cannot catch royal gramma

[username here]

I've had a royal gramma for two weeks and it is showing symptoms of ich. I planned to do a freshwater bath and later transport it to a hospital tank, but it keeps eluding me. It was not interested in the food in the bottle trap and even taking apart the rock work didn't help. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[DaveK]

It can be very difficult to get the fish out. Sometimes you need to remove the entire aquascape to get a fish out.

While your at it, you might as well catch all the other fish in the tank, because they all have the disease too, and you'll need to treat them also.

We have extensive information on treating ich in the fish disease section.

 

[Oxylebius]

Davek is right, you will need to treat all the fish and let the main tank go fallow for a long while. If one fish has ich then it is in your system and the rest will get it if they don't already have ich in their gills (where it is hard to see).

 

[username here]

the royal gramma is the first fish in the tank, there are no other fish but there are invertebrates.
If I do manage to catch the fish, how effective is the freshwater bath treatment?

 

[frisbee]

If your tank is fairly small, you might want to try the High & Dry method outlined in this link.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/sp/index.php

 

[DaveK]

the royal gramma is the first fish in the tank, there are no other fish but there are invertebrates.
If I do manage to catch the fish, how effective is the freshwater bath treatment?

The fresh water bath treatment will remove some parasites, but is not considered an effective treatment.

Here are the sticky threads on the subject

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/52236-curing-fish-marine-ich.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/57175-fish-white-spots-went-away.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ents/23130-copper-treatment-use-problems.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...nts/23131-hyposalinity-treatment-process.html

 

[blackbeltmom]

How long have you been trying to catch the fish? With patience, I have been able to catch pretty much anything in the bottle traps, except for tangs and fish that hide in the rock and rarely come out.