?

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Anonymous

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Wingnutt02":2o8e1meh said:
Which leads me to how can I safely remove the phosphates in a 10 gal tank?
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Ayup, that sure looks like ich. Brandonberry has posted some great links for treatment suggestions. As far as removing phosphates, you are better off never adding them to begin with ;) by adding only RO/DI treated water and watching what you feed. Regardless, there are resins out there that will help with an existing problem.

Here's an article describing the two most used, Phosban and Rowaphos,and if you google those terms you'll see ltos of articles out there.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... review.htm

FWIW, I have used the Rowaphos sponge in the past and it worked fairly well. Looking at your picture, I don't see a ton of excess algae growth which is why most people worry about high phospate levels. IMO, since you are talking about a 10 gallon tank I would try and manage it by doing water changes and limiting the amount and type of foods put into the tank.
 
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Wingnutt021

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Yah, the algae I'm getting is a reddish carpet on the sand bed, and greenish on the glass. The snails take care of the glass very well, but the red stuff is becoming unsightly.

I believe the phosphates have gone up because of a death in the tank that I couldn't reach without taking apart all of the live rock and coral. The crabs enjoyed the feast but I'm sure thats the reason why.
 
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Anonymous

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Hmm, then I'd do water changes as a first line defense. Question, how old are the lights?
 
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Wingnutt021

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I brought back the little fella to the LFS today. They can medicate him in a hospital tank there better than I can without a hospital tank at home. Hopefully he makes a full recovery. I'll wait about a month before trying to put a new one back in the tank. Hopefully all the ich will be dead by then.

The little yellow damsel hasn't shown any signs of it yet, but even if he never show signs of it, will just having the fish in the environment keep ich's like cycle going, or will it die off?
 
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Anonymous

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Having a fish in the tank will indeed keep the cycle going, as the links earlier posted for you to read indicated:

Cryptocaryon irritans is an obligate parasite, meaning that it cannot complete its life cycle (at the trophont stage) without a host fish. Taking into account that the normal time frame in which tomonts will hatch ranges from 3 to 28 days, a fallow (without fish) period of 30 days to 6 weeks is recommended to eliminate this parasite from an aquarium. Removing all potential hosts from a system for this period of time should eradicate the pest from the aquarium. If the fish are removed from the display to another aquarium for treatment and an effective means of therapy (i.e. hyposalinity or copper treatments) is employed, then those fish will be clean of infection.
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http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... /mini1.htm
 
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Anonymous

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Yes, even if it is not apparent on the remaining fish. Wingnutt02, read the articles posted. It does explain things far better than I can :oops:
 
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