ICH????????

cipher43

cipher43

Member
So most of you know that I have been switching to a bigger tank. Before the switch I had 3 clownfish, a sixline wrasse, a few peppermint shrimp, some nas snails, and some hermit crabs. After switching over though I bought a golden headed goby and the newest addition to the tank was a blue hippo tang. I have never used a qt but now i wish i had.... I think my tang has ich. It eats very well and acts happy right now and none of the other fish show any signs of ich at all. Got the fish around 2 1/2 weeks ago and I think it had the spots within a few days of us putting it in but didnt think about it being ich because it has been picking at the sand while creepin on my goby and I thought it was sand stuck to its side. This is my first experience with ich if it actually is ich. I have been reading ways to treat ich on here and had some questions for you all.
1) How far hypo do you need to go to help kill ich.
2)will cleaner shrimp be ok in my tank because I read another thread and they acted like six-line wrasses can eat them quick. or will the neon gobies be ok in the tank with the golden headed goby I have. and the most important will they actually help the situation out.
3)I am gonna be taking some of my rock to my parents house this weekend to put in their tank. Is there any quick way to kill ich on these rocks. I am helping them get their lights and all the fish in her current tank moved over this weekend and they are planning on using my rock as a base for her current rock setup. They have a yellow tang and i dont want to infect it either.
4) Final question for now. If everything is doing ok even though the tang has ich will I be ok just watching it for now and seeing what happens?
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher43 http:///t/391279/ich#post_3469132
So most of you know that I have been switching to a bigger tank. Before the switch I had 3 clownfish, a sixline wrasse, a few peppermint shrimp, some nas snails, and some hermit crabs. After switching over though I bought a golden headed goby and the newest addition to the tank was a blue hippo tang. I have never used a qt but now i wish i had.... I think my tang has ich. It eats very well and acts happy right now and none of the other fish show any signs of ich at all. Got the fish around 2 1/2 weeks ago and I think it had the spots within a few days of us putting it in but didnt think about it being ich because it has been picking at the sand while creepin on my goby and I thought it was sand stuck to its side. This is my first experience with ich if it actually is ich. I have been reading ways to treat ich on here and had some questions for you all.
1) How far hypo do you need to go to help kill ich. All the way, complete 3 weeks duration with no visible spots
2)will cleaner shrimp be ok in my tank because I read another thread and they acted like six-line wrasses can eat them quick. or will the neon gobies be ok in the tank with the golden headed goby I have. and the most important will they actually help the situation out. cleaner shrimp and neon gobies will not completely get rid of ick. Not worth adding unless you want them.
3)I am gonna be taking some of my rock to my parents house this weekend to put in their tank. Is there any quick way to kill ich on these rocks. I am helping them get their lights and all the fish in her current tank moved over this weekend and they are planning on using my rock as a base for her current rock setup. They have a yellow tang and i dont want to infect it either. Transferring rock will just transfer ick to the next tank. Quick way, will kill of everything on rock even bacteria. Leaving rock for 6 - 8 weeks fish-less is the only way to kill off ick and keep rock live.
4) Final question for now. If everything is doing ok even though the tang has ich will I be ok just watching it for now and seeing what happens? NO ick will continue to multiply and will consume all your fish. All fish need to be QT and treated with copper or hypo. I recommend hypo.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
So another question is what all with hypo kill? will it kill corals and anemones or just inverts?
Im trying to get a pic of the fish in question to see what you all think so I will try and post it here soon
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
UGH..... my big problem is getting them all caught cause I had to take all my rock out last time before i caught the wrasse. Also not sure how my goby will do because it hasnt started eating much besides cleaning the sand. And Im really not sure about the clowns cause they have never been without their anemone.
If I put all the rock im giving them in hypo water it will kill all the ich right? how long would it take to kill the ich with pure ro water on the rocks? They have 30-40 lbs of live rock and 80 lbs of live sand in the tank and im giving them 40 lbs of rock so couldnt they add it without killing anything. All they have in the tank is a yellow tang and a clownfish or 2 right now.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
also when you say all the way on saline you mean to basically turn my saltwater fish into freshwater fish for a few weeks? wont they die? I read on the big forum to put it down to 1.009 instead. am I just worrying about nothing?
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher43 http:///t/391279/ich#post_3469146
UGH..... my big problem is getting them all caught cause I had to take all my rock out last time before i caught the wrasse. Also not sure how my goby will do because it hasnt started eating much besides cleaning the sand. And Im really not sure about the clowns cause they have never been without their anemone. You can add a thin layer of sand in QT for the goby, as for clowns they will do fine with out anemone.
If I put all the rock im giving them in hypo water it will kill all the ich right? how long would it take to kill the ich with pure ro water on the rocks? They have 30-40 lbs of live rock and 80 lbs of live sand in the tank and im giving them 40 lbs of rock so couldnt they add it without killing anything. All they have in the tank is a yellow tang and a clownfish or 2 right now. If you hypo your LR there is no guarantee that you will get all the ick, may hide in areas of rock that hypo doesn't reach. Hypo takes 4 weeks to run just add 2 more weeks of a fish less tank will end ick life cycle. Also hypo will kill of wanted creatures on your live rock. Adding your rock may put there fish at risk of getting ick. I suggest you read Beth's article about ICK at the stop of this form.
 
sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher43 http:///t/391279/ich#post_3469147
also when you say all the way on saline you mean to basically turn my saltwater fish into freshwater fish for a few weeks? wont they die? I read on the big forum to put it down to 1.009 instead. am I just worrying about nothing?
1.009 is all the way down. This is low enough to kill the ich. 1.000 is fresh water. You need to bring down the SG slowly, like over two or three days. And when you bring it up you need to do it even slower, like over three or four days.
Sounds like you need to start cycling a QT and get all your fish in that. Then go fish-less (Fallow) for 6 weeks (enough time for the ich to go thru the life cycle and not have a host {fish} to cling to).
That is the best way to go. You can do hypo or copper in the QT but you must go Fallow in your tank. If you give any LR away it will have the ich on it and it will transfer it to the next tank.
I am by no means an expert, but I have had ich in my DT before and had to go fallow and treat the fish with hypo in a QT. I have since treated all my new additions (every single one with out exception!!!!!) with hypo before they go into the DT.
Good luck with everything. Let us know how it goes.
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher43 http:///t/391279/ich#post_3469147
also when you say all the way on saline you mean to basically turn my saltwater fish into freshwater fish for a few weeks? wont they die? I read on the big forum to put it down to 1.009 instead. am I just worrying about nothing?
Just miss understanding on what you meant by all the way. Yes hypo has salinity of 1.009 to kept at this level for 3 weeks after all spot are gone. You must use a refractor meter to measure salinity not a swing arm devise.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
the female clown is the biggest fish i have and shes 3-4 inches long. tang is about the same but i think its smaller still
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Just wanted to jump in the water here. Filtration is important 6 fish makes a lot of bio load in a 30 gal tank. I don't know what you have on your DT put anything that could be used on this QT will help from the existing bacteria. Don't worry bacteria will survive thru hypo, from copper it will take a hit, but will recover. Have change water ready made up and a bottle of Amquil+ or prime ready. Take ammonia readings every day.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
on my DT now I am using a ATS without a skimmer. nitrates and nitrites went up the first week and then the bottom fell out on both of them and have been running zeros on nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, and my ph stays around 8.2 to 8.3. I do have my old skimmer from the 30 gallon and i even think i have a second one laying around so I could double them up cause they arent the greatest skimmers. also have an old power head i will throw in there for good measure.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
Ok so I have had the fish in hypo for 5 1/2 weeks now and all the fish had their spots gone around the second week. For some reason tho I think there may be a new spot on one of my clowns even though the rest are doing good. The same fish now has a dark colord spot under its head where the gill plates meet so not sure what that is either. Ive been doing water changes to keep the nitrats and nitrites down the best i can but it has been a struggle im not winning for sure. Could this new spot and dark patch be from high nitrates or am i worrying about nothing or is there ich still in the tank. Ive kept the tank right at the low level the entire time.
 
cipher43

cipher43

Member
Sorry it took so long to respond, i haven't been on the computer much this week . The fish with the spot only had it for a day so I'm thinking I was a little jumpy or something.
 
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