had my tank for 7 months and ick...

[ineedhelpnow]

Well, I had my tank for about 6 weeks and I made a hug mistake. Well thats over now and I have remade my tank and it was all going good, I had all the right things in my 180 tank:things like a skimmer, UV Sterlizer, lights, powerheads(2), crushed coral, 100 pounds of fuji live rock(going for more about 50 more), and others..
Well, since my tank had ick, all the fish had died and I left my tank alone for about 3 and a half months. Now I changed everything. All the stuff was fine and everything was doing good.Ii put in a yellow tang, salfin tang, and a achillies tank. The achillies tang is a very hard fish to take care of and I wanted to see how good the tang was... so i took a chance... and they are doing all fine. THe fish were doing good and everything is doing good until the ick came in. Ick was there for about the 2 days, then I got a UV. Went well, all the stuff went away, then it came bak now. Now everything was worse then last time. I checked everything and it was all fine. Well, I dont really know what to do now. Should I go with Hyposalinity or what should I do. I also need some help with the Hyposalinity.
I have no idea what I should do. Thanks alot for all your help. Hope you reply for my help.

 

[beth]

This is the kind of problem you get when you don't quarantine your fish before you put it in your tank.
You can not treat your fish in the main tank, because you have live rock. Can you set up a separate quarantine tank that is large enough for those tangs to stay in for a month???
This is the procedure for hyposalinity:
O.S.T. stands for Osmotic Shock Therapy which is commonly referred to in the hobby as hyposalinity [water that is deficient in sea salt]. Essentially, O.S.T. simply places the infectors [Cryptocaryon parasite---ick/ich] in an environment in which they cannot survive while the host, (or infected fish) can. This remedy WILL NOT work in reef systems, invert tanks or FOWLR as it incorporates lowering the specific gravity of the entire system [hospital tank] to 1.009 which is not tolerated by inveryts or LR.
To drop the salinity, this is done as you would do a normal water change. However, you are simply replenishing your tank with fresh RO/DI water---not salt water! Monitor the lowering closely so as to not reduce it too fast. Usually over a period of 48 hours is fine. The bacteria colony which is the biological support for your tank will survive, the fish will survive, but the ich will not. By lowering the salinity, you will also be lowering the osmotic pressure of the water. Fish tolerate this treatment very well, in fact, once the water become hyposaline, you will likely note a significant improvement in your fish health and appetite. There is no reason to fear this treatment.
Your goal is to drop the specific gravity to 1.009 [48-hrs] gradually. Once all signs of the parasite are gone, then keep your fish in this hypo-saline water for 3-4 wks. If all is well, then you can gradually [over the course of 4-5 days] bring the specific gravity [salinity] back up to normal levels . If all is well after a week, then return the fish to their main tank.
When the fish are eating, offer them quality and varied food soaked in garlic.

 

[ineedhelpnow]

Originally posted by Beth
This is the kind of problem you get when you don't quarantine your fish before you put it in your tank.
You can not treat your fish in the main tank, because you have live rock. Can you set up a separate quarantine tank that is large enough for those tangs to stay in for a month???
This is the procedure for hyposalinity:
O.S.T. stands for Osmotic Shock Therapy which is commonly referred to in the hobby as hyposalinity [water that is deficient in sea salt]. Essentially, O.S.T. simply places the infectors [Cryptocaryon parasite---ick/ich] in an environment in which they cannot survive while the host, (or infected fish) can. This remedy WILL NOT work in reef systems, invert tanks or FOWLR as it incorporates lowering the specific gravity of the entire system [hospital tank] to 1.009 which is not tolerated by inveryts or LR.
To drop the salinity, this is done as you would do a normal water change. However, you are simply replenishing your tank with fresh RO/DI water---not salt water! Monitor the lowering closely so as to not reduce it too fast. Usually over a period of 48 hours is fine. The bacteria colony which is the biological support for your tank will survive, the fish will survive, but the ich will not. By lowering the salinity, you will also be lowering the osmotic pressure of the water. Fish tolerate this treatment very well, in fact, once the water become hyposaline, you will likely note a significant improvement in your fish health and appetite. There is no reason to fear this treatment.
Your goal is to drop the specific gravity to 1.009 [48-hrs] gradually. Once all signs of the parasite are gone, then keep your fish in this hypo-saline water for 3-4 wks. If all is well, then you can gradually [over the course of 4-5 days] bring the specific gravity [salinity] back up to normal levels . If all is well after a week, then return the fish to their main tank.
When the fish are eating, offer them quality and varied food soaked in garlic.
So what do you think I have to do, make a extra tank for my fish? How big do you think it should be since I have 3 tangs?
So I have to take out all the fish, put them into a extra tank, and lower the salt to 1.009 for both tanks? Which tank do I have to lower it for?

 

[clarkiiboi]

You will have to lower salinity in the QT/hospital tank ONLY. In the main tank the (if you have any) LR, LS, and inverts wont carry the ich, but it will still be in the water it just has no host and therefor dies, but its a good 4 weeks to be safe. What else is in the main tank? If any other fishes, you need to QT/hospitalize them too.
Yes you will need a extra tank to house the tangs, as for how big, I am not the one to ask. (I do not have tangs). But I know it will be dependant on the size of the tangs and what kind you have together.
Also if you get this set up, you will be ready to QT any new additions you get and hopefully never go through this again, I've been there before this BB and I know what you are feeling. HTH

 

[saltwatergal]

Hi!
I was reading your tread on your saltwater ick problem.
Well read the one above yours on hypo.
I have put in some information about 4 tangs in a 55 gal tank that are doing fine at the moment with the salinity dropped down to 1.009. They are hippo, sailfin, yellow and purple. The hippo, sailfin and the purple were covered with ick. I week later, there is no sign of it now! They are happy, eating and healthy. I put the two cleaner shrimps in my 46 bow reef tank. They couldn't stay with the fish only tank when I dropped the salinity. They don't need them now!!
You can do it just get some base rock that is not live to put inside the extra tank you will be doing hypo with. Keep a close watch on them.
I would though think twice before putting those tangs back together in the reef tank. I learned the hard way.
Don't waste your money on medicine do the hypo!!
Saltwatergal

 

[saltwatergal]

The only reason I have 4 tangs in a 55 gal. I had a bout with ick in two of my tanks where I had two tangs in each tank.
I had to move all of them into my 55 gal to do hypo on them.
No medicine works. They are doing fine at this time. The second week with hypo no signs of ick.
I would not recommend for anyone to put that many tangs in one tank unless they have no choice like I did.
Saltwatergal

 

[ineedhelpnow]

so how do i make a quarent thingy tank? what do i need? how big should it be? give me info on how to build it up and to see what would help in the tank. Please also tell me what you did with ur QT. I want all the info
ANYBODY GOING TO HELP ME!!!???

 

[wanabebell]

By a regular cleaner shrimp
you wont have another problem aslong as hes in there
i work at a lfs and beleive me it really works