My fish have ich yikes i just have a few questions.

[ben310135]

So here is what happened and of course of all weeks it happened this week. I had finals all week and didn't spend my time watching over my tank as much as I do. Don't get me wrong I did the water changes and all just wasn't watching the fish. So friday I looked and one of my clowns had ich unfortunatly I didn't have a qt so the next day on my way home from work I went out and got one. I did a lot of research and I just want to confirm with some people what I have found and or done so far. So all fish from the DT are in my QT. This tank has only been setup for 3 months now so I only have 4 fish in it at the moment and 12 hermits and 10 snails I have about 75 lbs of live rock in my 75 gallon tank.

Now on to the QT tank. So I have a 10 gallon QT with 2 blue reef's unfortunately my clown who originally had it died by the time I got home with the QT. So she went to the toilet in the sky. So from what I found online they said the best method for beating this besides great water quality and trying to eliminate stressful situations. I had found that they said reducing the salinity to 1.009 and then the ich can't live in that environment. So all the fish have now been in the QT for a day the saltwater I took out of the display and mixed that with the ro freshwater I got to give me the salinity I needed. SO Ph is at 8.2 ammonia nitrite and nitrate is at 0. So here are my questions and if I have done anything wrong so far let me know.

1. When doing water changes in the qt should I continue to take the water from the display or just use the regular saltwater ?

2. My understanding is the life cycle of marine ich is about 3-4 weeks is this correct ? (I plan on keeping everyone in qt about 2 weeks past that point)

3. While I know water quality is a key thing I am assuming some things are going to be off being the amount of fish I have in the tank should I be as worried about water peramiter changes ?

4. How long should it take from the time I put them in the qt tank with the water salinity that low until the ich goes away ?

5. Is there anything else that I could be doing to assist the fish in getting over the ich that I am not ?

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help these little guys out.

 

[reefwiser]

Best thing is a shark nosed gobie. They will take care of the ich in the tank.

 

[peterthegamer]

If the ich doesn't go away, try copper. Try small amounts first.

 

[Humblefish]

So from what I found online they said the best method for beating this besides great water quality and trying to eliminate stressful situations. I had found that they said reducing the salinity to 1.009 and then the ich can't live in that environment. So all the fish have now been in the QT for a day the saltwater I took out of the display and mixed that with the ro freshwater I got to give me the salinity I needed. SO Ph is at 8.2 ammonia nitrite and nitrate is at 0. So here are my questions and if I have done anything wrong so far let me know.

One problem with hyposalinity is hypo resistant strains of ich have been proven to exist (Yambot study in 2003). The other problem with hypo is it is difficult to execute properly - you have to use a perfectly calibrated refractometer and if the SG ticks up even slightly past 1.009, the treatment can fail. IMHO; an ATO is a must with hypo.

1. When doing water changes in the qt should I continue to take the water from the display or just use the regular saltwater ?

You must go fallow (fishless) in the DT for 72 days to eradicate ich in there. Basically, it takes 72 days to starve out the strain of ich with the longest known life cycle that has ever been studied. During this 72 days you want to take care not to cross contaminate between QT & DT; so nothing wet can go from one to the other.

2. My understanding is the life cycle of marine ich is about 3-4 weeks is this correct ? (I plan on keeping everyone in qt about 2 weeks past that point)

Different strains have different life cycles. Some longer than others. Typically, treating for 4 weeks with hypo or a chemical such as copper takes care of ich in most cases.

3. While I know water quality is a key thing I am assuming some things are going to be off being the amount of fish I have in the tank should I be as worried about water peramiter changes ?

In QT, enemy #1 is going to be ammonia. You also need to test (and probably buffer) pH often when doing hypo.

 

[Triggreef]

First of all, gobies, cleaner wrasses, cleaner shrimp, they all do nothing for ich. Ich is to small to even see. When you see the white spots on your fish, you are not seeing the parasite, your seeing a mucus reaction from the fish, in response to the attack.

Second of all, humblefish know his stuff, & he is the guy to listen to here on r2r.

Lastly, it sounds as if you already set the salinity down to hypo, prior to even getting the fish in the qt? If so, don't do that, they will die. This needs to bee a slew transition. That said, don't bother with hypo it hardly ever works for anyone who posts about it.

Also, don't keep using your display water for the sick fish, it's contaminated & Should be treated as such until your fish go back in.

I'd highly suggest tank transfer method especially with fish that are already used to aquarium life. Read up on it, I've used it for all kinds of fish with great results.

 

[Aquaph8]

So here is what happened and of course of all weeks it happened this week. I had finals all week and didn't spend my time watching over my tank as much as I do. Don't get me wrong I did the water changes and all just wasn't watching the fish. So friday I looked and one of my clowns had ich unfortunatly I didn't have a qt so the next day on my way home from work I went out and got one. I did a lot of research and I just want to confirm with some people what I have found and or done so far. So all fish from the DT are in my QT. This tank has only been setup for 3 months now so I only have 4 fish in it at the moment and 12 hermits and 10 snails I have about 75 lbs of live rock in my 75 gallon tank.

Now on to the QT tank. So I have a 10 gallon QT with 2 blue reef's unfortunately my clown who originally had it died by the time I got home with the QT. So she went to the toilet in the sky. So from what I found online they said the best method for beating this besides great water quality and trying to eliminate stressful situations. I had found that they said reducing the salinity to 1.009 and then the ich can't live in that environment. So all the fish have now been in the QT for a day the saltwater I took out of the display and mixed that with the ro freshwater I got to give me the salinity I needed. SO Ph is at 8.2 ammonia nitrite and nitrate is at 0. So here are my questions and if I have done anything wrong so far let me know.

1. When doing water changes in the qt should I continue to take the water from the display or just use the regular saltwater ?

2. My understanding is the life cycle of marine ich is about 3-4 weeks is this correct ? (I plan on keeping everyone in qt about 2 weeks past that point)

3. While I know water quality is a key thing I am assuming some things are going to be off being the amount of fish I have in the tank should I be as worried about water peramiter changes ?

4. How long should it take from the time I put them in the qt tank with the water salinity that low until the ich goes away ?

5. Is there anything else that I could be doing to assist the fish in getting over the ich that I am not ?

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help these little guys out.

1) use new water
2) I suggest 2 weeks more of hypo after the last sign of ich followed by at least another two weeks of observation period.
3) just keep up with water changes and keep an eye on ammonia, you can also use some activated carbon since no meds are being used.
4) took about a week for me, just make sure you keep it topped off so salinity never gets higher than targeted, also be sure your refractometer is calibrated properly.
5) nope, just stay on the path and be sure to bring the salinity back up very slowly, an air stone is a good idea to help with oxygen levels during hypo.

I also agree with everything humble says above, except I feel you can go without an ATO as long as you top off the QT often.

 

[ben310135]

So I came home today and checked out the fish what I thought was ich is starting to look different I tough I would post the best pic I could get of these guys and get your opinions.

 

[rworegon]

To me, that does not look like ich. Since you first noticed it on a clown I would suspect velvet. If this is the case, hypo will do nothing but make your fish a bit more comfortable while they perish. Formalin bath would help but hard to get hold of and very toxic if overdosed. Copper is another option if done right. By the looks of it though you may be too late.
On the plus side you are now armed with one of the best weapons there is in fighting disease in reef keeping, the quarantine tank.

 

[Humblefish]

Could be velvet or possibly even brooklynella (or both). You need to get those fish out of hypo and into copper ASAP. I understand you can't raise SG too quickly, so in the meantime their only hope is formalin baths (which provides temporary relief for both velvet & brook). Once you get the SG back up to at least 1.019, you can start dosing copper & metronidazole. You have an uphill battle ahead of you.

 

[ben310135]

Is there a place online that I can get the formalin baths or should the local fish store have them ? I am doing a water change tonight. I have heard that .002 increase per day is the max you want to do does that sound right ?

 

[Humblefish]

Formalin-MS is what you really want, and they sell it on Amazon. But anything with formalin is better than nothing at this point. Sometimes Petco/smart or even Walmart sells Quick Cure, for example, and that contains formalin.

However, depending upon where you live formalin/formaldehyde may be outlawed by big, middle or even little brother. :squigglemouth:

 

[Humblefish]

Kordon Rid-Ich also contains 11.52% formalin. Get that if you can find it.

 

[ben310135]

So two questions with the formalin do I just want to add that to the tank or give them a dip in it ? Also how high can I go per day with salinity ?

 

[ben310135]

Any specific brand of copper treatment that anyone recommends ?

 

[Humblefish]

I'm no expert on hypo, but .002 per day (as you said) sounds about right. I wouldn't use formalin in-tank, but rather as a 30-45 min bath. Add 2-3 gallons of their tank water into a bucket, and aerate heavily during the bath. First sign of distress, pull the fish out. You will need to do this every other day until you can start using copper & metro in-tank. As rworegon pointed out, formalin is harsh on the fish but I think it is also their only chance for survival at this point. Please use rubber gloves and do not allow your skin to come into contact with the formalin, as it is a known carcinogen.

Most people use Cupramine for their copper treatment; you will also need to get a Salifert or Seachem copper test kit.

 

[Humblefish]

Only treat 1 fish at a time with formalin and only treat those with obvious symptoms.

 

[rworegon]

I have personally used coppersafe. It's a chelated copper compound and is easier to control the concentration. The api copper test will work with chelated compounds. Either will do the job.

 

[Humblefish]

I have personally used coppersafe. It's a chelated copper compound and is easier to control the concentration. The api copper test will work with chelated compounds. Either will do the job.

I actually prefer this over Cupramine; it's just so hard to find Coppersafe these days.

 

[rworegon]

My lfs carries it and I've seen it online.

 

[Triggreef]

Ouch this thread went in a different direction with those pics. Sorry man good luck with this. I was tempted to mention that ich usually takes a good long time to start killing.