hey guys, first post here but im a long time lurker to this and many other reefing forums.if i have a question regarding reefing, i google it and 9/10 times i can find my answer with multiple sources to cross reference,hence why ive never felt a need to post. however this one has me stumped.
My tanks around 8 months old, and since ive added my first fish(Flamehawk) i always noticed he breathed quite heavily especially at night, i chalked this up to ph problems as i didnt know much at the time and after googling it concluded low ph along with Ph swings from night to day could possibly be my problem, i acted to correct this and ph is now stable and at proper levels, i also increased flow and surface agitation to help put more oxygen in the water just to cover my bases. this still didnt seem to help, due to being a novice i put it out of mind and the fish has been fine(albeint still breathing somewhat heavily) for months.
Ive always been slow to add fish so he was the sole fish in the tank for awhile untill i got a pair of clowns who seemed to be suffering from the same problem, they just seem to be panting really fast as if just running a marathon, but otherwise behaved normally. ive never seen any flashing or any other kind of symtoms to make me think something was wrong with the fish themselves. This changed with my my last addition, a Small Meleagris Leopard wrasse. I read up a ton on this species before purchasing (theres a huge primer on this species on either this site or another but i can't remember which it is.) so i knew they had a high chance of harboring intestinal parasites, and Low survival rate in Qts, from what i read it was generally regarded as being better to Put them straight in the display similiar to a mandarin dragonetand treat with prazipro .
Shes been in for two weeks eating normally( she didnt even do the hiding thing, out eating from day one, totally happy and plumpso far, though i know "success" with this species is t the 1 year mark. i attribute this mainly to the knowledge i learned from the primer, particularly a Poster Named iamwrasseman)
Anyways, a couple days ago i noticed a flash or two while picking at the rocks. my heart skipped a beat and i instanty thought "ich" i closely watched her and saw none of the telltale spots but the same rapid breathing as every fish inhabitant in my tank but again, was Eating and acting normally. Up at 10am, in the sand by 11pm like clockwork and eating like crazy.a day later my male clown was flashing as well. but was otherwise fine. he has since stopped but the leopard wrasse still flashes every once in awhile. i have never seen so much a spec on any of these fishes though
after doing as much research as possible ive come to the conclusion i have ich in my tank. infact i think ive always had it with the hawkfish being patient 0 and ive just been lucky so far in that the few fish ive had have been abe to resist a full blown outbreak, however i suspect ich to be the reason all my fish exhibit rapid breathing with no other issues and water paramters in check, ive hear this is possible when the infection is mainly based around the gills.
up untill now i did not quarantine(a Novice mistake i know, tommorow i will be purchasing the materials for a proper quarantine/hospital tank setup.)
i know what needs to be done and im ready to do it. i just need to be sure and get a second opinion before i put these fish through any stress, the fact they have possibly been living with this for weeks/months because of me bothers me to no end and im ready to fix it. But the lack of any other symptoms(Up untill the leopard) have left doubt in my mind
All i need to know is whether this seems like ich contained to the gill area or something else, i dont want to stress this fish by treating for ich unless they truly have it. but i know i could be running short on time.
Parameters are as follows
Salinity:1.025
Nitrates:0-10
Nitrites:0
Ammonia:0
PH: 8.0
Skimmer:none
Live rock:around 40-50lbs
Inhabintants: Flamehawkx1 False Percs x2 Leopard wrasse x1
none of these fish are over 2.5 inches
i have many inverts but have moved them to another tank as i will be treating the display(I know this is highly advised against but ive done the research and decided to take the chance rather thank stress my fish by catching them and putting them in a smaller more crowded tank to treat them there. i am prepared to deal with the die off and possible ammonia spikes associated with this, and the the possiblity of my silicone and live rock absorbing and leeching the copper if i choose to medicate with such. this thread is not to discuss such things though.)
about 1200 GPH turnover coming from two koralia nano 450's and an aquaclear 70 filter modded into a minifuge.
I know there are likely some things people dont agree with here about my tank setup but please keep things on topic, i only wish to know whether this is likely an ich outbreak that isnt showing the spots or speculation on what else it could be. Thank you for your time.
