Ick forever??

[myckei]

My question is this I have a qt that I will be treating my fish in as they need it for different reasons. The first fish I have put in it is a yellow tang who has ick. How do I rid the tank of ick after the treatment is done and the fish is well?? The tank is empty, no decorations or rock just water.

 

[b_ball12_99]

You can just dump the tank, clean it up, get more water from your main tank, and then use it again. Ick lives 23 days without a host also.

 

[myckei]

So what if I want to keep the bio load? My plan was after my tang was well I would put in a damsel just to keep the bio load up in my filter. So do I wait like 30 days befor I can dump the water and clean the tank to make shur the ick is dead?, then add more water from the main tank and the damsel at the same time? I ask this because it has been my experience in the past that even though you use the water from the main tank your system is still 85-90% likely to crash with nitrite/nitrate spikes. Any suggestions!! Hey and thanks for you last post.

 

[jacrmill]

just leave your tank without fish for taht 23 days or whatever the life cycle of ick is. im not sure how long it is, but if you search im sure youll find all the answers you want to know. so if you leave your tank without fish for that long, then all the ick will die because of having no host.

 

[andymi]

You could also try putting the damsel in there with a cleaner shrimp, or you could feed the damsel food soaked in garlic juice. Feeding them this on occassion might help keep the parasites off the fish and still keep the bio-load and sine the parasites are not on the fish (host) they will not last longer than their lifecycle. But I agree with Terry, just put something non-living in there (food).
--Andy

 

[jacrmill]

putting a damsel in there will not allow your tank to be rid of ick. although you may not be able to see the parasites on the fish they are there. and feeding them garlic will not rid your fish or tank of these parasites but help your fish to keep them under control. if i were u id just add food every once in awhile and keep my tank without any fish for the life cycle of ick (i think its 3 weeks).