more ich questions

[drkegel]

Well, thanks to this board I succesfully treated my Achilles Tang in hypo, only to put it back in the display tank and get ich again.
What is the best way to get rid of ich from my display tank?
Here's what I am considering:
Moving all LR and fish into my empty 55, and quarantining my tang again. I'll leave my display tank fish free for about 6 weeks (I plan on doing some other work on the tank anyway, ie upgrading filtration).
I read somewhere that if the aquarium is fish free for 4-6 weeks, ich will die off becuase it can't complete it's life cycle.
I will QT all the fish one by one in hypo before adding them back to the display tank.
My corals will all be QT'd as well, although obviously not in hypo conditions before re-addition to display tank. All LR will be QT's as well so that ich can't hitchhike back into the display.
Fortunately, I have a couple tanks laying around (glad I picked them up, although my gf was beginning to wonder if I had lost my mind!). One of them I set up at her house, and it has room for some of my corals, and the 55 will get about 50% water from my display siphoned into it, and 50% new salt water.
Any suggestions? Or is this all going to be a colossal waste of time/energy?

 

[beth]

What exactly did you do to treat the tang? If all you did was treat one fish, then, of course, the display, and the fish in the display, are still uncontaminated.
You don't need to move LR, you just need to place all fish in hospital tank and do hypo on them. You can do this all at once, not one by one. In the absence of fish, the display will clear of ich during the course of your fishes' hypo treatment--around a month.

 

[drkegel]

Yes, I understand that Beth. I was only hoping (fingers crossed) that once I got the ich off the tang, he wouldn't get it again. I really didn't want to tear my reef down, but I guess I'm going to have to since I want to do the right thing for the fish.
I'm only worried about putting all 5 fish in quarantine in the 55. I don't think I have enough structure to give them each a place to hide. I don't want to use live rock because I don't want to kill all the stuff growing on it. I guess Home Depot is calling my name...
here's what I have:
achilles tang (4.5")
flaming fairy wrasse (5")
six-line wrasse (2.5")
royal gramma (3")
lawnmower blenny (4")
They all eat well, but I have noticed ich on the tang and the gramma. The other fish I haven't been able to spot any white spots on them. I do have my reservations about putting them all in the 55 at once, so maybe I'll separate one into my 10 - gal (the gramma or six-line). I guess I'll go pick up some more filtration as well.

 

[beth]

They should be ok for a month in a 55. Just be sure to maintain very good water quality.
You can get some of those fake rocks/corals that they sell now. They look ok, but are somewhat pricy.
It does seem like a PAIN to rip apart a tank, but actually once you get going on it you can get it all down and up in a realatively short time. Look on the bright side....now you have a chance to rearrange stuff around in the tank.
Good Luck!

 

[drkegel]

Well, I've got the fish in the 55, and it looks like the gramma now has popeye. Going to pull him out and put him in the 10 gallon.
Anyone have a preference as to the best treatment for popeye?

 

[beth]

How bad is the popeye? Eye problems are pretty common with ich problem, so treating the ich, could resolve the popeye. How does the eye look?
Start feeding the fish garlic soaked foods.

 

[drkegel]

The eye is "popped-out" and slightly cloudy. It certainly doesn't appear to be advanced.
My fish always get garlic-soaked foods.