defcon11

I have eibili angel and he has been doing fine now for about a month and half, but the other day I noticed these tiny white specks on his tail region. There was probably around 4 or 5, and they were tiny. When I say tiny, I mean tiny. He would also occasionally rub up against the rock. Finding this to be early signs of ich on various websites I acted to try and catch it early. I'd post a picture but my camera doesn't have that high of a resolution. I got him back into a QT and he doesn't seem to like that much, got used to the regular tank I guess. Started using kick ich and noticed on the second day these tiny white specks on the floor of the QT. Is this a good sign? I have also slowly turned up temp on main tank to 82. How long should I keep the main tank at that temp? Thanks

Shawnie

Hi defcon...83 for two weeks should cure it..but make sure you vacuum the subtrate as ich spores hide in there as well..keep an airstone or change water often as higher temps have less oxygen ....goodluck!

defcon11

What should I do with the live rock? I imagine the spores live there too? Thanks for quick reply.

Shawnie

Oh lordy...im very sorry I didnt realize it was a SW tank...Dont listen to my advice as it was for FW and im not sure SW has the same solutions...sorry for my brunette moment!! I hope a SW expert hops on here soon!

clinton1621

Its actually the same treatment with both, the temp rise is the best way to get rid of them, the problem with saltwater is you cant use a lot of ich meds because it will kill your inverts, including the ones on the live rock and the "good" algae on the live rocks as well. Just make sure you increase your aeration with the temps up and do a very thorough substrate cleaning, maybe swish around over the live rock to get anything that might be loose enough to suck up.

defcon11

Thanks for help.

Shawnie

PHEW! ty clinton!

Redtail_Shark14

you might want to watch out for an increase in water tempature if you temp. rises 5 degrees or more in a day it can cause ich. id uses Nox-Ich or quick-qure it works the same and it did not harm my inverts. hope i helped

clinton1621

Yes temp changes (usually lower temps and NOT higher) can cause fish to get stressed and be more likely to get ich, but he already has ich and higher temps will kill the ich faster.... also you are lucky that the ich meds you used didnt kill the inverts, most ich meds use copper which is highly toxic to inverts

Redtail_Shark14

yes i know that but, i only added a small percent and then increased the dose little by little. temp changes goes both ways if it goes higher or lowers it causes the fish to be stressed....yes your right about higher temps killing ich.

defcon11

Only had to raise the temp by 3 degrees anyways and did it over 2 days. Have noticed some small white specks but they just fall off a few hours later, noticed on bottom of QT. Did water change on both QT and main tank.

clinton1621

The problem with that is even though you slowly dosed the copper is that it does not evaporate or dissipate and even at low doses it will still slowly poison your inverts.... thats how it kills them, it builds up in their system and they cant get rid of it (ie. metal poisoning) the only way to get copper out of your tank after doing this is with water changes and sometimes even replacing the live rock and substrate because these will absorb the copper and retain it even though your changing the water

Redtail_Shark14

i do water changes monthly so i think its gone.