hypothetically ich

[sponge bob]

my reef tank has developed an ich infestation. Due to a malfuctioning heater there was major temp fluctuations. I have since then stabilized the temp to within only a .71 of a degree fluctuation (79.03-79.74). I was curious, since the temp has been stablized and the life cycle of ich is only 23 days, is it possible to ride it out and pray for minimal loss without any treatment. I have 4 scissor, 3 neon, and 3 engineer gobbies. 1 damsel, 1 bi color antius, 1 flame angel, turbo snails, pin cushions, long spines, cleaner shrimp, coral bandits, and fire shrimp. The angel, damsel, and anthius seem to be using the benefits of cleaner shrimp. The others seem to already be at the stages of "Dropsy". I think anyways due to the size of there bloating. I do not have a hospital tank anymore due to breakage. Does ich left untreated have a 100% mortality rate? Is it possible it can just run its course and keep a few fish?

 

[beth]

As long as you have fish in this tank, they will be exposed to ick.
Ick does not "run its course" while there are fish present.
Ick has a life cycle of approx. 23 days during which time the parasite undergoes 3 stages. In the tomite [free-swimming] stage, the parasite is infectious to fish. During this stage, the tomite’s goal is to find a host fish, or die trying. After they attach to the gills or body of a fish, they develop into the second stage, the parasitic trophont. During this stage they burrow into the fish, feeding on it’s tissues, which can cause considerable damage and even result in a secondary bacterial infection on the infected fish. Once well fed the trophonts stop feeding and develop cystic coverings. This becomes the inactive tomont stage and during this final stage the cysts may stay trapped in the mucus of the fish, or fall off and sit on the bottom of the aquarium. Within 6 to 10 days hundreds of new tomites emerge looking for fish hosts and the cycle begins all over again, and again and again until something is done about it. The only time this parasite is vulnerable is during their free swimming stage [unless you are a hobbyist who strongly believes in FW dips & that ick are also effected by dips]. The standard treatment for Ick is copper sulfate and hyposalinity. Only in the free-swimming stage are these 2 treatments effective.
In my opinion, you have no choice but to setup a hospital tank. You can also feed your fish garlic soaked food, but this is not a cure for ick, but it may help to some extend.
For more details, see TerryB's threads which are stickied to the top of this forum.

 

[sponge bob]

Thank you TerryB and Beth for your infomative points of view. Unfortunately I have been going of the suggestions that my local fish store has been providing me. Since I am still a new hobbiest I assumed that they knew what they were talking about. I just joined this message board today and am I glad I found you. Thanks again.

 

[sponge bob]

Ok Beth &/or Terry B here is the deal. I went out and bought a 25 gal hospital tank and was told by a new LFS that I would have to wait for the hospital to cycle. So this is what I did. By the time the tank cycled it would be to late to save the fish. I moved all my live sand, live rock, inverts, and urchins into the hospital tank. I put in a 100 watt ebo-jager heater and a power head to keep some sort of circulation and am going to use the live rock for my filtration. So now I am treating my fish in the main tank with a copper treatment. I am using Sea Cure and maintaining the ionic copper level at 1.5 and going to regular tests using a test kit and doing 20% water changes everyother day.
All of this is in motion as we speak so if you can recommend a better strategy please let me know. Thanks again.
[ November 13, 2001: Message edited by: sponge bob ]

 

[beth]

NO! Do not add copper to your main tank. You will not be able to return your LS, LR or inverts there after adding copper!!
Stop listening to the LFS until you get our opinion, pleaz.
You could setup the hospital tank using water from the main tank. If the tank started a cycle, you would be there with salt water to do water changes if necessary. Hospital would not have sand and you can vaccum up the glass bottom keeping the tank clean.
YOu should use hyposalinity, but you SHOULD NOT place copper in your main tank. Copper will be absorbed into the silicon used to seal the tank. You could, however, use hyposalinity in your main tank now that you moved everything except the fish out of it. Fish will need hiding spots, so don't leave this tank completely barren.

 

[ebeckels]

good lord!!! I've only been using this forum for about a month or so and i must admit that beth and terry both know what they are talking about...I've learned a ton about ich from them... About a month or two ago i would have listened to the lfs owner just like u did. by the way...try getting some stuff to get rid of the copper in ur main tank. Otherwise not only will ur fish die due to the ich, the corals and everything else will die due to copper! Hope everything will work out for u.

 

[aceiswild7]

i have a question which is slightly more hypethetical then his because all of my fish are healthy and im not moving anything but something like a polypad wouldnt remove copper from the system? i mean ive never used copper but id imagine there is some way to get it out of the water