Fish with Resistant Ick

[kimcheee]

I Have a 55Gallon with a Humu Trigger, Gold Rim Tang, Blue Angel,Dragon Wrasse and a leaflip grouper. This tank was once sterilized b/c of resistant ick to copper treatment along w/ formalin & Malachite green. I had LR in the tank but failed to treat it. After isolating the LR at 92F for 1.5 months, the ick still came back three times. Twice before the sterilization and once after(last outbreak took about 2 months to show up). Now I have my grouper, wrasse and angel infected with the same strain. I've begun HS and started feeding garlic food to the entire tank with good success w/ all the fish except the grouper. So far it's been about 4 days and the grouper continues to scratch at a higher frequency. The gravity is about 1.007-1.009(I'm waiting for a new electronic hydrometer to be delivered to me). I'm currently feeding selecon soaked food to all the fish and everyone is eating. A white dot still persists on the angel's tail and white spots on the wrasses fin, but the grouper isn't really symptomatic besides scratching(then again, he has natual spott coloration to him). Breathing is normal. Prior to this, I aggressively fresh water dipped him for 3-4 days in a row in formalin. No luck!!! How come all the other fish are improving but he is not??? I stripped all the copper out of the water and have the UV sterilizer running 24/7 for the past 3 months. The only thing not running is the protein skimmer for obvious reasons. I'm afraid of the other 2 fish getting infected, but then again, whose to say they're not, so I decided to treat the entire tank. Readings are all normal. Please help.
P.S. I know the salinity for LR should stay above 1.019, but does anybody know what the lowest level it can be for it to just stay alive???
Thanks.

 

[beth]

LR cannot tolerate hyposalinity, so I suggest you take it out. Also, LR cannot tolerate cooper. Or did I misunderstand you?
In any case, continue with the hyposalinity for 3 weeks AFTER all signs of ick are gone. Hypo is not effective until the ick cycles into the "free swimming" stage of their life cycle. That is why it is necessary to wait for 3 weeks AFTER you see no signs of ick on the fish before raising the salinity back to normal perimeters.
Feed your fish with garlic soaked food and continue using the selcon or, if you can get zoe, use that.
[ August 15, 2001: Message edited by: Beth ]

 

[jimi]

Some ick is a little more stubborn to get rid of. If you are sure your salinity is where it should be it will work. As far as your live rock goes technically it is live rock because of the bacteria on it. Although people buy live rock for the other animal life on it. It is the other life, inverts and some algae that will die if hypo is used on the rock. Its hard to tell what you are asking but good life covered live rock should be kept at 1.023 to 1.025. below 1.019 life will start to die slowly depending on whats on the rock. But if the roick was subjest to 92 deg temps for any length of time chances are the only thing live on the rock now is ick and bacteria.

 

[kimcheee]

Thank you for your help.
The live rock in the tank was discarded about 2 months ago upon inception of the ick outbreak so it shouldn't be an issue anymore.
The ick is extremely stubborn and just refuses to die-even in fresh water dips which makes me concerned about using hypo for only 3-4 weeks. Can hypo be used for a longer period of time or is 3-4 weeks the max. time period before stressing out the fish???

 

[pufferlover]

Hypo can go on longer then the 30 days but any Ick should have been long dead if the salinity was kept at the right level. In the times I have tried Hypo after 30 days bringing the tank back up did not cause another outbreak unless I did a dumb thing (who me!) like add a new fish and start the mess all over (Ok I did it- I'm so ashamed lol).

 

[kimcheee]

Thanks for all the advice. Tonight, the grouper isn't scratching as much but has started to hang around the top of the tank breathing harder than usual. At least he continues to eat and doesn't look as if he's getting worse. I read somewhere that saltwater ick can continue to live even in freshwater, ie. via freshwater dips for 48-72 hours. I just thought it strange that I treated this strain of ick w/ copper at 7ppm for 3 weeks at one point in time and was still unable to kill it(the only thing I killed was a spotted grouper and a clown). Also amongst the discarded LR, it continued to persist w/out a host after 6 weeks of isolation. Maybe it's not ick but all that matters is that the fish seem to be getting better... I'll keep you guys updated and hopefully everything works out. Thanks again for all the advice and info..Also, can anyone tell me if Tangs are prone to ick infections after water changes??? I used to have a purple tang that came down with ick every single time a water change was done. If anyone has any insight into this, it would be much appreciated. Thanks!