Can fish ever survive the ******/ick without treatment?

[shaunna]

I have a 90 gallon tank, which I just upgraded from a 60 gallon tank, so I didn't have to start seasoning the tank from scratch. I have live rock, 2 anenome's, not the greatest picture, but I'm attaching a pic of what my tank looked like less than a week ago.
Since Sunday, I've lost 6 fish, I have 3 left, two clowns and a damsel. I can see on my black and white clown its covered in the dusty looking stuff I have read is called ******? I think? I thought it was ick, but read its not called that with salt water.
Anyhow, here's my dilemma. I live in a small town, its Christmas Eve, so even if I could drive to Reno, an hour away, to buy anything to make a quarantine tank, and/or get treatment for it, etc, its snowing, and everything closed early anyway, and I'm pretty much broke at the moment. So I'm watching my poor clownfish, the orange one which I've had like 3 years, and so far doesn't show any signs of having this parasite and the newer (just here 3 weeks) black and white clown, and can do nothing to stop this. Since the False percula clown I think its called as no signs of illness yet, is there ANY chance at all it could survive without any treatment at this point? This week I've lost the yellow tang, Mandarin, Jewel Damsel, Bi-Colored Angel and Royal Gramma. Its so stinking depressing. Not too mention major money down the drain.

The temp is 78, I don't have readings on the water, I know its unthinkable for many of you, but we've never had to do any water tests before, had the 60 gallon for three years, no problems.
Shaunna

 

[sepulatian]

Welcome to the boards!! The fish can fight off ich (Cryptocaryon irritans IS saltwater ich) if their immune system is high. Fish can live with ich. The problem is that the parasites will still attach and feed off of your fish, but in small numbers. It is a balance. If the balance is disrupted in any way, such as one of your fish has it's immune system lowered for any reason or you add a new fish that is weak or stressed, then the fish will not be able to fight off the parasites. If the fish cannot fight off the parasites then the parasites are able to feed and reproduce. Each parasite reproduces by the hundreds. Ich can easily reach plague proportions within the tank.
First you have to decide if you want to control ich or eliminate it from your system. Please take a look at Beth's Common Treatments FAQ located at the top of this forum. In that she describes ich's life cycle and the treatment options available.

 

[richl]

Sorry to hear about your predicament. I'm new to the hobby and went through this a few months ago. Basically added too many fish too fast before learning the basics. I lost 5 of 6 fish to Ich - had no meds and no QT. The sole survivor was a Cinnamon Clown, so hopefully your Clowns are resistant to this as well. If your tank is infested with Ich and the fish look really sick, I think I would at least move them out to as large a pale as I could and do a 3-5 minute fresh water dip (read about this!!) and then replace the water with fresh salt water. Then get to town tomorrow and get a QT, copper meds and test kit. You will need a heater and water circulation, but don't use carbon in a filter. Your DT will have ich unless you leave it without fish for at least one month. Read as much as you can on this site ands be ready next time.
When this happened to me, I went out and bought a 20 gal QT where any new purchase has to spend at least 4 weeks. Left the display tank without fish for 5 weeks so the Ich could die off. I now have 2 healthy fish in the DT and one new fish in the QT that started to show signs of ich or velvet about 3 weeks after arrival. Now treating with copper and he looks much improved. I won't move him to the DT for at least a month and only if he's looking great. After that, I'll buy fish # 4. Hopefully, this 'one-in one-out' approach will ensure only healthy fish go into the DT and at a rate that doesn't stress the system. Anyway, don't feel too bad and don't be afraid to start over - you are definitely not alone in this. Get your QT, copper & anti-bacterial meds and read everything on this site. Best of luck.

 

[shaunna]

Well amazingly everything is still alive this morning, and looks pretty much the same, I'm thinking my orange false percula is very healthy as he still shows no signs of having anything on him. The black percula is still covered but alive, and the damsel looks fine too. I'm going to Reno tomorrow, but I was hoping for an easier cheaper fix if possible, without getting the QT tank at this time, would like to get something off craigslist or something later. I was looking at SWF.com and they have a reef safe product called "It's Clear", has anyone ysed this? I was going to try and get some tomorrow, it claims that you don't even have to do a filter change etc. Probably too good to be true, but seems the answer to my prayers at this point. I definitely will be getting a QT in the future for new fish arrivals from now on, but I'd really like to save my clowns right now as inexpensively as possible since money is so tight.
Shaunna