Oh no, Ick !!!

**Cliff** · 08-11-2012, 08:33 PM

Sometimes you just can’t win. 3 weeks ago we found a power brown tang at our SW LFS and watched him at the store for a week. He was eating and acting healthy. But just to be safe I ask the store to hold him for me for another week so I could watch him some more. By the end of the second week the store owner noticed flukes on him, treated him, and kept him at the store for a third week. After that treatment he looked perfectly healthy.

We picked him up last night and acclimated him to our 20 gallon QT tank. He was acting normal, exploring the tank, and he ate. This morning when I went to check on him he was covered in ick. Just goes to show you even when you try to do everything right, your new fish could still be carrying something.

I’m treating his ick with copper right now. Hopefully in 3 weeks this will all be a bad memory for this little fish. You can't really see the white spots on him in the below pic as I kept getting a reflection on the glass everytime I tried to take a picture.

The rock in the picture is some non-porous rock that I am using for decoration only to try and make the little fish feel more comfortable. This rock will get a good soak in fresh water before I use it as decoration in a QT tank again. As it has been exposed to copper I can never use it in any of my main tanks

**ScottishFish** · 08-11-2012, 09:30 PM

Nice little fish Cliff, I'm sure you will have him cured in no time

**escamosa** · 08-11-2012, 10:19 PM

A great lesson for everyone that's just starting out in the hobby, Cliff. Watch your choice of fish and watch it some more. And quarantine them, regardless of whether or not they look healthy. It could very well save your entire display tank. Well saved!

**Cliff** · 08-11-2012, 10:50 PM

Thanks guys

Hopefully this little tang will start eating again soon and make a quick and full recovery

**sheamurai** · 08-11-2012, 11:27 PM

Bit of a bummer to have to delay putting this guy into your main tank. I'm sure he'll get there tho.

Just goes to show, how stressful changing environments are for fish even when everything is done right.

**Cliff** · 08-12-2012, 03:22 AM

He started picking at his algae clip a little tonight. That`s a great sign

I`ve had to treat FW ick before, but this is the first time I`ve had to treat marine ick, or anything in marine fish other thank flukes or parasites. It`s a little nerve racking for me.