Contrating Ich?

[psw4]

How do fish get ich? I think it came form one of the new fish I bought, or does it come from water tempreture changes? as someone else told me. I had an outbreak alittle while ago and only my flame hawk survived it. Still wainting for 4 weeks to get some more fish. Has anyone purchased fish from this site? and how is the quality?

 

[elfdoctors]

Welcome to the Boards!
Saltwater ich has to be imported into a tank. One of your fish was infected. This is why a QT is usually considered an essential piece of equipment. In contrast, Freshwater ich may always be in a tank and only comes out after some sort of stress to the fish.
Did you treat your hawkfish? You have to assume it has ich also. Some fish can get a limited immunity but they can still infect any new fish you may add. The only two reliable treatments for ich are hyposalinity and copper. Both of these are toxic to invertebrates and live rock so it should be done in a different tank (or move those into another tank).
I have brought multiple fish, invertebrates and corals from swf.com. (I even have an order pending right now which will probably shipped Monday). Their quality (and prices) have been excellent. I have never had a disease come from any of the fish they have shipped. I think you are more likely to get diseases from your LFS as they have to mix multiple species together and rarely idle a tank to cure an infection.

 

[psw4]

I have treated my hawk with copper safe which was given to me by the LFS. (I'm not sure if copper safe works the same as copper?) Since then I have set up another tank to be my display and will be turning the original into my QT which the hawk is still in and will be for a few more weeks.
I ended up putting some Mollys into my new display tank after it had been running for two weeks. LFS said to start the tank with some cheaper fish and some Fritzime #9. The mollys came down with ich too, so I 'm stuck waiting for that tank to clear now also.
I had an outbreak a few months before this one and just treated with copper safe and wasn't able to save any of my fish.
Didn't know anything about hypo or the life cycle of ich till just recently when we stumbled onto this site looking for info. I took the specific gravity down to 1.02 which was the bottom of my hydrometer (green area) I was afraid to go any lower at the time. Still have not been able to save any fish that have had ich. I don't want this to happen again if I get another sick fish.
Thanks for the advice. This site seems to have a lot of people with educated information.

 

[elfdoctors]

Coppersafe is one form of copper. It is not the most effective but it bills itself as less toxic then other forms.
If you leave your tank fishless for a month the ich will be gone. Glad to hear you are getting a QT set up.
If you get advice which you don't quite believe from a LFS, don't hesitate to ask here. The LFS has a profit motive to sell you stuff. Most of the people on these boards have no such motive.