Ich has taken over, going Hypo in my DT

[SakuraSky]

Just a small update as I get closer to the 30 day mark, at the halfway point! PH has been stable. No algae die off, honestly there's not much algae left after my bristletooth tang lol man those fish are BEASTS for algae removal!
All fish have no bacterial issues and are back to their normal behavior, they are doing excellent. Salinity has been stable and easier to maintain that I thought. Still not 1 sign of ich

 

[BiggestE222]

I have my UV going, so far no progress, just getting worse and as far as I understand the uv only treats the water column so all the ich in the gravel will still be present, have no doubt It will greatly help, it just doesn't seem to be enough yet.
I do have a hydrometer too, which I use for basic wc and daily maintenance. But I should probably get a refractometer as well.
I don't want to treat my fish in a QT unless I can completely get rid of the ich in my tank. My fish are old and hanging on as best they can cause I feed well, but they will succumb to it eventually.
I have a heniochus, foxface, bird wrasse, regal angelfish (which is doing the best out of the group) white tail bristletooth tang, flame hawk and starry blenny.

A UV won’t magically eradicate ICH

 

[SakuraSky]

A UV won’t magically eradicate ICH

I am aware and didn't think it would.

 

[SakuraSky]

Tomorrow is day 30 for hypo! No PH drop, salinity never went above .009 and everyone is better than ever. My whitetail bristletooth is even eating pellets now!
Time to raise the salinity slowly!

 

[RMS18]

Tomorrow is day 30 for hypo! No PH drop, salinity never went above .009 and everyone is better than ever. My whitetail bristletooth is even eating pellets now!
Time to raise the salinity slowly!

Really good progress! Glad things are working out well for you.

 

[SakuraSky]

Really good progress! Glad things are working out well for you.

Thanks, I'll be honest I really thought I was going to loose my fish, esp my two new ones. but this has worked out better and easier than I expected. I was really afraid to do it but I just over reacted hah.

 

[RMS18]

Thanks, I'll be honest I really thought I was going to loose my fish, esp my two new ones. but this has worked out better and easier than I expected. I was really afraid to do it but I just over reacted hah.

Yea, I thought the same as I was reading and looking at your pictures. They were in rough shape. In reality I think this can work well for those who do not have encrusted corals. Much easier than setting up one or multiple qt tanks- ugh been there done that. I still have 5 qt tanks- in my attic and all the equipment to so with them.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Tomorrow is day 30 for hypo! No PH drop, salinity never went above .009 and everyone is better than ever. My whitetail bristletooth is even eating pellets now!
Time to raise the salinity slowly!

Timing is really important here - I prefer to hold fish in hypo 30 days past the day the last spots were seen. Now, in your case, that may not be so critical because you could drop back into hypo pretty easily if you get a relapse, right?
Jay

 

[SakuraSky]

Timing is really important here - I prefer to hold fish in hypo 30 days past the day the last spots were seen. Now, in your case, that may not be so critical because you could drop back into hypo pretty easily if you get a relapse, right?
Jay

Yes I could easily do hypo again if I need to. I think the last time I saw the ich was 3 days into the hypo

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes I could easily do hypo again if I need to. I think the last time I saw the ich was 3 days into the hypo

So - 33 days then (grin).

Jay

 

[SakuraSky]

Update. So I held my fish at hypo for 40 days..maybe a bit past that, I honestly can't remember, it was a long time and the fish were better than ever. They did great. Slowly went up over the course of 1 ½ weeks. It's been 2 months since the hypo just about. Well the fish have ich AGAIN. It's not bad yet...but I noticed 1 spot on my regal, a few on the tang and my heni is looking all ichy (lol no pun intended) again, not nearly as bad as before but I can tell a change in the slime coat as soon as I see it. Wrasse started itching and my blenny goes and hides on the power head (which he only does when he's not feeling well) sooo back down to hypo again.
So I guess 40 +days in hypo wasn't enough :/ this really sucks. But at least I caught it early this time. So I guess I'm just doomed with ich forever in my tank unless I leave the tank fallow and treat in a QT tank which isn't an option for me really. Sigh.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Update. So I held my fish at hypo for 40 days..maybe a bit past that, I honestly can't remember, it was a long time and the fish were better than ever. They did great. Slowly went up over the course of 1 ½ weeks. It's been 2 months since the hypo just about. Well the fish have ich AGAIN. It's not bad yet...but I noticed 1 spot on my regal, a few on the tang and my heni is looking all ichy (lol no pun intended) again, not nearly as bad as before but I can tell a change in the slime coat as soon as I see it. Wrasse started itching and my blenny goes and hides on the power head (which he only does when he's not feeling well) sooo back down to hypo again.
So I guess 40 +days in hypo wasn't enough :/ this really sucks. But at least I caught it early this time. So I guess I'm just doomed with ich forever in my tank unless I leave the tank fallow and treat in a QT tank which isn't an option for me really. Sigh.

Just to clarify - the fish went through 40 days of hypo and were still in the same tank and ich cropped up again? If they were moved to a different tank, I would at first consider that the new tank had a latent infection perhaps?

If not, well, that's really a drag. Hypo isn't my first choice for combatting ich (I use Copperafe) but it generally does work pretty well. Are you fairly certain that the spots you are seeing are ich trophonts? Fish do develop random white spots that can be misdiagnosed as ich. What I generally suggest is to watch the locations of the spots carefully - if the spots come and go, and change in number over a few days, then it may well be ich. If the white spots are in the exact same location on the fish after perhaps 36 hours, it may not be ich after all.

Jay

 

[SakuraSky]

Just to clarify - the fish went through 40 days of hypo and were still in the same tank and ich cropped up again? If they were moved to a different tank, I would at first consider that the new tank had a latent infection perhaps?

If not, well, that's really a drag. Hypo isn't my first choice for combatting ich (I use Copperafe) but it generally does work pretty well. Are you fairly certain that the spots you are seeing are ich trophonts? Fish do develop random white spots that can be misdiagnosed as ich. What I generally suggest is to watch the locations of the spots carefully - if the spots come and go, and change in number over a few days, then it may well be ich. If the white spots are in the exact same location on the fish after perhaps 36 hours, it may not be ich after all.

Jay

Yes same tank, no new fish, nothing changed since hypo. The spots I'm seeing is what it started out as last time. Would be heavy at night and fall off during the day, increasing in numbers. So far the spots come and go and aren't no where near as numerous yet but they all have the same symptoms as before and you saw the pictures, it was without a doubt ich. My heniochus has the most trouble as it's prone to bacterial infections since him, the fox face and the wrasse are 10+ years old. The heni looked excellent during hypo and it cleared up his scales and no bacterial infections. So I'll do the hypo again and well I guess we will see where we are at after at least it was super easy for me and I know they tolerate it well.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes same tank, no new fish, nothing changed since hypo. The spots I'm seeing is what it started out as last time. Would be heavy at night and fall off during the day, increasing in numbers. So far the spots come and go and aren't no where near as numerous yet but they all have the same symptoms as before and you saw the pictures, it was without a doubt ich. My heniochus has the most trouble as it's prone to bacterial infections since him, the fox face and the wrasse are 10+ years old. The heni looked excellent during hypo and it cleared up his scales and no bacterial infections. So I'll do the hypo again and well I guess we will see where we are at after at least it was super easy for me and I know they tolerate it well.

Yep - returning to hypo is your best bet. I'm surprised that the fish, having gone through a moderate infection, broke out with ich so soon. I would have expected at least some acquired immunity.

Jay