ICK

[something_fishy]

My Box fish contracted ick and is now in a Q- tank. Do I have to do anything to my main tank? My fish in the main tank seem to be healthy and I removed the box fish as soon as I noticed the ick problem. I'm thinking the Box fish stessed out when I moved and contracted ick. Any advice would be appreciated thanx!

 

[jdl/dayton]

What is your salinity in your main tank. If it is fish only I would maintain it at 1.017. This is not ideal for Ich and makes life a little more difficult for the parasite.
As for your tank now I would slowly lower the salinity to 1.010. There have been minor differences in opinion regarding this level. You can go a little lower, but since none of your current tank occupants are in danger I would keep it at 1.010 and cut your fish some slack.
The lower you go the worse it is for the parasites, but be careful because if you go below 1.008 you might threaten your fish as well.
So to recap..Lower your salinity slowly over a day to at least 1.010 and leave it there for month after your last sign of ick. Then slowly raise your salinity back to 1.017 over say 2 or 3 days. Leave it there and you should be in good shape.

 

[something_fishy]

Thanks for the info Dayton, right now I have live rock in the tank and my fish in the main tank show no signs of ick so i think I will leave it alone unless something comes up.

 

[jdl/dayton]

To be honest I am not sure how suceptable live rock organisms are to hyposalinity. It will take a long time for the parasites to starve to death with out treatment since they go into a type of suspended animation till a host arrives.
So long as your fish are healthy they can fight these off, but any stress and they will get infested in short order. Thus repeating the cycle of new parasites.