[JHeard]

Hello.

Last weekend I purchased a black & white angel for my 55 FOWLR. Just this morning, I have noticed that he has several white specks on his fins and a few on his body. I have dealt with ich before, unfortunately, and REALLY don't want to have to treat the tank. Has anyone had luck with cleaner shrimp in this situation or heard of anyone who has? I have been wanting to get one for a while and this could be a good time if I got him today. Thank you for any help.

Jim

[BLKBRDTA]

I just got done with a 3 month Hypo-Salinity treatment all because of a BHT (go figure.) Unfortunately, Cleaner Shrimp/Goby/Wrasse can not relieve or rid the infected fish of the parasite. The white spots you see are one of the very last stages in Cryptocaryon Irritans life cycle. The white "cyst" then breaks off and free-floats to another poor creatures flesh, and the process then repeats. During this free-floating stage is the time to attack the parasite while it is weakest.

There are not many options for treatment (as you may already know,) some report success with additives while the majority just end up wasting money and time. The decision is all on you for the overall treatment, but know this, additives will only mask problems, and sometimes create new ones. Garlic does seem to keep the parasite at bay, although long term success can vary greatly. Osmotic Shock Therapy (Hypo-Salinity,) Copper and Formalin are the top three choices for eradicating the "bug." Freshwater dips bring up the rear, although they usually prove to be less effective and more stressful on the fish. I suggest getting the Angel out before the parasite has a chance to spread to other inhabitants. In an ideal situation, the display will run fallow for 4 to 6 weeks to "starve" off the parasite, which has no fish to host on.

[SteveTCG]

My experience is similar and mostly anecdotal.

We got a sailfin tang and koran angel that both developed ich within a few days. As we have lots of inverts, we got a reef safe ich treatment (I cant remember the name... it wasnt Rubys which is what I was told to get) and we doused all food with garlic.

Just took a jar of the store bought minced stuff, put some in a tupperware container and filled the rest with SW and let it sit in the fridge. Seaweed was soaked in it and frozen shrimp was thawed with the water from that container. The fish all recovered nicely and are doing very well now...

I still regularly douse the seaweed since that is the favorite meal of both angel and tang.

Your mileage may vary.