ich

[ninjaboy]

I am new to this forum. Want to get some opinion on treating ich in saltwater fish.
I have just set up a new 150 gallon tank. It will be a fish only tank. My set up consist of an Ecosystem with miracle mud and live plants in them. I have set it up for a couple of weeks now and made a mistake of adding a fish from a local store to cycle it. Come to find out the this new tomato clown I have purchased has ich. My question is should I use medication to treat it and how long do I need to wait until the ich is gone from the tank so I can start adding fish that I want to keep. I want to make sure everything is right before I start buying new fish from these online store that have quarantine fishes. ex. saltwaterfish.com. I am willing to sacrafice this tomato clown if I have to.
Thanks a lot!

 

[thejdshow]

How many fish are in the tank? Is it just the tomato? Any Live Rock? If it is just your clown and no inverts you can do a hypo salinity in your tank for about a month. This will take care of it.

 

[ninjaboy]

It is just the Tomato Clown, I do have a couple of shrimps and crabs. I have live rocks and sand in the tank. my questions is, if there is no fish in the tank. will the ich survive?
As I said, the tomato is just for cycling. What is that Hypo treatment you guys are all talking about?
Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[thejdshow]

Can ich survive without fish... no... but that doens't mean you have to ditch your tomato. Hypo is not an option for you because you have inverts. Do you have a QT (quaranteine tank)? If you have another tank you could put your tomato in there for about 5 weeks and lower the salt level to 14 ppt. If you keep the fish in 14 ppt water the ich will day in a 30 day course. However, you can not do this with your inverts and LR as it will kill those as well. If you can get another tank. This treatment is highly affective. Searche this forum for hypo threads, and read about it.
If possible you should always try to put new fish in a QT for roughly 3 weeks before adding them to you display tank. Let me know if you have any further questions. I am currently doing a hypo on my clarkii right now.

 

[ninjaboy]

Thanks for the advice. I don't have a QT and don't think I want to set one up. But if the ich is gone, I will be very careful on adding new fishes. Anyone recommand buying fish from online store. I plan on ordering from this website as they sound pretty good. Any advice?

 

[thejdshow]

The thing about ich is... It's not always visible when you purchase the fish. But best of luck to ya! (I set up my QT fairly cheap... it's a pain setting it up, but in the long run IMO its worth it)
Good Luck!
*JD

 

[nicetry]

As long as the clown remains in the tank, the parasite will continue to live. Take out the clown and leave the tank fishless for 5 weeks. Allow the tank to cycle with just the live rock. If you want to nudge it along a bit, drop in a couple of raw cocktail shrimp and let them decompose, although it's not necessary. If you're not going to treat the clown for the parasite, be sure when you return it you're square with the lfs and tell them it had ich. As mentioned, a Q tank can be set up for cheap, and you're courting disaster not having one for all new fish. With a large tank, I'm guessing you'll eventually want to keep some large fish. What will you do if one of them becomes ill? Very few treatments can be administered in a display tank. Given your investment, a Q tank would be minimal.

 

[thejdshow]

When treating ich it is also good to know the lifecycle of ich. Research that, this sight offers a lot of info on it, also there are other sites on the web as well that will offer info on it.

 

[ninjaboy]

Thanks for all your info. I did get the clown out already, I think I will consider setting up a 10 gallon or so QT. I had one before this new set up, but didn't have a good spot for it as it turn out with algae in it all the time and the home for my 2 damels that I got for cycling the tank..
One last questions, if I leave the tank without fish for 5 weeks, how about my inverts?
I have a couple of shrimp and crabs and a few turbo snails in it. Will the ich go away without fish but inverts?
Thanks again