Ick Questions.

E

exile415

Guest
Ok. My Yellow Tang has Ich. I need to get rid of it. So i use copper and treat it. But im wondering how it gets it ? I know the stress. But what caused it ? i acclimated it for 30 minutes. Then i put it in and didnt do anything. I put my hand in the tank a few times to fix somethings like little rocks that fell and stuff. Is that what caused it ? i bought it from my LFS and it was fine it was only 9.99. So i got it acclimated it , put it in and Did nothing. I hate using copper in my tank, but i dont want to make a QT. I just have rocks. Live rocks that are dead from the past. I just use it as hiding places. If i don't stick my hand in the tank for like 3 weeks, you think the ich will be gone? ill use copper and let the copper do its job. please tell me what i can do to never have ick again ? i hate ick. I have to move the carbon out and its even worse when you have a canister .. and a bunch of that stuff. I wanna know how keep ick away from my tank forever ! I've been thru it 3 times and im starting to get pissed
. Please help me out thanks.
 
guineawhop

guineawhop

Member
what causes it is you probably had ick in your tank already and when a fish gets stressed their slimecoating depletes and it makes it easy for the ick to grab ahold of your fish. either that or it had ick from the tank you got your fish from. and you should not have used coppper in your tank, copper is a last resort. best way to deal with it is hypo salinity which you bring the salinity down to 1.014 gradually and leave it there for a few weeks and then gradually bring it back up. that will kill all ick free roaming or ones already attached to your fish
 
fishnerd

fishnerd

Member
Hypo works, as long as its done SLOOWWWLLLYYY, and once its down keep it there for at least a month.
Personally, if you don't have inverts, and NEVER plan on putting inverts in said tank, copper is the way to go. Use a good copper test kit, and keep the copper level between a .15 and .20 for a month. That is a tried and true way to eradicate C. irritans from that aquarium (as long as there is no possibility of cross contamination).
The big things to understand about copper are...
1) Copper is a neurotoxin. You need to use enough to kill the parasite, but not too much, as it will kill your fish. A good test kit, used daily, is mandatory.
2) Copper is deadly to all invertebrates. It is adsorbed/"sucked up" by your substrate, and gradually works its way back into your system. If you use copper in a tank, you can't put invertebrates in the tank. Not next week, month, or year, unless all of the water, substrate, rocks, etc. are removed and discarded.
 
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