ich - ugh

[ahmer1781]

I've been reading about ich non-stop these last 3 days. I made a mistake and added my last fish without quarantine, worst mistake of my life! Long story short, blue tang has 5-10 spots, now the kole tang has 5-10 spots and my foxface (1 of my first fish) has about 5 spots! I had all the other fish for a while, just added the 2 tangs last week and then the issue started 5 days later.

It sounds like I have 3 options:

1 - treat the reef tank with some chemical that gets rid of ich
2 - feed more often, add garlic and vitamins and hope the fish can just live with ich
3 - pull all the fish into a QT for 10 weeks, let the ich die out
4 - sell everything and set up my next tank with much more patience

Can you tell me YOUR personal experience and what you did that worked for you?? I'm kind've stressed about the whole thing since my tank was going so well. I started up about 6 months ago.

90 gallon tank / 30 gallon sump
bunch of random coral (2 Metal halides with 2 T5s)
2 baby ocellaris clowns (2")
Foxface (3")
watchman goby (3")
kole tang (3 1/2")
blue tang (2")
six line wrasse (1 1/2")
CUC (hermit crabs, peppermint shrimp, cleaner shrimp, snails)
Nitrates/Nitrites/Ammonia - 0
Temp - 79
Salinity - 1.024

 

[MrX]

1) From my reading chemicals won't do it for you/no such thing (other than copper which you don't want in your DT)
2) Full, healthy, eating, stress free fish is a key to fighting off Ich, but it's not a real solution
3) The Ich would die out in your DT but still be in your QT unless you use copper or hypo treatment(s)
4) No need to quit altogether, it's frustrating sure, but we all go through it or things like this

Jut figure out the best way to do #2 and #3 to resolve the issue and follow proper QT protocol in the future.

Good luck!

 

[BoDiddley]

I lost my last fish this morning and I wish I had time to set up a QT tank will do it in 10 weeks once the ich dies off

From what i read you can treat marine ich with
1) hypo salinity
2) copper but you need a QT tank to treat it this way


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[jonros]

Moved the little corals and CUC I had to a temp 20 gal set up. Then hypo'ed the display. Took a little over 10 weeks, @ 1.008 - .009 as best as I can to hold the sg. I am fairly confident it worked - I have an Achilles tang that has not shown any signs ever since (and she was the one who brought it.) Had too much fish (nowhere to put) to let the display go fallow; far easier in my case to move the corals. FWIW my fish acted like normal during the hypo - did not lose any nor did they exhibit abnormal / stressed behavior.

 

[frank180reef]

Moved the little corals and CUC I had to a temp 20 gal set up. Then hypo'ed the display. Took a little over 10 weeks, @ 1.008 - .009 as best as I can to hold the sg. I am fairly confident it worked - I have an Achilles tang that has not shown any signs ever since (and she was the one who brought it.) Had too much fish (nowhere to put) to let the display go fallow; far easier in my case to move the corals. FWIW my fish acted like normal during the hypo - did not lose any nor did they exhibit abnormal / stressed behavior.

actually not a bad idea, I wonder if anyone else tried this

 

[Hack21]

First things first, quarantining a fish guarantees nothing. Quarantining a fish can in and of itself be stressful. I have had fish in quarantine do fine when transferred, but I also had a Hypo that developed Ich after transfer. I don't care what anyone says, Ich is not a big deal. Healthy fish can beat it no problem. But people grab the fish, toss it into quarantine, dose it with chemicals, and then blame the Ich when the fish dies. I have never done any of that, and I have yet to lose a fish to Ich. Tangs are notorious for having Ich, my Hypo had it twice, and there has never been any deaths. I simply make sure my tank perimeters are in order so as not to cause additional stress, and I do soak their food in the liquid from a small jar of garlic you can buy at the grocery store. It clears up fairly quickly, and other then those two episodes my tank has shown no signs of Ich for well over a year. What bothers me about your story is that other fish have also been affected. Healthy fish are not likely to contract Ich, so maybe there is some issue that is causing stress. I have a Foxface, a Yellow Tang, Tomini Tang, a Hypo Tang along with some others like a Valentini Puffer. Only the Hypo ever displayed Ich, and he was the last one in the tank. I would sit tight, don't panic, feed garlic soaked food and let it ride so long as everyone is still eating. Just my opinion, others are likely to disagree, but I have yet to lose a fish to Ich. Good luck.

 

[jt628]

First things first, quarantining a fish guarantees nothing. Quarantining a fish can in and of itself be stressful. I have had fish in quarantine do fine when transferred, but I also had a Hypo that developed Ich after transfer. I don't care what anyone says, Ich is not a big deal. Healthy fish can beat it no problem. But people grab the fish, toss it into quarantine, dose it with chemicals, and then blame the Ich when the fish dies. I have never done any of that, and I have yet to lose a fish to Ich. Tangs are notorious for having Ich, my Hypo had it twice, and there has never been any deaths. I simply make sure my tank perimeters are in order so as not to cause additional stress, and I do soak their food in the liquid from a small jar of garlic you can buy at the grocery store. It clears up fairly quickly, and other then those two episodes my tank has shown no signs of Ich for well over a year. What bothers me about your story is that other fish have also been affected. Healthy fish are not likely to contract Ich, so maybe there is some issue that is causing stress. I have a Foxface, a Yellow Tang, Tomini Tang, a Hypo Tang along with some others like a Valentini Puffer. Only the Hypo ever displayed Ich, and he was the last one in the tank. I would sit tight, don't panic, feed garlic soaked food and let it ride so long as everyone is still eating. Just my opinion, others are likely to disagree, but I have yet to lose a fish to Ich. Good luck.

I agree 100% I've had tangs get spots occasionally over the last few yrs... I feed a little more.. and they fight it off... never had a real issue, It's not a big deal to me... my fish are extremely healthy, Anyone who has seen my ecosystem will agree

 

[ahmer1781]

thanks for all the great advice folks!

as for feeding the tangs, i am feeding mysis, bloodworms, both with garlic, have been providing nori, what else can i feed them?

 

[Hack21]

You feed your fish whatever they will eat. I go more for frozen then anything else, but they do get some full spectrum pellets from time to time. Bloodworms, Mysis, Brine Shrimp, Marine Cuisine is all good. I thaw mine in RODI water, rinse, and then pour some drops of garlic water from chopped or minced garlic in water you can buy at the grocery store. Let it soak for 15 minutes or so, pour off the excess liquid and you are good to go. The key to watch is just that all fish are eating. If they are you, then they should be okay and able to recover. It is not always easy to sort of sit back and do not much, or what you think is not much, but patience can be a virtue in this hobby. Good luck with it, you should do just fine.

 

[stingythingy45]

I would go with #3, treat the fish in a hospital tank.Leave the tank fallow for 8 weeks.
Garlic does absolutely nothing,imo, and experience to combat Cryptocaryon.And lot of research aside of sites that push that garlic extract.

I would never add a fish to my tank without a QT period first.
And on many occasions I have treated them while in QT.

I have a Hippo and yellow tang.Suppose to be Ich magnets,but they have never had a spot on them in my DT.

But if you choose to manage the Ich,it can be done.

 

[frank180reef]

Bob how big is your tank? I have a large hippo and yellow tang in my 180. Over the years I have grown very skeptical wrt keeping more than 1 tang in a tank, I do understand it has been done and likely a lot of people do it, but I "feel" it likely increases the odds of getting a bad ick outbreak., due to the agressive between the tangs.......................

 

[stingythingy45]

Bob how big is your tank? I have a large hippo and yellow tang in my 180. Over the years I have grown very skeptical wrt keeping more than 1 tang in a tank, I do understand it has been done and likely a lot of people do it, but I "feel" it likely increases the odds of getting a bad ick outbreak., due to the agressive between the tangs.......................

I have a 90 gallon.
I got the Hippo when she was smaller than a half dollar.
They're med size tangs. right now.
I'm sure I'll have to get a bigger tank in the future of find a new home for her.

**BTW Frank,if you see a little note under your post about me editing it,I accidently hit the wrong button when replying,my bad.

 

[frank180reef]

how is it going with the ick

 

[Tony617]

I actually just noticed my flow a had some white spots on their fins... I thought it was ich so i panicked. Dropped 1 drop of reef iodine, 1 drop prime. And few drops fast start bacteria. Seems those spots disappeared in 3 hours. Once again not sure if it was ich

 

[frank180reef]

might be sand
pretty sure even if u added copper it wouldnt work that fast , they would have to be off the host floating around

also never tried it but from what I have red iodine and prime wont "help" with ick............

 

[wdebenedettojr]

I have a 90 gallon mixed Lps and sps reef. I have a blue hippo and a purple tang in the tank. My blue hippo when I first got her back in February got covered in ich. I did not put the fish in a hospital tank prior to adding them to the tank. All I did was add vita chem, selcon, and garlic guard to the food every day. I should note that the hippo ate like a pig even when it was covered. Slowly over about a month the ich disappeared and now middle of August she is beautiful. I use to put my fish in a hospital tank with copper all the time and still found out they can get ich in the display tank. It's all about stress and water quality. Keep your nitrates under 10 and feed a good diet and the fish should naturally fight it off. If the fish has a strong enough immune system it will fight it off itself no need to treat the aquarium. Less chemicals the fish is exposed to the better.

 

[ahmer1781]

so after all this went down, i lost my last fish at the end of August, I have a Foxface, six line wrasse and yellow watchman goby...

they seem to be doing great! they eat a lot, swim around a lot... of course I have my qt set up now, was just waiting for it to cycle, but now my main tank looks good...

from what I've read, that means ich is still in my tank, even if the fish look healthy, ich may be in their gills, is that right?

 

[MrX]

from what I've read, that means ich is still in my tank, even if the fish look healthy, ich may be in their gills, is that right?

Yup, unless you went fallow (no fish) for the right amount of time you still could have Ich. The fish you have could just be happy and healthy and not show any signs.

Just keep them stress free and eating and you'll probably be ok. Or when your QT is ready move them over there, treat them accordingly, and leave the DT empty.

 

[Old Glory]

Moved the little corals and CUC I had to a temp 20 gal set up. Then hypo'ed the display. Took a little over 10 weeks, @ 1.008 - .009 as best as I can to hold the sg. I am fairly confident it worked - I have an Achilles tang that has not shown any signs ever since (and she was the one who brought it.) Had too much fish (nowhere to put) to let the display go fallow; far easier in my case to move the corals. FWIW my fish acted like normal during the hypo - did not lose any nor did they exhibit abnormal / stressed behavior.

That's what I did.

 

[dannyp02908]

I am pretty sure I got ich in my tank from a Kole. Fish never show signs of it. I just feed them well and take care of my tank.