Ick and Frozen Brine

[jc74]

My tank had a bad case of ick about a month ago (box fish especially) and I treated with copper for two weeks. Everything seemed to clear up, but now the box fish has the white spots again.
My question is, how did the ick reappear, and can ick be introduced through frozen brine shrimp? I use Sally's Brine Shrimp, and it seems that a few years ago when I used the product that ick kept reappearing. I thought that freezing salt-water food would kill any parasites.
Also, would a UV sterilizer be helpful in getting rid of the pests? Thanks for any advice.

 

[leopard_babe]

Funny you say that. My tnk got ick the other day, and I used that sallys brine shrimp. I have never used it before. Just a thought, do you rinse off your ffod before you put it in the tank. the chemical that holds the frizen cubes together can cause the nitrates in your tank to rinse, and cause algea, and ick. Try putting the food in a net, and melting it using cold water. Just a thought. I find that very interesting. I don't know that a UV sterilizer would help. i don't know much about them.
HTH
Leopard

 

[jc74]

I used Coppersafe in the past and it did the trick, but for some reason the parasites came back this time around. Maybe I should treat the tank a little longer to make sure it's gone?
I'm trying to convert to reef so I want to be sure that everything is on the up and up as soon as possible. I know you can't introduce copper into a tank with inverts and corals.
It just seems odd that whenever I use Sally's shrimp, ick seems to appear. Maybe it's a coincidence.

 

[cincyreefer]

Yes it would be coincidence. Copper safe is chelated copper and has to be tested for twice daily to make sure it is staying at the needed levels. It can be brought out of solution very easily by anything that is calcium carbonate so it really only works in quarantine tanks. It also needs more than two weeks to make sure all the tomonts are killed. Your fish may have built up an immunity to it until a sudden stressor was brought into the equation again.