Ok, soo..... I guess I don't QT them now? hah.

I guess I will have to talk to Bob...

I hope I didn't make a wrong impression as if I know absolutely nothing about the hobby... haha, I do know a bit, I read every day on the websites, books ,etc.

Anyways.. the Fluval 404 did have sponge. I threw them out as recommended by other reefers, because it builds up nitrates and such.

At home now... just checked the fish, and there are no spots right now.

I see the most spots at night, with actinic lighting... actinic goes on around 8, i see the most spots around 8 30 - 9 00 . How come?

Sooo..... time to send Bob a PM!

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How are the fishes appitites and activity now? If the ick is clearing up it could be that they are encysting, the ick will come bck even worse. This would be a good time for you to get them over to Bob's, before the cysts burst again and infect your fish even more.

The fish are eating fine, like pigs as usual, activity in all fish is normal.. nothing odd. No spots noticed since Thursday, which was only one or two spots.

I have been feeding garlic with the food.

Like I had mentioned earlier, I don't know if I can get them to Bob's this week, I am busy (I don't drive) , I have lots of stuff around home to do before we leave for B.C .. that's why I asked if it could wait until I get back. I can TRY to get them to Bob's before then, but I doubt I can.

Danny, wouldn't I have seen more ich than I did before they started encysting though.. I basically seen ich on the female clown ONLY one time ONLY , which was only about 10 spots max... I have seen maybe 1 speck on the male clown the entire time, I have seen no ich on the bicolor or yellow watchman the entire time..... Would it really be so bad to just keep trying the garlic?

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No it wouldn't be that bad if it seems to be working. I would question if is acutully ick that your fish have though. How long are you going to BC for?

I will be back on Sunday... so if some family member is feeling ambitious after the road trip, we could snatch up the fish and run them to Bobs (if hes ok with it of course) ... but I am betting on Monday or Tuesday evening :neutral:

If not ich, what would you guess it could be ? What would be a symptom to look for? Sorry for all the recent Q's ... just lots to learn I guess

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Maybe I just got lucky, but when my fish got ick, I tossed a couple of extra cleaner shrimp into the tank - a couple of days later . . . no more ick! Don't use copper treatment on the mandarin - it'll kill him. They don't get ick anyway because of their skin. My sister's fish had ick, she spent $$$ setting up a QT, medications, etc. Lost all the fish. Besides, cleaner shrimp are fun!

They might not show signs of Ick but add any stress for your fish and you could see that Ick is still in your tank. Hopefully not!

Dave

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Or clowns, or lionfish, or any scaleless fish for that matter. There shouldn't be any need to treat a manderine for ick anyway, they rarely get it.

I am under the impression now that ick is always present in our tanks. And just an update.... back from BC and my clowns still look healthy as can be ???? They don't look any worse since when I left, if anything I'd say better.

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