Continuous issues with ich

[Tammy J]

Hello! I have been treating my tank for ich for approximately 3-4 weeks. I’ve done my 20% water changes, vacuumed my sand, and cleaned out my filter media once it appears the ich is gone. However, every time I do this, the ich reappears on my fish the next day. Can you give me an idea of what I’m doing wrong? The other weird thing is, the ich appears to disappear shortly after I notice it back on my fish the next morning. I’m really confused. Thanks in advance!

 

[Jaybeastin]

You’re suppose to take out all of your fish and leave your DT fallow for a minimum of 76 days. There’s no other way around this, short cuts will only leave you with ich again. I’m that guy also but now I’m tired of losing fish to ich. I’m currently 2 months in.

 

[HuduVudu]

@Tammy J good gas exchange and low ambient CO2 fix a lot of fish issues.

IME fish struggle to breath if those two conditions are out of wack.

My 2 cents.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello! I have been treating my tank for ich for approximately 3-4 weeks. I’ve done my 20% water changes, vacuumed my sand, and cleaned out my filter media once it appears the ich is gone. However, every time I do this, the ich reappears on my fish the next day. Can you give me an idea of what I’m doing wrong? The other weird thing is, the ich appears to disappear shortly after I notice it back on my fish the next morning. I’m really confused. Thanks in advance!

To make this short - If youre treating in the display tank, Stop right away UNLESS you plan on having a fish ONLY tank (FOWLR)
Secondly, make it a point to treat in a separate quarantine tank setting (starter kit at walmart makes a great QT system)
Coppersafe is a best bet for ich -IF ich and you want to/must treat for 30 Full days at 80.5 degrees and monitor therapeutic copper levels of 2.25-2.5 using a Reliable copper test kit- No Api brand.
The display tank itself should be and remain fishless known as FALLOW for 45-60 days - No longer 76. This allows all the cysts and tromont stage parasites to die from no host and complete cycles and die off.
If you dont do a full 30 day treatment- that alone will invite new cysts as you are seeing. When the dots disappear does not confirm they are gone.
If you can- Please post a pic or two under white lighting to confirm its ich

 

[Tamberav]

Hello! I have been treating my tank for ich for approximately 3-4 weeks. I’ve done my 20% water changes, vacuumed my sand, and cleaned out my filter media once it appears the ich is gone. However, every time I do this, the ich reappears on my fish the next day. Can you give me an idea of what I’m doing wrong? The other weird thing is, the ich appears to disappear shortly after I notice it back on my fish the next morning. I’m really confused. Thanks in advance!

unfortunately reef safe meds are ich safe also regardless of claims. You can clean and vacuume but you can not see ich with the naked eye and certainly can not remove them all... even if you changed all the water, it wouldn't.

Fish need to go into a QT tank and be treated with copper for 30 days and tank needs to go without fish for minimum 45 days at 81-82 degrees and nothing can be shared/cross contaminated. This means no sticking your hand in the DT and the QT or a feeding utensil or sharing buckets.. etc. Everything should be sterilized and left to try 48 hours between imo. Do not set up you QT tank next to your DT.

Hyposalinity is another treatment for QT. You can find all the treatment options on the stickies on this forum.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello! I have been treating my tank for ich for approximately 3-4 weeks. I’ve done my 20% water changes, vacuumed my sand, and cleaned out my filter media once it appears the ich is gone. However, every time I do this, the ich reappears on my fish the next day. Can you give me an idea of what I’m doing wrong? The other weird thing is, the ich appears to disappear shortly after I notice it back on my fish the next morning. I’m really confused. Thanks in advance!

What is the size of your tank and what animals do you have in it? Do you have any coral?

 

[Tammy J]

What is the size of your tank and what animals do you have in it? Do you have any coral?

I have a 55 gallon tank and have 5 crabs, 3 snails, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 Sailfin tang, 1 coral beauty angel, 3 clown fish, 1 cardinal fish, 1 orchid Dottyback, and 1 royal gramma. No coral yet because I wanted to get this ich under control first.

 

[LeftyReefer]

You have to treat ICH for 30 days, to get rid of it, not jus a few days.

You need to catch all your fish and put them in a hospital tank, dosed with copper for 30 days.

Your main tank has to remain fish free (fallow) for around 2 months before reintroducing your fish back, after they have been treated in copper for 30+ days.

Ich is a parasite that lives part of its life cycle attached to fish... those are the spots you are seeing. But the parasite also drops off the fish and will lay eggs and can even be free swimming at times... All the various life cycles is what makes it tough to beat. You need to treat for 30 days continuously, which will outlast all the 3 various life stages the parasites go through. If you don't treat correctly for 30 days+, it will just keep coming back.

 

[Lavey29]

As others mentioned, removing and treating all fish in the DT is the best option while allowing the DT to go fallow. The other option is ich management in the DT where you attempt to basically get your fish as healthy as possible to fight off the ich parasites and hopefully make it go dormant. A UV sterilizer may help in this effort and research on certain bacteria additives that may help the fight against ich. Some people theorize that ich is in every tank to some degree but just manifests itself differently depending on conditions.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello! I have been treating my tank for ich for approximately 3-4 weeks. I’ve done my 20% water changes, vacuumed my sand, and cleaned out my filter media once it appears the ich is gone. However, every time I do this, the ich reappears on my fish the next day. Can you give me an idea of what I’m doing wrong? The other weird thing is, the ich appears to disappear shortly after I notice it back on my fish the next morning. I’m really confused. Thanks in advance!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The ich spots leaving and returning is due to the parasite’s life cycle - where it leaves the fish to replicate, then the new parasites return.

I didn’t see what medication have you been using?

Jay

 

[Dburr1014]

Hello! I have been treating my tank for ich for approximately 3-4 weeks. I’ve done my 20% water changes, vacuumed my sand, and cleaned out my filter media once it appears the ich is gone. However, every time I do this, the ich reappears on my fish the next day. Can you give me an idea of what I’m doing wrong? The other weird thing is, the ich appears to disappear shortly after I notice it back on my fish the next morning. I’m really confused. Thanks in advance!

I'm going to go out on a limb...
You say it appears after you clean the sand bed. Are you sure you have ick? Maybe sand gets stirred up and you see sand stuck to your fish?
That would explain:
1) it's gone the next day
2) it happens every time you clean the sand.
Just a thought...
Of coarse, we haven't seen any pictures yet of the fish in question...

 

[Tammy J]

You have to treat ICH for 30 days, to get rid of it, not jus a few days.

You need to catch all your fish and put them in a hospital tank, dosed with copper for 30 days.

Your main tank has to remain fish free (fallow) for around 2 months before reintroducing your fish back, after they have been treated in copper for 30+ days.

Ich is a parasite that lives part of its life cycle attached to fish... those are the spots you are seeing. But the parasite also drops off the fish and will lay eggs and can even be free swimming at times... All the various life cycles is what makes it tough to beat. You need to treat for 30 days continuously, which will outlast all the 3 various life stages the parasites go through. If you don't treat correctly for 30 days+, it will just keep coming back.

Thank you for the information!

 

[Tammy J]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The ich spots leaving and returning is due to the parasite’s life cycle - where it leaves the fish to replicate, then the new parasites return.

I didn’t see what medication have you been using?

Jay

I have been using PIMAFIX.

 

[Tammy J]

I'm going to go out on a limb...
You say it appears after you clean the sand bed. Are you sure you have ick? Maybe sand gets stirred up and you see sand stuck to your fish?
That would explain:
1) it's gone the next day
2) it happens every time you clean the sand.
Just a thought...
Of coarse, we haven't seen any pictures yet of the fish in question...

I, too, was wondering if it was just sand but I don’t believe it is. I lost my bicolor angel to ich and he was completely covered. I haven’t taken any photos of my fish with the spots but I will as soon as possible and post them. Thank you!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have been using PIMAFIX.

That product does not have a good track record for most people. I won't use botanical supplements like that as they really are not well tested. There is a huge force in the market for "reef safe" medication. Companies have rushed to fill that need, but remember, there is NO oversight to home aquarium medications, anyone can sell anything they want to.

I only use medications that I have solid references to support.

Jay

 

[rocket098]

Get a uv light that is above 50 watt. This will help manage it. Also boost temperature up to 80-81 degrees will help reduce amount of ich on the fish and in tank. None of these are a cure just ways to help reduce the problem. Get vitamins and feed fish good variety of foods. Managing ich is much easier then irradiation and you can reduce quarantine time with less stress on fish. Good luck

 

[Tammy J]

I, too, was wondering if it was just sand but I don’t believe it is. I lost my bicolor angel to ich and he was completely covered. I haven’t taken any photos of my fish with the spots but I will as soon as possible and post them. Thank you!

For the first time, I saw all of these specs on my glass crawling around. It must be ich or some other parasite! I tried to get a photo of my coral beauty but she wouldn’t hold still.

 

[LeftyReefer]

Those are likely pods, not ICH.

 

[Tammy J]

Those are likely pods, not ICH.

Are pods a good thing? I’ve never heard of them.

 

[foxt]

As has been said, the inly way to eradicate it is to take all of the fish out, treat them, leave the tank empty for 69 days, and then QT new additions from here on out. On the other hand, I have successfully been managing ich in a 220g tank with a 120w UV and healthy foods. It has been more than a year since I last observed it so I am not sure it is even still there, but I behave as though it is, just in case.

It is up to you about which path you take from here, but don’t discount managing ich as an option. You should still QT as there are many other issues that QT addresses, but living with ich in your tank is doable.