Help!

Hi i bought a flame angle about 3 weeks ago & he had settled very well to my tank & gets on grate with my 2 other fish. It took about a week to get him eating but he constantly grazes on the rock & alge in the tank. I noticed my cleaner shrimp last week starting to frantacly clean him in his mouth & all his body which i thought was a bit odd as my cleaner shrimp just wouldnt leave him alone! but then 4 days ago i noticed a small spot / boil so i thought great he has ich but then two days later it had gone & there was not real sign off anything on him but i studyed him this morning & there is a what looks like a little dip/whole in him where the cyst was & abot 4 more white cysts on his body ... 2 behind his side fin & one next to the whole & one on his other side. He is not flicking or scratching on the rocks hes feeding very well & hes not over breathing or shy! & when i looked up white spot they spots where alot smaller then his so im stumped.
I have a reef tank with inverts but i do have a qur tant set up so any advice would be great!
Thanks K

 

Hi Kiarah - are you using garlic extract with any prepared foods you feed?
if the outbreak of any parasitic infection is mild, which in your case it seems to be, the fishes natural immunity system will help fight this ,
garlic is used on food stuffs is said by many to permeate the fishes body and the parasites dont like the taste and release themselves from the fish

if it where my fish, I would monitor it for a while, feed it with addition of garlic extract and only consider removal if the above was not effective

wish you well

Steve

 

Also if it is ich then im very confuced about what the best thing to do is! some people say leave the fish alone & feed it up well with garlic & seaweed and it will heal itself & that if you do fresh water dips it will just stress the fish out 7 kill it/make it worse, otheres say put it in the qt tank & treat with copper but then others say just catching it will stress it out and make it worse! but then if you leave it & feed it up wont the other two fish catch it?! And if i remover it then treat it with copped ( i have coral.iverts in my main tank) then shorly the ich is still in my main tank?!
HUMMMM baffled as to what the correct action is as there are so meny different opinions and i cant work out which one is wright!
but again im not convinced it is ich as the picture i have seen off fish with ich have tiny like sugar spots and my fish has small boils but they are white.
Thanks K

 

Opps hi sorry i was wrighting that extra bit as you must have been replying! I feed garlic frosen shrimp once a week, 1 mussle which they all have a go at once a week (this is maily for my lobster & ridacord mushroom) a small amout off tectra marine granles every other day & also clip a small piece off ocean nurition brown marine algea that has New Garlic added written on the package but the flame angle only pics at the bits the yellow tang pulls off and misses.
Is this good or not ?
Thanks for your reply
Kiarah

 

sounds good to me Kiarah
there are no universal right or wrong ways really as far as treating fish goes
a lot depends on the condition, fitness and otherwise health of the fish
some fish have parasitic infections on and off through their lives (regal or hippo tangs are noted for this) but the parasite never gets to the point where it can cause serious distress to the fish and cause its demise

a healthy fish, could survive on its own immune system, a healthy fish could survive capture, isolation and treatment or any of the other methods

but as you stated the parasite is still going to be at large in your system, thus doing things to build up its immunity, like garlic enhanced foods, is my favourite course of action on these occasions

You say garlic frozen shrimp and garlic in the ocean nutrition - you may already have it, but if not you can buy liquid garlic extract (Kent make one as do others) and then add this to the dry food granules - to make sure all food stuffs the Angel comes across have this beneficial extra

there are some reef safe meds , and they may be worth considering if the condition gets worse

Steve

 

ok thanks for your advice i will keep a close watch on him and get some off the extra garlic exstract.
Ill keep this post upto date off his condition.
Thanks again
Kiarah

 

Try adding iodine and vitamin c as well!
Just watch the Flame to see if things change for the worse. The Flames desire to eat is promising though plus the fact that their is no labored breathing or erratic swimming behavior is a good thing!

 

Hi kiarah,
Just went through the same thing with a hippo tang and a baby clown. Only I took the advise of my Lfs and quarentined and treated with nox ich. Bad move. It ended up killing both fish. Just recently bought another clown and within two days white spots appeared again. This time I didn't go through the fresh water dips and quarentine method. Bought some food with garlic and the extract and within a week no more spots. I wish I would have done this with the hippo and baby clown. If your flame is still eating well I would leave it alone. Its when they stop eating I would start to try other methods of treatment.
Do you have a UV sterilizer?

 

Yep i do have a uv but the 6 months is up ( was up last month really but short on fund due to move & i forgot!) & i need to replace the bulb but its behind my tank so i have to be lifted down there to get to it! ,so before i try this i just need to fuigure out how to change the bulb! Im hoping it just a case off turn it off at the power then take out some screws & remove the casing then simply replace the bulb & do it all back up......... but if i have to remove all the pipework and take the unit off my tank that will be a total nightmare!
Thanks Kiarah

 

Quick update.... Flame angle still going strong ,eating very well & now only has two white dots so i guess hes doing good!
Have to admit i my be over feeding a little to much in my effort to get him feeling better as my tank has just started to get algea again! Last time i over feed i ended up with VERY BAD Cyano! so when could i cut feeding back to down?
Thanks K