Lionfish with Ich

eerie

eerie

Member
Hello There!
I have two quite large volitan lionfish that has just came with ich! I currently have them in a 90 gallon aquarium. These are the only two fish I have in this tank, along with live rock and several invertebrates.
The only quarantine tank I have is only a 20 gallon high, and both lionfish will not be able to fit in there, without getting even more stressed.
Would it be safe to move all of my inverts/live rock into the QT and treat the DT with hyposalinity and copper? Or will the hypo and copper kill my beneficial bacteria?
 
fmarini

fmarini

Member
this stinks- are you sure the lions have ich?
lions one one of the last fish to ever come down w/ ich. It does happen but its very rare. I'm asking because lion frequently have spots on them, which maybe confused for ich sometimes. Can you post a pict
If you want my opinion
i would never treat your display tank w/ live rocks, inverts, live sand w/ any type of ich treatment.
To eradicate Ich from your fish and your aquarium, you’ll need a two-pronged approach that is carried through to completion of the Ich life cycle; treat both your fish, and your tank separately. Capture the fish w/ Ich (and ideally all your fish) and place them in your hospital tank, these fish will be treated with either a copper containing medicine for a minimum of 2 full weeks (my favorite is cupramine-follow manufacturers guidelines) or thru hyposalinity (please do a online search for this technique as it will take pages to describe it) for 1 full Ich life cycle, approximately 30 days, in the mean time leave your tank fallow (without fish) but running, as mentioned above without an appropriate fish host the theronts will die off.
Remove any decorations, rockwork, and filter material as Ich has most likely penetrated them, and wash them in hot freshwater. After the 4 weeks of treatment the fish can be reintroduced. Using both a freshwater dip to eradicate the adults organisms attached to the fish, followed by copper-medicines, can combat severe infections. Most Ich infections can be prevented by thoroughly quarantining all new arrivals.
I would be remiss to not mention that other authors who have written about keeping lionfish have suggested that they are “quite sensitive” to not only copper-based treatments, but to formalin, and malachite green containing medication. So I would treat your fish with a watchful eye, and any signs of undue stress, remove the fish to clean seawater
 
eerie

eerie

Member
I would post a picture, but the spots don't show up at all with my camera. I do believe it is Ich though. Their eyes are awfully cloudy and spotty and their back fins are also cloudy with those pesky "white sand spots." Also, their appettite has gone and hasn't eaten for a couple days now. I've been using Kent Garlic Xtreme and even tried soaking the silversides with it, but still no luck.
I never want to treat my DT with any medicines, but in this situation, I don't see another way. I'm planning on moving ALL of my inverts into the QT along with my LR. (The QT is big enough to house them for several weeks, but isn't big enough to house the lions.) Meaning, that the only thing left in my DT will be the 2 lions and the sand. This way I can start hyposalinity in the DT. Is this a bad idea? It sounds bad to me, but I'm seriously stuck.
 
eerie

eerie

Member
HA! Yeah me too! Wish me luck with mine and I'll do the same to yours! I'll keep an eye out for updates to your thread! Any recommendations for me? After 5 years with these guys, this is my first Ich outbreak with my Lions.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Mine was almost 3 years old the first time he got it. It reared it's ugly head when I messed up and he stressed. I got him the size of a walnut. He had never been in contact with any other saltwater fish after I bought him. Never been in a tank lived in by anyone else and all fallow for a min of 2 months before he went in. Never saw a speck on him even though he was profusely photographed. Nothing went in his tank without being QT'd.... nothing.
Him and the frondosa have been together in a 60g for 11 months. The frondosa was QT'd for 3 months prior to being placed with the lion and as I said, the lion lived alone for 3 years and was even treated with hypo for 3 months at one point. Where's it come from
don't know.
 
eerie

eerie

Member
Well I was able to borrow an empty 55 gallon tank from my friend, so I put them both in a QT! Thank God, I was able to borrow one before the Ich got worse. I just noticed the spots yesterday, so he hasn't progressed to any further serious stages.
But, I have a problem now... one of the lions is laying on the bottom on his side, not moving. He appears to be breathing heavy. I cycled water out of my DT to put in the QT, so the water parameters and temperature are exactly what he is used to. I haven't even begun the hyposalinity process. Any thoughts?
The other one is out and about looking for food. He appears to be normal.
 
eerie

eerie

Member
Both lions are now acting completely normal! He must have just been stressed from being moved to the QT.
I started the hypo last night and so far everything is going perfeectly!
I'm having trouble feeding one of my lions. I feed them frozen silversides along with the occassional krill for a more varied diet. However, he doesn't seem to be interested in either one. I even tried shoving Garlix Xtreme down the silversides throats, but still have no luck. I haven't fed them live foods in a few years now and really don't want to start that process up again by giving him live foods. Think I should though, just to tempt his hunger? Any thoughts?
 
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