Ich eradication vs. Ich management

4FordFamily

Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
View Badges
Joined
Feb 26, 2015
Messages
20,434
Reaction score
47,523
Location
Carmel, Indiana
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Paul you crack me up! I hope you do get an acanthurus tang. I have to admit the pipefish are cool... Especially the white one in your photos. Admittedly, I know absolutely nothing about them. What is it you find boring about a tang? I am just curious. They are some of the most active fish in my tank. I admire your sense of humor and the fact that we can agree to disagree on immunity vs prophylactic treatment like grown men. You are right this is supposed to be fun and it is!
Ditto! Curious about these same questions!

The pipefish are cool, I know nothing about them either! :D
 

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,950
Reaction score
60,780
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Paul
I found it amazing that you moved a 47 year old tank during the middle of Christmas holidays one year ago, during a blizzard. Glad your tank is rocking along.

And the fact that I had to walk up hill both ways just like when I went to school.

What is it you find boring about a tang? I am just curious.

Tangs are certainly active but I am not looking for active or colorful. If you SCUBA dive you will see that tangs are the most common fish on a reef by far. You may occasionally see a burrfish, pipefish, perchlet, clingfish or manta ray. But you will see fifty thousand tangs as they are all over the place. I also find them, how to put this nicely, Stupid. They do swim around a lot but they are schooling fish so they don't have much of a mind of their own and they must follow the school. When one eats, they all eat. Copperbands on the other hand are inquisitive and seem intelligent. They also seem to have a personality and if you look a copperband in the eye (yes I do that) you get the feeling that they are thinking about something or laughing at your Speedo. A tang on the other hand thinks something like this:

OMG I think we are going to make a left turn, I hope we make a left turn, here it comes, left turn. Oh No, we made a right. I hope we eat now, I really want to eat now, there is some nice algae, lets eat. Oh no, we passed up that buffet. Oh Guys, theres a shark lets turn around. OMG, no one sees the shark. HEY THERES A SHARK. A SHARK!!!!
Thats why they bore me. And I have had so many of them because that is the first fish Noobs flock to. I like odd, different, weird, rare, expensive, cheap, it doesn't matter as long as it is not to common.
As for the ich thing. Yes they are more susceptible, but not in my tank. They live forever and just swim back and forth looking for some one in front of them to tell them when to poop.

They are ich magnets because they are schooling fish and don't feel secure alone. That stresses them out more than if a Snowflake loses his or her nose ring. That stress causes ich.
After so many years at this, I want different. :D

They is also no thrill to keep alive. They eat everything and you can't spawn them in a tank because of that school thing. They even spawn en-mass. How much fun is that? I want to see my fish spawn or at least look for a mate, do something, anything besides follow some other tang.
I myself always did my own thing and was never on a team as I also find that boring. If I accomplish something I like to know I did it on my own, so I would be a lousy tang.
 
Last edited:

smoothmove

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
80
Reaction score
59
Location
RockWall Texas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My tank has got ich. I haven't had any problem in years.

When I moved and re-setup my reef tank, I decided to nix the UV sterilizer. Had no problems for months. Went to my LFS and bought a couple of different fish.

One week later saw a little bit of ich but wasn't concerned as every time I had it before it disappeared without any treatment. Not this time. My fish are covered and I had my first fish losses due to illness in years- not including fish suicide by jumping out.

Just reinstalled my oversized UV and hoping for the best. I am sharing my frustration but treating my tank isn't an option due to my corals and I am not setting up a quarantine tank. I'll update if it gets better or worse.
 

HotRocks

Fish Fanatic!
View Badges
Joined
Oct 5, 2017
Messages
8,636
Reaction score
27,918
Location
Westfield, Indiana
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My tank has got ich. I haven't had any problem in years.

When I moved and re-setup my reef tank, I decided to nix the UV sterilizer. Had no problems for months. Went to my LFS and bought a couple of different fish.

One week later saw a little bit of ich but wasn't concerned as every time I had it before it disappeared without any treatment. Not this time. My fish are covered and I had my first fish losses due to illness in years- not including fish suicide by jumping out.

Just reinstalled my oversized UV and hoping for the best. I am sharing my frustration but treating my tank isn't an option due to my corals and I am not setting up a quarantine tank. I'll update if it gets better or worse.
When you say covered? How many spots per fish? Sounds more like velvet than ich.
 

ca1ore

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Messages
13,803
Reaction score
19,657
Location
Stamford, CT
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Would love to see pictures. I have a tank with long-term ich, and every time I do some kind of major tank change I worry about triggering an outbreak. Fortunately over two tank upgrades that has not happened. I’m a BIG proponent of running an oversized UV. It’s not going to eradicate the parasite, but it does help to reduce parasite pressure. DE filter can help as temporary aid as well.
 

Subsea

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 21, 2018
Messages
5,332
Reaction score
7,664
Location
Austin, Tx
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My tank has got ich. I haven't had any problem in years.

When I moved and re-setup my reef tank, I decided to nix the UV sterilizer. Had no problems for months. Went to my LFS and bought a couple of different fish.

One week later saw a little bit of ich but wasn't concerned as every time I had it before it disappeared without any treatment. Not this time. My fish are covered and I had my first fish losses due to illness in years- not including fish suicide by jumping out.

Just reinstalled my oversized UV and hoping for the best. I am sharing my frustration but treating my tank isn't an option due to my corals and I am not setting up a quarantine tank. I'll update if it gets better or worse.

A large part of ich management is healthy auto immune system. Live food like bivalves introduces live gut cavity bacteria which comprises healthy bacteria to assist auto immune system. Stress is the number one killer of fish by compromising auto immune system.
 

Subsea

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 21, 2018
Messages
5,332
Reaction score
7,664
Location
Austin, Tx
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
@Paul B
If you tell me you had to walk in the snow to go to school, I know you are “Old School”. When you tell me that the Ghost Shrimp are soooo plentiful in Long Island Sound that they must take a number for their turn to get their feet wet, then I know you qualify to be a “Texacan”.

PS: I live in Texas, but I am not bonified. Paul, you might qualify to be bonified.
 

smoothmove

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
80
Reaction score
59
Location
RockWall Texas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I just moved back to Texas. Was living on Barnaget Bay in NJ. Ghost shrimp, blennys, gobies, oysters, clams, ghost shrimp, pipefish, seahorses, snails, hermit crabs, live sand, easy water changes using ocean water and all free. I didn't realize how easy the tank was before.

Texas is still a better life though.
 

pshootr

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 12, 2018
Messages
900
Reaction score
2,117
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Watching my fish sick is causing me stress....
Sorry to hear about that man. This is exactly why many people choose to quarantine/medicate. It is to eliminate stress down the road. Not to mention the possibility of losing hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of fish.

Good luck man. In some cases, the fish will get over it and develop some immunity. Of course this is a best case scenario.
 

pshootr

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 12, 2018
Messages
900
Reaction score
2,117
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I just moved back to Texas. Was living on Barnaget Bay in NJ. Ghost shrimp, blennys, gobies, oysters, clams, ghost shrimp, pipefish, seahorses, snails, hermit crabs, live sand, easy water changes using ocean water and all free. I didn't realize how easy the tank was before.

Texas is still a better life though.
Are you saying that lugging water back and forth from the ocean was easy? I feel like I am missing the point here.

I am guessing if you calculated your time and gas. It really wouldn't be any cheaper.

Not to mention the hassle.
 
Last edited:

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
17,950
Reaction score
60,780
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am lucky that I can use NSW and don't have to carry it. A couple of blocks from my home I can drive right on the beach and I made a bilge pump connected to a long hose. I throw the pump into the sea, plug it in to the back of my car and pump water right into my car. Then I back the car into my garage and pump the water right into a barrel near my tank to heat it up. Then I pump it into my tank. :D

There is nothing better than NSW. Remember all your fish came from NSW, none of them came from ASW :cool:
 

Subsea

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 21, 2018
Messages
5,332
Reaction score
7,664
Location
Austin, Tx
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am lucky that I can use NSW and don't have to carry it. A couple of blocks from my home I can drive right on the beach and I made a bilge pump connected to a long hose. I throw the pump into the sea, plug it in to the back of my car and pump water right into my car. Then I back the car into my garage and pump the water right into a barrel near my tank to heat it up. Then I pump it into my tank. :D

There is nothing better than NSW. Remember all your fish came from NSW, none of them came from ASW :cool:

@Paul B
I think you should consider a salt water lagoon in your basement. Perhapes get some Super Models for deck decorations.

PS: As a member of marine aquarium society of Houston, I once toured Eric Borneman’s extended display which ended in a lagoon setting of several thousand gallons.
 
Last edited:

smoothmove

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
80
Reaction score
59
Location
RockWall Texas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Are you saying that lugging water back and forth from the ocean was easy? I feel like I am missing the point here.

I am guessing if you calculated your time and gas. It really wouldn't be any cheaper.

Not to mention the hassle.

I was on the bay. I used a hose connected to a mag 24 to pump it directly in. Water changes went right back to where I got it from.
 

smoothmove

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
80
Reaction score
59
Location
RockWall Texas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am down to one fish. A yellow tang that looks heathy. Lost 5 other fish... My corals are doing great. I have never had anything that took out my fish in one week. This is new territory for me. UV is running 24/7 now and will monitor.

I am now sorry for not understanding when others have had similar experiences.

I am perplexed. I did a 25% water change with new ro/di saltwater twice since I noticed the problem with no help to the fish. I will go fishless for three months if the tang goes to see Jesus.

I have never lost fish like this ever. I started saltwater in 1984 and have never had a crash like this.

I don't miss Jersey, but miss my easy access to seawater.
 
Back
Top