Help with damsel

[reefwars]

would have to agree with globaldesigns to put all your fish in quarantine now without any visible signs of any thing bad would only add stress if you wanted to play it safe just observe him if it is ich watch for white spots theyll show.

if you have to put your fish in quarantine you can drop the salinity quite fast its raising the salinity that has to be done gradually.

i do like hyposalinity but you really need to do it carefully in order to not make your fish stressed out.....stressed out fish hide and dont eat therefore cant fight off the attack.its never wise to treat your fish or tank in any way without knowing what the problem is.

pics of the fish close up helps alsocheers

[Youngster Dan]

What you do really depends on your fish keeping philosophy.

It is likely your fish has ich, and it is likely many fish in most systems also have ich. If the fish is stressed, or the water parameters are off then the ich can really take hold and become a lethal problem.

If you want to get rid of the ich, (as suggested previously) you have to take drastic actions to eradicate the ich from both the fish and the system. This includes leaving your tank fallow for 6-8 weeks, and treating your fish in a QT with either hyposalinity or copper. If you go this route, it would be absolutely silly not to quarantine your future additions as you worked hard to get rid of the stuff in the first place.

If the fish is eating well, and is not bullied by other fish it will probably be able to fight the ich to a manageable level just fine on its own. The ich is still in the system, and will probably continue to stay there for as long as you own the tank.

So it really depends on what your philosophy is, and how much effort you want to put into it. For the sake of a small damsel tank, I would just leave it be and continue to keep an eye on it. If it were a large system where you plan on putting thousands of dollars of sensitive fish into it, I would advise differently.

[marie]

How did the conversation get to ich anyway. The symptoms were, the fish tips over after eating and then shakes himself back upright

[Northernseacorals]

Originally Posted by Youngster Dan

Does he do this against rocks? Almost as if he is scratching himself?

Originally Posted by windcoast reefs

Yeah, he does that every once and a while. But it is mainly just when he is eating, he will kinda twitch and roll on his side.

Originally Posted by marie

How did the conversation get to ich anyway. The symptoms were, the fish tips over after eating and then shakes himself back upright

You missed one symptom when the OP said the fish also rubbed himself on rocks once in a while.

[windcoast reefs]

Okay, Im pretty sure he doesn't have itch. He really doesn't have any of the physical symptoms (white dots) . I think it is just a weird thing he does when he eats. I have only seen him rub up against a rock twice. I will put then in another tank for the time being. Should I just set up a small five or ten gallon tank as a hospital tank? Should I be running skimmer and powerheads as well?

[windcoast reefs]

I will put up some picks tonight.

[marie]

I really wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Fish flash/scratch occasionally for no obvious reason.
As long as the fish is eating normally and looks healthy then I would just chalk it up to one of those weird things that fish do

[windcoast reefs]

Yup he eats like a pig and otherwise seems normal, for a fish at least.