Ich?!! HELP!! SUGGESTIONS

[newreef1]

Hello guys! We normally get our fish from our local fish store in town. However a week ago I picked up fish from another town I work in. I picked up around 4 fish, one died next day I just figured maybe it might be because of the stress. 2 days ago another fish died in the evening. In the morning another fish died, and by the evening another had died. All four that died were the new fish that I got. When the third died I noticed white fuzzy resin around the black area near its head and gills I googled and confirmed I have Ich. I quickly got Ich X from my local fish store and followed other directions (increase temp, lower salinity, currently at 30 ppt). After adding Ich X all fish seem to have the white spots, two fish were very weak last night and I added some more 1/2 dose of the Ich X and now they seem to be swimming however I still see the white spots on my fox faces and the angel etc. This is my first tank so need suggestions on what to do and what to expect in the future since my main tank is now contaminated. Is it better to maybe just release all the fish and clean tank and start all over again? If the fish heal can I replace the tank water completely and put them back in the new water with same parameters or will the new water also get contaminated any and all suggestions and advice is appreciated please!!! I attached the fish pics below. Thank you guys.

 

[newreef1]

These are two of the three that died of Ich.

 

[Tamberav]

The tank needs to go 45 days without fish at 81-82 degrees minimum for the parasite to burn itself out. Replacing all the water will accomplish nothing.

You have many disease prone fish here. Also your tank is new and you added several fish at once.

Ich X does not cure ich… snake oil. Whatever is labeled as reef safe to treat ich is just a waste of money.

You need to slow down and probably quarantine the next fish you buy in a separate tank with separate everything as to not cross contamination. The treatment for ich and velvet is 30 days of copper at therapeutic levels using a Hannah checker to verify copper levels.

Unfortunately fish in this hobby often have parasites as they come from the ocean and they get sick easily in new tanks with dry rock. It takes YEARs for a tank to really mature.

The reason they look healthy at a LFS is often the LFS runs low dose medication to hide disease until the fish is sold. This isn’t entirely their fault as the wholesalers in the USA provide the fish to the LFS.

Unfortunately this is just part of the hobby and a learning curve.

You have some fish that are very difficult to keep alive in a new tank when they haven’t been properly quarantined and treated before going into the tank.

If you try to start over the same way.. you will likely have the same result.

You want to look up the fallow period for velvet (it sounds like velvet not ich as your fish died very fast) and treatments. You also may not want to be adding disease prone fish like powders and that angel until you are very good at quarantining and when your tank is more mature. These are not fish for beginners.

 

[newreef1]

The tank needs to go 45 days without fish at 81-82 degrees minimum for the parasite to burn itself out. Replacing all the water will accomplish nothing.

You have many disease prone fish here. Also your tank is new and you added several fish at once.

Ich X does not cure ich… snake oil. Whatever is labeled as reef safe to treat ich is just a waste of money.

You need to slow down and probably quarantine the next fish you buy in a separate tank with separate everything as to not cross contamination. The treatment for ich and velvet is 30 days of copper at therapeutic levels using a Hannah checker to verify copper levels.

Unfortunately fish in this hobby often have parasites as they come from the ocean and they get sick easily in new tanks with dry rock. It takes YEARs for a tank to really mature.

The reason they look healthy at a LFS is often the LFS runs low dose medication to hide disease until the fish is sold. This isn’t entirely their fault as the wholesalers in the USA provide the fish to the LFS.

Unfortunately this is just part of the hobby and a learning curve.

You have some fish that are very difficult to keep alive in a new tank when they haven’t been properly quarantined and treated before going into the tank.

If you try to start over the same way.. you will likely have the same result.

You want to look up the fallow period for velvet (it sounds like velvet not ich as your fish died very fast) and treatments. You also may not want to be adding disease prone fish like powders and that angel until you are very good at quarantining and when your tank is more mature. These are not fish for beginners.

Thank you so much for your help. So if I treat the fish with copper will the tank still need to go 45 days without the fish. I don’t have another tank, I wasn’t aware of quarantining the fish beforehand. I can buy another small tank for the future but I just don’t want a contaminated main tank or velvet or Ick fish.

 

[newreef1]

Thank you so much for your help. So if I treat the fish with copper will the tank still need to go 45 days without the fish. I don’t have another tank, I wasn’t aware of quarantining the fish beforehand. I can buy another small tank for the future but I just don’t want a contaminated main tank or velvet or Ick fish.

Where can I purchase the copper medication and or Hannah device? Also is the copper safe for humans to be around? Sorry these may be silly questions.

 

[Tamberav]

Thank you so much for your help. So if I treat the fish with copper will the tank still need to go 45 days without the fish. I don’t have another tank, I wasn’t aware of quarantining the fish beforehand. I can buy another small tank for the future but I just don’t want a contaminated main tank or velvet or Ick fish.

The main tank is contaminated at this point but you can go fallow and clear it.

You can even use large rubbermade containers as a QT tank. The main thing is it won't be cycled so you need to do water changes accordingly. It is more difficult to QT a lot of fish then just 1-2 at a time You may lose the sickest ones along the way.

Here is copper and hannah kit. Copper is a toxin.. so just use gloves if you put your hands in the tank and common sense.

Mardel Coppersafe (4 oz) - Fritz Aquatics

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

Hanna HI702 High Range Copper Checker (Saltwater) - Hanna Instruments

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[Tamberav]

Here is the info on 45 day fallow and QT protocols:

45 Day Fallow periods

I've been doing some research into the "76 day fallow period". I never heard of that prior to coming to Reef2Reef this past summer. I had always used 32 days as the maximum time for a tomont to remain viable under tropical conditions, and then I would round up to 45 days to help ensure that...

www.reef2reef.com

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[_sludgefactory]

Where can I purchase the copper medication and or Hannah device? Also is the copper safe for humans to be around? Sorry these may be silly questions.

It's to late you're already contaminated. I ran my tank fallow for 6 months before I bought another fish after I had ich. Only way to be sure.

 

[newreef1]

Here is the info on 45 day fallow and QT protocols:

45 Day Fallow periods

I've been doing some research into the "76 day fallow period". I never heard of that prior to coming to Reef2Reef this past summer. I had always used 32 days as the maximum time for a tomont to remain viable under tropical conditions, and then I would round up to 45 days to help ensure that...

www.reef2reef.com

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

Sorry very new to this. Thank you for these articles. So to follow the 45 day fallow period with the copper treatment I need to remove the fish from the DT? So I treat the fish is another QT and treat the DT for 45 days before it’s clear and then go ahead? Are there any fish that don’t get affected by this velvet? I’m thinking for the future because this is a lot of work lol.

 

[newreef1]

It's to late you're already contaminated. I ran my tank fallow for 6 months before I bought another fish after I had ich. Only way to be sure.

What exactly does fallow mean? What to do now if I’m already contaminated? Should I contact the fish store where I got the fish from? Not only did I get the sick fish from him he didn’t even inform me or warn me about the quarantine period.

 

[Tamberav]

Sorry very new to this. Thank you for these articles. So to follow the 45 day fallow period with the copper treatment I need to remove the fish from the DT? So I treat the fish is another QT and treat the DT for 45 days before it’s clear and then go ahead? Are there any fish that don’t get affected by this velvet? I’m thinking for the future because this is a lot of work lol.

All fish get effected but certain fish like Tangs are disease magnets. It’s not really the fish stores fault. The fish come come from the wild and have parasites. The only fish stores that have disease free fish are those that quarantine the fish themselves for 30 days but that’s uncommon.

Think of it like if you caught and kept a wild pet raccoon. It would probably be loaded with fleas and worms. No different with wild fish.

treat fish in QT and run tank fishless for 45 days at 82 degrees. Fallow means there is no fish in there so the parasites starves. You can not cross contaminate with anything wet!! This means hands too.

If you don’t have corals or inverts, you can TRY to dose the display with copper instead (I have personally never done this but seen others do it) BUT it will absorb into your rock and may make keeping corals or inverts more of a challenge later. Because the medication absorbs into the rock, you need to check the copper concentration daily or even twice a day and make sure to dose it back up if it drops below therapeutic.

All water change water needs to be dosed to therapeutic levels before changed. This is so the concentration in the display never drops.

 

[newreef1]

Thank you so much for all the help!