What to do now?

juice_1080

juice_1080

Member
After my second attempt at hypo and 3 dead fish later I have decided it is not going to work for me.
I have monitored the water 2x a day with a refractometer calibrated with RO/DI water and I ran the hypo for 6 weeks this time. Guess what......after 3 days of bringing up the SG (@ 1.015 right now) The ich is back. I have given up all hope on this method.
How for sure is copper? I want to make sure that this little parasite is completely gone. Also what is a good brand/type of copper?
My tank has been fallow for 6+ weeks and I am hoping it has died off in there already. Is there any way, short of throwing a fish in there and watching it, to see if the ich is gone? This problem is making me want to give up the hobby all together. I haven't had fish in my tank since November (besides a week between hypoing when they re-got ich)
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by juice_1080
http:///forum/post/2494696
After my second attempt at hypo and 3 dead fish later I have decided it is not going to work for me.
I have monitored the water 2x a day with a refractometer calibrated with RO/DI water and I ran the hypo for 6 weeks this time. Guess what......after 3 days of bringing up the SG (@ 1.015 right now) The ich is back. I have given up all hope on this method.
How for sure is copper? I want to make sure that this little parasite is completely gone. Also what is a good brand/type of copper?
My tank has been fallow for 6+ weeks and I am hoping it has died off in there already. Is there any way, short of throwing a fish in there and watching it, to see if the ich is gone? This problem is making me want to give up the hobby all together. I haven't had fish in my tank since November (besides a week between hypoing when they re-got ich)
The time to treat with copper has definitely come. Use cupramine and a seachem test kit. Follow the directions for dosing. Be sure to have extra circulation in the tank when you use copper. Good luck on the calculus test!
 
juice_1080

juice_1080

Member
Thanks for the help. Is there any cupramine you recommend? I know my roommate has Wardley Ich Away but from reading the bottle it looks like the active ingredient is Malachite Green (His tank is FW). I am assuming this won't really do anything?
Any suggestions on how to tell if the DT is ich free or not? Or something I can add to kill them off that is reef safe. I hate adding more than Salt and DT's but at this point I will try almost anything.
Chem test wasn't too bad, just some things I forgot to study for and should have know since they were more of Physics problems and I have taken Physics and am going to be Majoring in it. I am sure it will click in my head in a bit that I did it wrong.
Thanks for all the help now and previous times. Thats why I love this site. I think I just as addicted to SWF as I am my tank sometime.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by juice_1080
http:///forum/post/2495274
Thanks for the help. Is there any cupramine you recommend? I know my roommate has Wardley Ich Away but from reading the bottle it looks like the active ingredient is Malachite Green (His tank is FW). I am assuming this won't really do anything?
Any suggestions on how to tell if the DT is ich free or not? Or something I can add to kill them off that is reef safe. I hate adding more than Salt and DT's but at this point I will try almost anything.
Chem test wasn't too bad, just some things I forgot to study for and should have know since they were more of Physics problems and I have taken Physics and am going to be Majoring in it. I am sure it will click in my head in a bit that I did it wrong.
Thanks for all the help now and previous times. Thats why I love this site. I think I just as addicted to SWF as I am my tank sometime.
Cupramine is the brand of copper treatment. The ich is dead in the display, but you have three weeks of copper treatment in the qt anyway. I am glad that the test went well! Don't worry, we all get some wrong
 
al mc

al mc

Active Member
Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2495281
Cupramine is the brand of copper treatment.
Juice. Sorry about your loss. Cupramine is made by Seachem. As Sep suggested get the Seachem Copper test kit that goes with it.
I had a hypo fail me several months ago and was directed by Beth to this product/treatment.
I was nervous about using copper but it went very smoothly.
Things that surprised me: I did not lose my biologic cycle and did not have to make a water change during my 4 week treatment course. I saw no decrease in appetite or other observable problems.
Good luck.
 
juice_1080

juice_1080

Member
Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2495281
Cupramine is the brand of copper treatment. The ich is dead in the display, but you have three weeks of copper treatment in the qt anyway. I am glad that the test went well! Don't worry, we all get some wrong

How could the ich survive in 1.009 SG but die in 1.026? That is the only thing I am worried about. I just don't want to ever see ich in my DT again.
I was curious on another thing that maybe you can answer. How do you assure that the corals you bring in don't have ich on the LR they are attached to? I have heard of Lugol's dipping and started doing that and I was curious if that killed off ich or just hitchhikers?
Thanks again for all the help. Tomorrow I will be picking up some Cupramine and taking care of the ich once and for all. Is there anything I should do while treating with copper that is not listed on the directions like maybe upping the dose or something else? I know I have to remove carbon because carbon will pull out the copper.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by juice_1080
http:///forum/post/2495895
How could the ich survive in 1.009 SG but die in 1.026? That is the only thing I am worried about. I just don't want to ever see ich in my DT again. Ich has a life cycle. It is a parasite that feed off of the flesh of fish. If there is nothing to eat it will die.
I was curious on another thing that maybe you can answer. How do you assure that the corals you bring in don't have ich on the LR they are attached to? I have heard of Lugol's dipping and started doing that and I was curious if that killed off ich or just hitchhikers? There are a lot of people on here that QT everything including corals. Although ich does not feed on corals it can be on corals if there was an infected fish or if ich was present in the system from which the corals came. I don't QT my corals because I don't have a light powerful enough for my QT. I roll the dice with that I guess. I don't think Lugols kills ich
Thanks again for all the help. Tomorrow I will be picking up some Cupramine and taking care of the ich once and for all. Is there anything I should do while treating with copper that is not listed on the directions like maybe upping the dose or something else? I know I have to remove carbon because carbon will pull out the copper. I think you're on the right track.
Above in red
 
juice_1080

juice_1080

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
http:///forum/post/2496164
Ich has a life cycle. It is a parasite that feed off of the flesh of fish. If there is nothing to eat it will die. I know about the lifecycle of the ick but what I am wondering is how a parasite that has a 3-4 week life cycle is able to survive through 6 weeks of hyposalinity but for sure be dead in my Display. Unless this is a stronger than normal strain of ich that was able to keep feeding while not visible these past 6 weeks. I understand that the "white dot" is not the actual parasite but a reaction from the fish while the parasite bores into the skin. Maybe these white dots weren't showing at the lower SG?
There are a lot of people on here that QT everything including corals. Although ich does not feed on corals it can be on corals if there was an infected fish or if ich was present in the system from which the corals came. I don't QT my corals because I don't have a light powerful enough for my QT. I roll the dice with that I guess. I don't think Lugols kills ich. I would love to be able to QT corals but I have the same problem as you, especially once I get into stonies when I upgrade. You don't think that Lugol's will kill ich though? I know its not a bad thing to do anyways so I will continue to do it.
I think you're on the right track. Thanks alot for your help. I haven't had fish in my tank since November other than a week in between treatments and I just want it to be over.

 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
The ich survived in hypo because the fish were in there to host. There are no fish in your display tank right? Without a host the parasites will be dead.
 
juice_1080

juice_1080

Member
Just crabs, snails, corals, and a conch. No fish that I know of. I am down to one fish and he is in the QT right now waiting for his copper.
 
juice_1080

juice_1080

Member
RO/DI water straight from the unit. I usually try to recalibrate it when I remember just to make sure it didn't get knocked off. Just for safety of an error I was running the QT @ 1.007.5-8 in case it was off or it fluctuated alot. it never really when up above 1.0085 if it ever even reached that high. Fish seemed healthy and fine the entire time. Until I had a whole temperature problem yesterday (roommate left the window next to the QT open when it was 9 degrees out and the tank dropped to 59 degrees). Going by the fact that this was the 6th week of hypo that shouldn't have effected it though.
BTW the lights just came on and I don't see any spots on the fish so I am going to monitor him for either 4 weeks or until he gets another spot on him. I only saw one yesterday and maybe it was something else on him. I will still pick up copper today since I don't think I will trust hypo in the future after these failed attempts. I still have 2-4 weeks on my plan to throw him back in the tank anyways. It has been 6 1/2 weeks out of the DT and I wanted to keep it fallow for 8-10 weeks to be 100% positive no ich survived.
BTW I know that just because I don't see ich doesn't mean its not in the tank but if he stays spot free for 4 weeks it should be a pretty good sign. I am thinking of possibly doing a short dip and replacing alot if not all the water to hopefully give it a better chance of being gone. That is still up in the air though, I want to make sure I am doing whats best for this fish since he is the sole survivor.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
BTW I know that just because I don't see ich doesn't mean its not in the tank but if he stays spot free for 4 weeks it should be a pretty good sign. I am thinking of possibly doing a short dip and replacing alot if not all the water to hopefully give it a better chance of being gone. That is still up in the air though, I want to make sure I am doing whats best for this fish since he is the sole survivor.
Copper this last fish. Don't take the chance. I am not sure why you have had such a hard time with ich. This is the third time since I have been on these boards that it has happened. It is not common at all. Most hypos, that are done correctly, work out well. Copper this fish.
 
juice_1080

juice_1080

Member
Well my LFS does not have any form of copper only the test kits. I am heading to a bigger city with multiple shops tomorrow after work though to look for some.
Good news is that I have not seen any ich on the fish today. I am wondering if what I saw on him was a microbubble or something else (although it did not have the microbubble look to it)
I am going to watch this fish for about a week or two before I try copper (unless I see obvious spots) if I don't see any then I will wait out another 2-3 weeks without copper and throw him back in the DT (hopefully forever cured)
I am still going to pick up copper tomorrow though, regardless. It won't hurt to have it around.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by juice_1080
http:///forum/post/2497497
Well my LFS does not have any form of copper only the test kits. I am heading to a bigger city with multiple shops tomorrow after work though to look for some.
Good news is that I have not seen any ich on the fish today. I am wondering if what I saw on him was a microbubble or something else (although it did not have the microbubble look to it)
I am going to watch this fish for about a week or two before I try copper (unless I see obvious spots) if I don't see any then I will wait out another 2-3 weeks without copper and throw him back in the DT (hopefully forever cured)
I am still going to pick up copper tomorrow though, regardless. It won't hurt to have it around.
I have a bottle of cupramine even though I never plan to copper a fish. I have formalin, because I plan to purchase a maroon clown. Observe him for now. I would so hate for you to introduce a fish with ich to an ich free system after all that you have been through. Personally, I would treat the clown, just to be absolutely sure that ich was gone. I would not chance it. I don't treat fish that do not need treatment, but you have had several failed hypos.
 
juice_1080

juice_1080

Member
Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2497512
I have a bottle of cupramine even though I never plan to copper a fish. I have formalin, because I plan to purchase a maroon clown. Observe him for now. I would so hate for you to introduce a fish with ich to an ich free system after all that you have been through. Personally, I would treat the clown, just to be absolutely sure that ich was gone. I would not chance it. I don't treat fish that do not need treatment, but you have had several failed hypos.
Good point. As long as I am picking it up I might as well use it. I was at the LFS today and was almost tempted to buy another fish. I was just think well worst case scenario I add him to the QT and copper them both since I am already planning to copper. But I didn't come home with anything but a new heater and temp gauge. Would you suggest to not add another fish to the QT or do you think it would be ok. Right now I want to do whatever is in the best interest of the fish but I would also like to add fish to my tank.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by juice_1080
http:///forum/post/2497504
This is some info that I do not know if you know about so I will post it. Maybe I have a strain of this:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/ich...s/a/newich.htm
Sorry in advance if it is not ok to post this link if its not either delete it or tell me to delete it. (I don't know the specifics on links)
Ask.com is not the most reputable source. However, strains of ich have shown to be resistant to hyposalinity. This is the third case since I have joined this board, that this has happened. It is not common at all ...yet.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by juice_1080
http:///forum/post/2497520
Good point. As long as I am picking it up I might as well use it. I was at the LFS today and was almost tempted to buy another fish. I was just think well worst case scenario I add him to the QT and copper them both since I am already planning to copper. But I didn't come home with anything but a new heater and temp gauge. Would you suggest to not add another fish to the QT or do you think it would be ok. Right now I want to do whatever is in the best interest of the fish but I would also like to add fish to my tank.
No, do not add a new fish right now. Make sure the ich is done and over with. I am so sorry that you are having such a hard time with this.
 
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