Is Ick contangious?
- Thread starter sprieto
- Start date
sprieto
Member
Bottom line:
60 gallon tank, 5 fish, at least 1 (possable 2) with ick.
No hospital tank, but only a few pounds of live rock and 1 anemone in the main tank.
I have a 30 gallon, but it has 4 fish doing okay (yes, I should have kept it for a hospital tank, but I got over excited and kept buying fish).
I thought about moving the fish from the 60g that look okay, but what if they already got ick from the fish that have it, I risk everybody!
Can the anemone get ick or care the bactiria, or is it just fish?
I can easily remove the live rock, and 1 anemone (if I must) to treat the main tank.
Hyposalinity or medication?
Will ick ever go away by itself?
Any adivse or opinions....
60 gallon tank, 5 fish, at least 1 (possable 2) with ick.
No hospital tank, but only a few pounds of live rock and 1 anemone in the main tank.
I have a 30 gallon, but it has 4 fish doing okay (yes, I should have kept it for a hospital tank, but I got over excited and kept buying fish).
I thought about moving the fish from the 60g that look okay, but what if they already got ick from the fish that have it, I risk everybody!
Can the anemone get ick or care the bactiria, or is it just fish?
I can easily remove the live rock, and 1 anemone (if I must) to treat the main tank.
Hyposalinity or medication?
Will ick ever go away by itself?
Any adivse or opinions....
f1shman
Active Member
The only way to cure ick 99.99% is hyposalinity. Also if you mediciated with a copper medication when you readded your anemone it would die very quickly. Anemones can get other diseases, but not ick. I think ick can go away by itself if all the inhabitants of the tank manage to fight it off and then the ick will become dormant and then with no host end up dying, but that can take quite some time. I'd say take the rock + anemone out and do hypo.
darth tang
Active Member
Remove the anenome and live rock. and then treat the tank with hyposalinity.
Do not use medication as you will never be able to put the anenome back in.
Do not use medication as you will never be able to put the anenome back in.
sprieto
Member
I think there is 0 chance the small tank got infected.
I have a royal gramma (in the 60g) that I first saw small white spots (really hard to tell).
I moved my Por. Puffer in the tank on Saturday. On Sunday I decided to put the power heads I removed back in the tank. The puffer got stuck in one of the power heads and puffed up.
I unplugged (and eventually removed again) the PH, and the puffer calmed down.
Monday I saw he had really bad white spots (the puffer) on his fins and body.
He still has a appitite, but what appears to be ick is very noticable.
I am sure the 30g is okay (I will move the anemone in there).
So Hypo means slowly droping salt levels to 1.009 over a few days, leaving it like that for a few weeks, and then slowly raising it up again?
Thank for all the advice.
I have a royal gramma (in the 60g) that I first saw small white spots (really hard to tell).
I moved my Por. Puffer in the tank on Saturday. On Sunday I decided to put the power heads I removed back in the tank. The puffer got stuck in one of the power heads and puffed up.
I unplugged (and eventually removed again) the PH, and the puffer calmed down.
Monday I saw he had really bad white spots (the puffer) on his fins and body.
He still has a appitite, but what appears to be ick is very noticable.
I am sure the 30g is okay (I will move the anemone in there).
So Hypo means slowly droping salt levels to 1.009 over a few days, leaving it like that for a few weeks, and then slowly raising it up again?
Thank for all the advice.
f1shman
Active Member
Here. This is said by Beth, a moderator on this site (i think)
NOTE: This procedure can not be performed in an environment containing live rock, live sand or inverts [including crabs, corals, etc.] If you have a strictly Fish-Only setup, then the treatment can be done within the display, otherwise, you will need to treat infected fish in a quarantine/hospital tank.
You will need: Refractometer or a glass hydrometer calibrated to tank temperatures, pH buffers, a tank or quarantine area for the infected fish that is adequately filtered.
Hyposalinity is a procedure involving lowering the salinity from normal tank levels to 14 ppt (1.009 Specific Gravity) over the course of 48 hours. This is done by doing a series of small water changes using fresh dechlorinated water. During the procedure, pH must be closely monitored as pH tends to drop as water become less saline. Fish are maintained in hyposaline conditions for three weeks after all symptoms are gone. Again, accurate measuring is essential, and the standard swing arm hydrometers are not going to work. A refractometer or large glass lab grade hydrometer calibrated to tank temperatures is needed. Once the fish have been asymptotic for three weeks, the salinity is then raised back to display tank levels over the course of a week. Fish can not tolerate rapid increases in salinity. Leave the fish in quarantine at display tank levels for another week.
Your display will now have been fishless for at least four weeks, sufficient time to allow the parasite’s life cycle to be interrupted. ****** is an obligate parasite that requires a fish host. No fish=No host=No parasite. Ich is a fish-only parasite, it will not affect inverts.
Continue to monitor pH daily during the process and be prepared with buffers to address any pH problems. Also keep the water clean through proper filtration.
NOTE: This procedure can not be performed in an environment containing live rock, live sand or inverts [including crabs, corals, etc.] If you have a strictly Fish-Only setup, then the treatment can be done within the display, otherwise, you will need to treat infected fish in a quarantine/hospital tank.
You will need: Refractometer or a glass hydrometer calibrated to tank temperatures, pH buffers, a tank or quarantine area for the infected fish that is adequately filtered.
Hyposalinity is a procedure involving lowering the salinity from normal tank levels to 14 ppt (1.009 Specific Gravity) over the course of 48 hours. This is done by doing a series of small water changes using fresh dechlorinated water. During the procedure, pH must be closely monitored as pH tends to drop as water become less saline. Fish are maintained in hyposaline conditions for three weeks after all symptoms are gone. Again, accurate measuring is essential, and the standard swing arm hydrometers are not going to work. A refractometer or large glass lab grade hydrometer calibrated to tank temperatures is needed. Once the fish have been asymptotic for three weeks, the salinity is then raised back to display tank levels over the course of a week. Fish can not tolerate rapid increases in salinity. Leave the fish in quarantine at display tank levels for another week.
Your display will now have been fishless for at least four weeks, sufficient time to allow the parasite’s life cycle to be interrupted. ****** is an obligate parasite that requires a fish host. No fish=No host=No parasite. Ich is a fish-only parasite, it will not affect inverts.
Continue to monitor pH daily during the process and be prepared with buffers to address any pH problems. Also keep the water clean through proper filtration.