HELP ! I think my fish have fleas......

luistwentyone

luistwentyone

Member
or at least thats what I think.

I have noticed lots of tiny white dots on my clown trigger and dogface puffer. Every once in a while they will also dart across the tank, also they will scratch themselves on the liverock.

tonight I treated the tank with copper.

Anybody have some advice on treatment ? or on if it is indeed fleas or ick.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
What do we have here, another secret shopper thread? Is this supposed to be real? Geez I hope not.

But, O.k., here we go...NO luis, they're not fleas. Your fish probably will not EVER have fleas in their lifetime or yours. It sounds like they have an infestation of ich, and shold not have been treated in the main display tank. Hopefully, this tank is bare, has no crushed coral or sand on the bottom, that there's no live rock, and no snails, hermit crabs or any other invertabrate life in the tank. If you treated the main tank with copper, then any calcacareous material (crushed coral, sand, coral skeletons, or live rock will absorb the copper into them, and will leach the copper back into the water for almost forever, rendering them worse than useless for a reef tank. I say worse than useless, because if you try to use them in a reef set-up, the copper that is trapped in the carbonate material will leach back out over time and will kill things like snails, hermit crabs, corals and anemones. You MIGHT be able to treat the water wqith carbon or cuprisorb and remove the copper from the water, and further remove it with water changes, but the copper in those things will always be there, and will always poison your system and kill the invertabrates in the tank...You MIGHT be able to use it in a strictly fish-only tank, but ever several years down the line, the potential for copper poisoning is too great to chance...

I really hope this is one of the RS hook threads. If not, I apologize for my attitude in responding, but I can't believe a regular member of the forums would do something like this without asking advice here first...

edit for spelling...
 
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luistwentyone

luistwentyone

Member
"another secter shopper thread?"

"RS hook threads"

this went way way over my head, so I take no offense.

I am no Marine Biologist, so I come in here and ask for advice because most people in here are understanding and knowledgeable.

in regards to my problem, I have a fish only tank.

thanks for your input
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
Well, maybe I've put the 11.5's in my mouth again...

Luis, the secret shopper or RS hook threads are threads started by the Moderators/Administrators of the board to get people to help others, and reward them for their good attempts, HOWEVER, they're phony as a $3.00 bill...
Anyway, the advice I posted is good sound advice. You say fish only. Give me some more information about the tank...size, how long has it been going, what do you have for filtration, when did you put in your last fish. Then we''ll start asking some serious questions...:D
 
ReefLady

ReefLady

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Not a secret shopper thread, BoomerD. We'll look into different ways of rewarding the members for their helpfulness. It was all supposed to be in good fun.

Luistwentyone, BoomerD's info is correct and his advice good. The vast majority of tanks here are reefs, so it's understandable that he would assume you had just put copper into a reef tank- a situation that would be worthy of a good freak-out. :)

Anyway, sounds like the fish have ich, and the copper should treat it well. But I would not use anything in the tank for a system that will house invertebrates in the future. Since you have a FO, this shouldn't be a problem and in such a tank copper is the most effective treatment I know of. So you did the right thing, you just need to know about the side effects of copper.

Now, some info on the system and water parameters would still be helpful, fish usually get ich for one of two reasons: An infected fish was introduced to the tank, or stress. If you recently added a new fish, the way to avoid future problems is by using a quarantine tank. If not, we should try to figure out what may have stressed the fish.

Travis
 
Brucey

Brucey

Well-Known Member
Luist .... great advice from the guys above, but as Bommer says. Now you have treated with copper, your system can only ever be a FO system. Most of us would try to alleviate the problem using alternative methods other than going for copper ..... which is like radiating soil. Nothing will grow in it for years. Other ways of attacking ich are to ellivate PH levels, reduce stress, proper diet, Ozone injection, UV lighting etc. As Travis said, the most important thing here is that the fish have got ich for a reason and once trated you need to find the reason they got it in the first place and make sure it doesn';t happen again. ie poor water quality, overcrowding, bullying etc etc etc.
Anyway hop that helps
Brucey

BoomerD .... you must learn to become more trusting young jedi.
:)
 
luistwentyone

luistwentyone

Member
I know when I have an issue or a question, I can come here and find an answer. You all are great !

I did recently introduce a fish to my tank, that was more likely the cause of the outbreak.

Boomer, like I stated earlier, no offense taken and I thank you for your advice.

THANKS EVERYONE !
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
you must learn to become more trusting young jedi.
Click to expand...
Bruce, I got caught in the first "secret shopper" thread...I've been VERY suspicious of such obvious things since...
 
ReefLady

ReefLady

Well-Known Member
Staff member
No need to be suspicious anymore. We’ll find a different way to do it. Like I said, it was all supposed to be in fun. Sorry it had the opposite effect for you.
 
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