Got my first fish from lfs, got it home & noticed Ich.

Today I stopped at a lfs to see what they had in stock to put in as my first fish since my tank has cycled. I wanted to find some pj cardinals but they had none. But I seem a good looking purple tilefish. He's a good size & looks healthy. So I got him home & drip acclimated for an hour. After I put him in the tank I noticed the spots all over his body. I just thought *** crap! Is it possible he developed this just on the 1 hour ride home? Maybe it's just a temporary stress thing? He eats mysis like a champ. My tank was already at 79* so I turned it up to about 81* now. Today I also added 2 cleaner shrimp & 2 emerald crabs & some small blue hermit crabs & some zoas. So I'm a lil iffy about dosing tank but it shouldn't be to bad if I just put him in this afternoon. With all my tanks I've never had any fish with a noticeable ich. I'm guessing stay away from that store now. But if anyone can answer my few questions or tips are appreciated. 1 fish in a 56g & few inverts. I also read about raising salt levels helps. Too what level?

 

NOOO, don't raise temp or salinity, that will only increase stress, which you don't want to do. And chances our 100% of LFS's have ich in their systems. If you don't choose a proper QT method, you have it. And if you don't QT EVERYTHING, its in your system. But don't worry, just feed the fish well and keep stress levels down. Pretty much anythng you're going to dose will kill your inverts, so don't do that. I'd also do a standard 30 minute acclimation, you want to relieve stress, only a few fish and some inverts really need a long acclimation period, IMO

read this and the links in it;
http://www.3reef.com/forums/diseases/ich-101-noob-noob-128391.html

 

I don't think ich could latch on to the fish that quick. Did you examine the fish for about 10-15 minutes before purchasing? I always do and look extremely carefully at the fish, if I even see a bubble that remotely resembles ich I back away with big puppy eyes and a sad heart.

At this point, stress free environment and nutrients is what it needs to combat the ich.

 

Ich can pop out in a few hours, they are almost always IN the fish, and just need a catalyst to show its trophont phase or the stage you see. Generally, the move from a ocean to a distributor to a LFS to your tank is more than enough stress to weaken a fish. Your best bet is to do what you said, low stress and good food.

 

I did look him over good but the lighting in the place wasn't great & on the ceiling. I'm not sure if I would of been able to see it. But I read your link Cosmo, thanks. Of course I'm still confused about what to do. Would setting up a Qt tank be nessecary if he's the only fish? Gonna see if I can find the selcon tmrw. I've got some pellets with garlic coming Monday in a shipment I ordered with some other stuff. So I'm gonna try the low stress & good diet way & see if it gets better. He has been hagin by the heater the whole time, maybe it's a coincidence but he's mostly just looking at his reflection on the wall. But I'm glad I didn't get the bar gobies from lfs. They pretty much stayed hidden in rocks & looked thin. Gotta add a pic, cause he's still a good lookin fish.

 

def looks like Ich, but if he's eating he's fine. I just went thru a MAJOR ich outbreak with the introduction of a new fish and made it thru fine with just better foods, garlic and selcon. You can QT him, but if you do it just adds stress to an already sick fish. And if you do, you need to leave your DT without fish for at least 8 weeks to kill off the ich thats now in your tank. The best thing is to do what vinny says in his link, in my link, lol.

 

The one thing I'm not sure about with leaving him in tank & hoping it goes away. If he does over one this, then will the ich still be in the tank? I know you say that pretty much all fish carry Ich to a point. But will new fish catch it if I add them in maybe 8 weeks later?

 

yeah, if you put any ich in your tank, its there forever, unless you pull all fish out for 8 weeks, and treat them for ich. The key is to not overstock and feed healthy food. The new fish you add will likely have ich anyways, unless you QT them.

 

you can just use regular, grocery store garlic and mince it. You don't need to wait on the special product.

 

It's not that I special ordered it for this fish. I had ordered it before I had him, just wanted the pellets with garlic as a substitute food to add occasionally. I went & checked the local petsmart for selcon but they don't carry it. But I will probably end up buying a few things online this week anyways. But I'm not sure if its me but he seems to have less spots on him today. Just trying to vary his diet & keep him happy.