The Dreaded Ich

[reefeel]

So my Red Sea Sailfin Tang and Purple Tang have ich. I had them quarentined for 2 weeks and they have been in the main tank for two months. I have three other tangs with them which were also ich free when I put them in after quarentine. The only thing that I have added recently was my Maxima clam from TFP which is know to have ich so I have a feeling the ich came from them. The fish are fine as of now except they have the dreaded salt spots. The fish are immpossible to get out with 400lbs of live rock in there with them. So what can I do? I have never had ich problems before.
Water Parameters
Temp: between 79.5 and 81 degrees
No Ammonia or Nitrites
Nitrates 5ppm or less
pH 8.2
no PO4
DKH 12
SG 1.026

 

[highcottn1]

ok her's wat to do. buy a can of "kick-ich" ich treatment at ur lfs use it EXACTLY as directed. raise ur temp to about 82-83 this helps to burn off the ich also make some garlic-fish food mix crushed garlic with regular fish food. it helps plus the fish love it! good luck

zack

 

[f14peter]

Once again, garlic and any bottled treatments will not rid the tank of ich. The garlic can boost the immune system of a fish so that it can better resist ich, and the best that bottled treatments can do is make the ich drop of the fish's body . . . the parasite remains.
Please refer to this thread about getting all the ich out of your tank, otherwise it's a sucker's-bet that at some point the ich will re-infest your livestock . . .
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127007
P.S. the use of the term "Sucker's-bet" in no way means I'm calling anyone a sucker, it's an old term similar to no-brainer, slam-dunk, sure-thing.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by f14peter
Once again, garlic and any bottled treatments will not rid the tank of ich. The garlic can boost the immune system of a fish so that it can better resist ich, and the best that bottled treatments can do is make the ich drop of the fish's body . . . the parasite remains.
Please refer to this thread about getting all the ich out of your tank, otherwise it's a sucker's-bet that at some point the ich will re-infest your livestock . . .
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127007
P.S. the use of the term "Sucker's-bet" in no way means I'm calling anyone a sucker, it's an old term similar to no-brainer, slam-dunk, sure-thing.
I completely agree

Unfortunately, ich is now in your system. You will have to find a way to catch ALL of the fish and remove them for treatment. There are only two ways to kill ich, hyposalinity treatment or copper. Tangs are sensitive to copper, so hypo is the way to go. Also, for future reference, 2 weeks is not enough qt time. All new purchases (including clams/corals) should be qt'd for 3 weeks minimum.

 

[reefeel]

The only problem is how am I going to catch six tangs and how are they going to fit in a 10 gallon tank when they range from 2in to 5/6in when there already is a hippo tang, and flame angel in the hospital tank from?

 

[reefeel]

Scratch the tank problem. I forgot the 37 gallon empty tank sitting beside me so that can house the tangs for now but the catching thing is a whole nother question. I don't need to catch my blennys and mandarin right, from what I read they don't get ick. I know my eel is fine against ick. Think I should get some of the stop ick or what ever just to help protect the eel and blennies from a rare occurance?

 

[lion_crazz]

Mandarins cannot host ich, but everything else needs to be treated in hyposalinity. Blennies and eels can certainly get ich. Do not waste your time or money on the kick ich or reef-safe medications.
Peter was right on the money with his reply.

 

[reefeel]

Okay so I am collecting water to do a water change in my display tank and have the 37 gallon tank ready for water from the display tank. The only thing I am worried about is entering a cycle as there is going to be 6 large fish, 3-5in, and 4 small, 1-2 in, fish. If I place some of my live rock in the quarintine tank will that help?

 

[f14peter]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
I completely agree

.

Peter was right on the money with his reply.
Thanks guys, seems like yesterday there was a rash of "Yea, just dump some Nuke-Ick wonder product into your tank and your problems will be over" posts and I was trying to hold the fort until you big guns showed up.
Fortunately, and I think due to the wisdom you and others have passed on, I haven't had to deal with this issue . . . and I plan to keep it that way. In fact, just the other day I refilled the QT with new water and dropped a shrimp into it to get it to old-school cycle in anticipation of acquiring a new fish in some weeks time from now.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by f14peter
Thanks guys, seems like yesterday there was a rash of "Yea, just dump some Nuke-Ick wonder product into your tank and your problems will be over" posts and I was trying to hold the fort until you big guns showed up.
Fortunately, and I think due to the wisdom you and others have passed on, I haven't had to deal with this issue . . . and I plan to keep it that way. In fact, just the other day I refilled the QT with new water and dropped a shrimp into it to get it to old-school cycle in anticipation of acquiring a new fish in some weeks time from now.
LOL yup

My qt is always on standby and ready to go, should I find an interesting specimen!!!

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by reefeel
Okay so I am collecting water to do a water change in my display tank and have the 37 gallon tank ready for water from the display tank. The only thing I am worried about is entering a cycle as there is going to be 6 large fish, 3-5in, and 4 small, 1-2 in, fish. If I place some of my live rock in the quarintine tank will that help?
If you are using the qt for hypo then all life other than bacteria will die on the rock. Can you go to your LFS and buy a sponge filter? It hooks to a regular air pump and gathers bacteria very fast.

 

[reefeel]

So this is what I did I went and bought a new filter last night, the old one was load and annoying its a Tetratec Living filter, it has a sponge in it that is exposed to air then submerged. I added 10 gallons of new saltwater and 27 gallons from the display tank I broke down my 10 gallon tank that had 2 fish from here, they are both only two inches and added the sponge biofilter to the 37. I added about 15 lbs of live rock from the display tank. So far I have caught one fish so now I have 7 more to go.

 

[reefeel]

I am not worried about the rock it is branched fiji ive rock and it collects hair algae like crazy since snails can't get to it, while the fish are out I will probably get more regular fiji rock and start cycling that, not in the main of course. Another one down 6 more to go

 

[reefeel]

All fish have been collected took about 6 hours.

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by reefeel
All fish have been collected took about 6 hours.
Good to hear you caught everyone. Good luck with everything!

 

[bellanavis]

Really mandrins and eels can't get ich, that is crazy, anyone know why? Lucky them, right?

 

[sterling]

I've got Ich in my tank and I don't worry about it any more......I gave up freaking out and trying to catch, quarantine and treat the infected fish......I feed them healthy, garlic-laced food, keep the water parameters in a normal, healthy range, put a couple of cleaner shrimp and neon gobies in the tank and let the fish fight the parasite on their own.....I've had two fish come down with it, and both survived, none of the other fish contracted it and that's the best I can do, seems to work for me and my tank.

 

[lion_crazz]

Reefeel, I spoke incorrectly about something that I said above. Though eels are extremely resistant to ich and hardly ever carry it, after double-checking, some sources claim that they should still be treated for ich when removing fish from a display tank if the display tank has ich in it.

 

[reefeel]

I found the opinion to be split on eels also. So I'll have to go with the least detrimental option.
1. If eel gets quarintined with other fish:
Most likely he will kill my hippo, flame angel, and small yellow tang and torment the others, thus stressing them even more.
2. If I leave him in the tank;
Most likely will not get ick but to help prevention give him garlic soaked shrimp.
I think I will go with the second

.

 

[reefeel]

Update:
Purple Tang still has ick, although I only got the water at 1.009 today. My new Flame Angel died

, he wasn't looking too well when I got him, but he is still guaranteed. All other fish are doing well though my Red Sea species, the Purple and Sailfin, are looking a little paler then what they normally are, I'm guessing from the salinity as the other fish are fine.