Im new to saltwater, Is this Ich?
 

So I got a coral beauty from a lfs(that has caused me many problems since then) and ive had it for about 3 weeks and now it has some problems.

On one side of its tail fin it is black instead of blue with a little white center, the black spot is about half the size of a dime, and right behind its gils on both sides it is discolored and pretty black.

Also the fish is kind of ummm thrashing for like half a second about once every half minute or so.

I went to the lfs and the guy gave me some stuff called waste control and he told me to net the fish and dump this directly on the fish. Is this correct?

Thanks for the help guys i am very new to this.

Tony

ich
 

Ich is mostly white dots on fins ,gills and body take a pic and post it here the reefers on here will be albe to determine what it is alot better with a picture you will be amazed once you get a picture down loaded

sounds like a fungus or something.
not ick.
ick is like white chicken pox for fish... dots all over.

Don't know what the LFS is asking you to do.

Never apply anything you don't exactly know about on a fish directly. It will cause undue stress on the fish.

Usually a product that is called "waste control", is usually applied to the aquarium not the fish directly, for removal or organic waste.

Is this the stuff? http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.co...fm?pcatid=4240

Ich is small white pimple like spots, like sand grains. If the spot was small, then it is a possibility it was Black Ich, which is not this case as it is the size of a dime.

Usually black spots are just an indicator your fish is recovering from an infection and they are signs of healing.

Thrashing is not good, unless he is scratching on the rock. Anytime you see uncontrollable thrashing it is usually when the fish is unfortunately ready to die.

Without pictures it is very hard to diagnose the problem.

Ken - BWA

the pet store is pet lovers in abbotsford, the thrashing is not around rocks or anywhere it could be anywhere in the tank, right now i cannot get pictures up. I really hope the fish survives as it is my first larger fish so I would be sad if i lost it. I have not heard anything good about the fish that pet lovers sells, only negative things, so i would not be surprised if the fish does die. I will try to get pictures up asap.

One thing is tho the fish is still eating which makes me happy. All other fish in the aquarium seem very happy as well and eating very well.

And yes that is exactly the stuff. I do not get why you would not dump the stuff right on the fish seems like it would cause way more stress than good.

How old is your tank?

Check you water parameters, with Ammonia and PH at the top of your list.

Is he the only fish having problems?

If the fish is still eating, try an additive in the food like Selcon. If he is healing from an injury it will help. http://www.americanmarineusa.com/selcon.html

Products like ImmunoVital will help the fish's immune system too. http://www.marcweissco.com/freshwate...uno_vital.html

Ken - BWA

tank is only about 2 months old, i kind of rushed into the fish thing. I tested everything it all seems good. Ill keep a close eye on him and see if anything changes.

I took a bunch of photos with a good camera and i do not know how to upload them as they are about 3mb in size.

http:///Users/ashleefruson/Desktop/f...os/side 1b.JPG

other side.

http:///Users/ashleefruson/Desktop/f...os/side 2b.JPG

all good thing to add to the food I use garlic extreme and selcon or garlic and zoecon. Are the fins tattered any if so I would lean to-wards a fungus and would also treat tank with melifix. It helps in the healing process, the black areas maybe where the fish had open wounds. Just like us when we have a break in the skin it scabs over so do fish just very slowly a fishes slime coat is what helps to keep the blood from going into the water so it can clot.

I would not poor that stuff on a fish it would more than likely cause troubles for the fish. Do you have corals i the tank and if so what are they? also do you have an urchin?
the black could also be coral burns or even a urchin quills could be in the fish and the shaking could be because he is trying to get them out.
I don't know for sure we do need pic's and answers. I say coral burns because my clowns that host a couple hammers get them from time to time and they can be fairly large burns some times with white spots. It looks bad but it does not seem to affect them any.
Bill

Ok i think i figured out photos.

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y..._3a/side2b.jpg

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y...y_3a/side2.jpg

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y..._3a/side1b.jpg

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y...y_3a/side1.jpg

Best photos i could get, im new to taking photos of fish lol.

he looks to be in Petty good condition the darker spots could be just his adult coloring coming out. the white could be a bit of ICK I would feed him for the next 2 weeks with garlic extreme and selcon or zoecon and garlic. that Nem in the third picture may have tagged him and stressed him a bit and that would account for the shaking Nems have a nerve toxin they inject so if he was not tagged hard he will live and if he was hit hard he will not watch for him to loss his apatite that is the first sign of never toxin poisoning that is fatal. Just a though does it look like he is shaking his head?
The white on his tail maybe fungus need a better pic of both sides.
Try this for taking a pic get a white ice cream pail and cut it down so you can put the camera lens through a hole in the bottom and it will not touch the side of the tank. When taking a pic this way try using a flash and without a flash, don't worry if the flash is attached to the camera as the white pail will diffuse it and give you a better diffusion with out a backwash image on the pick. This should also allow you to get a better closeup pic.
Bill

the black spot is only on one side of the tail not the other. Ill try to get some of that garlic stuff maybe oceanic has some in i am going there tomorrow. Thanks for all the help. The shaking does appear to be from his head mostly not his whole body, to feed him garlic do i need to make sure he is the only one eating it, or is it ok if the other fish eat it as well? The damsels eat like pigs.

Also i have a anemone as well, but he is hiding under a rock i dont really know how to feed him, the nemos are hosted by him tho i saw that they can bring him food or something.

More pics can be found in my tank journal i just started one.

Thanks a lot

black thing on the fishes tail is alittle bit weird, never seen that before it could be velvet....

if the fish is thrashing around, or as I like to call it skipping off rocks then there maybe ich. Just see if there are white spots on it, the spots are small.

Ich is in every fish, they carry it and when stressed they have an outbreak.
feed it garlic soaked food and do weekly waterchanges of atleast 30%.

If the black stuff on it's body fuzzes or gets wierd like an open wound I would qt the fish in another tank to stop it from spreading to your other tank mates.

When you buy fish in the future make sure you fully inspect it for fungus and parasites.

Personally when I buy fish I like to sit and look at it for atleast 10-20mins, the reason I do this is to study the actions of the fish. Believe it or not you can tell alot from a fish by how it swims, sometimes they have bladder problems which cause them to swim funny also a fish that is not active most times has problems. And a last thing please do research on the fish before buying it.... IE tank requirements, food, compatibility with tank mates you already have, these play huge rolls in the survival of the fish!

I am not an expert but have read the marine fish book over 100 times so I know exactly what the requirements for every fish are.

GL

I would QT him if he is shaking his head it could be brook shaking of the head, white spots and fungus are all sings of brook. treat with formalin based med not copper as copper has no afect on brook where forminlin will also help with ICK. Copper should never be used on angle fish or tangs unless you cannot help it. Marine velvet is white or a gold color normaly that is not velevet from what i can see.

Ok so im going to oceanic in a little bit to see if they have any garlic stuff to soak the food in, i got some more pics that are better of the tail.

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_6722.jpg

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_6618.jpg

Also im going to set up a quarantine tank today i think.

After the vancouver aquarium with my son!

My whole tank started as something for my son to look at(that was a 36 gallon bowfront) i upgraded the next week to my 69 gallon reef tank.