I have ich

[beginnerreefer04]

Hello,
I just discovered today I have ich. Everyone looked happy and healthy last night and I came home today after some thanksgiving celebrations to see my new biota tang covered in ich. I went to the fish store, a very trust worthy one, and was given a little guide to managing outbreaks. They gave me seachem metroplex and focus aswell as garlic guard and selcon. I was told to mix one spoon of both metroplex and focus with the garlic and selcon into their food and feed them that way to not harm my corals. The only other tank I have is a 13 gallon tank my tang is still small enough he could be quarantined in it but most likely will not be happy. He is the only one showing signs of a serious infection. Though I have seen some spots on other fish. The store also gave me a cleaner wrasse and two cleaner shrimps just for some added help. My tang seems to get a lot of relief from the cleaner wrasse. I’ve seen him scratch a little but not a lot. I would love to get a UV sterilizer but just cannot afford it with the holidays so close. Is this something I can actually live with in my display tank, can I mitigate it, or am I doomed. And does anyone have success treating in a display tank with corals and inverts.

 

[Spare time]

The only solution is copper or hyposalinity. Having the fish live with it is risky as eventually it can become overwhelming.

 

[beginnerreefer04]

The only solution is copper or hyposalinity. Having the fish live with it is risky as eventually it can become overwhelming.

But what is the point of curing fish if it’s still in the tank

 

[Idech]

I do ich management in my tank (no meds in Canada). I feed 3 times a day to reduce stress, I give vitamines and garlic, I use a UV (currently not running one as I’m in-between tank upgrade) and as soon as I see a few spots on a fish, I start dosing Polyp Lab Reef Medic for 10 days (it doesn’t work if the infection is too severe. You need to start early).

 

[Pickle_soup]

But what is the point of curing fish if it’s still in the tank

What you have on your hands is a serious ich break out. There is only one solution here imo to minimize loses.
Treat the fish in a QT and go fallow in your DT for 76 days. It's possible not to have ich in your tank regardless of what some say.
1. UV Sterilizer will not completely eradicate ich.
2. Other fish will get progressively worse since ich itself is a major stressor.
3. No, you can't treat ich in a reef system without destroying your corals and inverts.
4. The medications you're using, will not treat ich. They claim that they do, I have yet to see a case where Metro killed off ich.
5. Cleaner wrasse will also get ich, they are not immune to it.

 

[Spare time]

But what is the point of curing fish if it’s still in the tank

It goes away without a fish parasite or if you run copper or hyposalinity. The idea is you take either the fish or inverts out and then keep the fish in therapeutic water for a period of time.

 

[Spare time]

What you have on your hands is a serious ich break out. There is only one solution here imo to minimize loses.
Treat the fish in a QT and go fallow in your DT for 76 days. It's possible not to have ich in your tank regardless of what some say.
1. UV Sterilizer will not completely eradicate ich.
2. Other fish will get progressively worse since ich itself is a major stressor.
3. No, you can't treat ich in a reef system without destroying your corals and inverts.
4. The medications you're using, will not treat ich. They claim that they do, I have yet to see a case where Metro killed off ich.
5. Cleaner wrasse will also get ich, they are not immune to it.

76 days isn't needed. 30 days in copper or in hyposalinity (81F) and 45 days dallow at 81F.

 

[Pickle_soup]

76 days isn't needed. 30 days in copper or in hyposalinity (81F) and 45 days dallow at 81F.

True, however, if that temp dips for whatever reason, you're restarting again...

 

[Spare time]

True, however, if that temp dips for whatever reason, you're restarting again...

You don't restart, you just may need to extend the period of fallow or treatment. The temperature simply speeds up the process

 

[beginnerreefer04]

You don't restart, you just may need to extend the period of fallow or treatment. The temperature simply speeds up the process

So could I remove my corals and my inverts I will most likely lose some nassarious snails and shrimp if I can’t get them. And lower the salinity of the display tank raise temp and keep it there for 1-2 months and things could be ok. I forked up the money for a uv sterilizer after seeing my tang covered. Would hypo salinity and a uv filter with the medicated food I’ve been giving them enough to eradicate the ich?

 

[Spare time]

So could I remove my corals and my inverts I will most likely lose some nassarious snails and shrimp if I can’t get them. And lower the salinity of the display tank raise temp and keep it there for 1-2 months and things could be ok. I forked up the money for a uv sterilizer after seeing my tang covered. Would hypo salinity and a uv filter with the medicated food I’ve been giving them enough to eradicate the ich?

Don't bother with medicated food. Hyposalinity done properly with accurate ways to measure and monitor is good enough. @Jay Hemdal has a few different posts on here talking about hyposalinity

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

So could I remove my corals and my inverts I will most likely lose some nassarious snails and shrimp if I can’t get them. And lower the salinity of the display tank raise temp and keep it there for 1-2 months and things could be ok. I forked up the money for a uv sterilizer after seeing my tang covered. Would hypo salinity and a uv filter with the medicated food I’ve been giving them enough to eradicate the ich?

If you wanted to treat the fish in the display tank (DT), then you would pull the corals and inverts out of the DT and put them in a quarantine tank (QT) for a minimum of 45 days at 81F (60+ days at 81F is currently recommended, with many people encouraging 76 days, especially if the temperature is lower than 81F).

To treat the fish in the DT, you would drop your salinity to 1.009 and keep the tank at that salinity for 30 days after the last signs/symptoms of the disease disappear. That would eliminate the ich.

The UV sterilizer is honestly unnecessary; it may help in the short term with making sure the parasites don't get out of hand while you're treating them, but alone it would not eliminate disease or parasites.


As a note here, what foods are you using with your fish? (I know you're using Garlic Guard and Selcon, but with what specific feeds?)

Edit: Forgot to add:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2021 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[beginnerreefer04]

If you wanted to treat the fish in the display tank (DT), then you would pull the corals and inverts out of the DT and put them in a quarantine tank (QT) for a minimum of 45 days at 81F (60+ days at 81F is currently recommended, with many people encouraging 76 days, especially if the temperature is lower than 81F).

To treat the fish in the DT, you would drop your salinity to 1.009 and keep the tank at that salinity for 30 days after the last signs/symptoms of the disease disappear. That would eliminate the ich.

The UV sterilizer is honestly unnecessary; it may help in the short term with making sure the parasites don't get out of hand while you're treating them, but alone it would not eliminate disease or parasites.


As a note here, what foods are you using with your fish? (I know you're using Garlic Guard and Selcon, but with what specific feeds?)

Edit: Forgot to add:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2021 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Tdo pellets and frozen mysis and sheet nori from my fish store for the tang

 

[68 Stang]

i Have to disagree with all these people saying your fish are doomed and you have to remove them , copper, fallow and on and on! I have been successful twice in my reefing career to getting the fish healthy and not losing any with treating Metro, Selcon, garlic and increasing tank temp a few degrees. I will say I caught it early each time and treated quickly. I believe stress is the major contributor to Ich. I also believe If you don’t quarantine everything and I mean everything before it goes into our tanks you have have Ich. It may not show up or it may.

 

[jabberwock]

As said above, STRESS is the way that ich takes a foothold. Too many fish, aggressive fish, fish competing for the same niche are the main causes of an ich outbreak in my opinion. As for treatment, again, in my opinion, you have to fix the stress. Any "treatments" are mitigation, not a solution.

I got wiped out by ich, lost all fish because my stupid Royal Gramma was a jerk. Went fallow for 76 days, and then chose VERY carefully on a restocking list. So far, so good with 3 fish in a 25 lagoon that all inhabit different areas of the tank. Good luck!

 

[Spare time]

Stress makes the fish's immune system worse, but it doesn't have anything to do with the number of "ichs" hatching and attacking the fish. Fish can still become overwhelmed.

 

[jabberwock]

Oh, see if you can return the UV light. They do work, but are not a solution, have to be run in a very specific manner (in line is the best), and are prone to bulb failure.

 

[beginnerreefer04]

Oh, see if you can return the UV light. They do work, but are not a solution, have to be run in a very specific manner (in line is the best), and are prone to bulb failure.

I’m going to keep the uv might as well run it and hopefully atleast lower the population of ich. I am planning on pumping it straight out of the display tank and back into the return line. I have a dc pump I will be pairing it with to control flow. I have drain cleaned and refilled my small tank and set it up as a hospital it’s currently cycling and warming up. My plan is to remove corals and as many inverts from the display place in my small tank and go hyposalinity in the display tank. I am going to keep feeding my solution to my fish while I’m hypo. I haven’t had any losses and saw my first spots yesterday but with the number that appeared on my tang I am worried about the population of ich in the tank. If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know I don’t want to lose any fish but I really don’t want to lose my tang. He’s eating and not scratching much but he is begging my cleaner wrasse to pick things off of him. I feel like I should do a freshwater dip with the number of spots I’m seeing on him but I’m nervous of stressing him out more. Only tried a freshwater dip once and I lost the fish the next day.

 

[jabberwock]

"My plan is to remove corals and as many inverts from the display place in my small tank and go hyposalinity in the display tank. "

I think this will transfer ich to the small tank. You will have to let it remain fallow for a while. I think you should move fish to the small tank to treat, and then let the DT go fallow to starve out the ich.

Can we get a full tank shot?

 

[Pickle_soup]

UVs do not kill ich, they sterilize it. I have yet to see data on their effectiveness in aquarium settings. Don't think that it will solve your problems. It might help you control a bit, but if there is a bad outbreak, nothing that it can do to stop or even slow it down. Freshwater dip is more stressful for the owner than the fish if done correctly. However, chasing him around the tank is very stressful. You have a solid plan, just go with it. Just be patient lowering the salinity. How are you cycling the other tank?