Ich

[aquaman]

OK, I have a 29 gal semi ref set up, My wife decided to get me a couple of perc clowns, as a surprise, and she just dumped them into the tank. Well, 2 days later they were both dead from what I think was ich. Here is my question, I still have in the tank 1 yellow tail blue damsel, and coral banned shrimp, an anemone crab an anemone and I red hermit. What can I do to get rid of the ich? I know I cannot use any copper, because of the inverts, the LR, and the LS. Do I need to remove these and let the tank run a length of time to let the ich die off, how long? If I do what do I do with the inverts. I know this is a tall order, but what do you think my course of action should be?
If i have left anything out that is important please let me know.
Bob

 

[beth]

Simply place the fish that you have in a hospital tank. In the absence of fish, the parasite will die off in the tank.
Or, alternatively, you can begin a garlic soak food regime which, since your fish are asymptomatic at this point, may just be enough to prevent an outbreak. Feed garlic soaked food for 4-6 wks. Additionally, don’t add any new fish for a least 2 mos.
However, how do you know it was ich?

 

[aquaman]

I do not know for sure it was ich, i am guessing. It looked like small white dots, and on one of the fish maybe somekind of a mucas on it as well

 

[beth]

Well the only organism in your tank that is at risk here is the fish....fish diseases do not jump species.
Do as I suggested and garlic soak your fish food and see what develops [or doesn't develop]. Do not add any new fish at this point.

 

[aquaman]

At this time, no new fish, and i will not be getting any for quite some time, as i want to make sure what ever it was is gone from the tank.
Thank you for your time and help.
Bob

 

[sterling007]

You can also try "dips" of different medications. Look on posts regarding these. But then also do the garlic to help with the immune systems

 

[musipilot]

I've been through the ich wars, and have fish that lived to tell about it. In my opinion, properly administered hyposalinity is the ONLY way to cure ich. Leaving the tank fish free for 45 days will eradicate it from your tank, but the fish that were in there when the clowns were WILL get ich if thats what it was. These fish should be quarantined and treated with hypo asap. If you follow hypo correctly, you'll have no ich in the main tank at all. When you get new fish, if you want to insure ich free existance, quarantine them in the hypo tank just like they had ich, and you'll never have a problem in the main tank.