Ich in display...should I live with it

[ReefingHavoc]

120 gallon has been up for a year. I have a quarantine system and always QT for 4 weeks with Coppersafe. I decided to try Diver’s Den to help ensure success and only QT’d for 2 weeks and no copper (big mistake). Unfortunately, one of those fish must have had ich and now my display does . I lost 1 fish, but the others have stayed healthy with only signs of white spot periodically.

I know the right answer is to pull all the fish and move to QT, but am concerned about trying to catch them, adding stress in moving, and keeping all of them in 40 breeder (QT) for 76 days.

Here’s my fish list:
Magnificent Fox Face
Melanarus Wrasse
Standard Clown
Kole Tang
Pink Spotted Goby
Cherub Angel
Neon Dottyback

Any advice? Should I just bite the bullet and make the move? What about keeping corals happy during fallow period - dose nitrate and phosphate?

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

You'll probably get varying answers, but I'll tell you my story. I religiously QT'd every single fish up until my last. It was a Ruby Red Dragonet that had been in QT for two weeks and not feeding well on what I could give it for pods in QT. I made a decision to put it in the DT early since the chances were very low for a dragonet to carry ich. . . sure enough, two weeks later and my purple tang and anthias are showing symptoms.

Going fallow was not an option for me. A well respected reefer in my area, who is more meticulous than I am, shared that even they were not immune. The advice was: Put an oversized UV on your system, but draw the water from your tank a few inches off the bottom, not your sump. The theory here being Ich theronts are going to be more present in the bottom of your tank than making their way to your sump. The second important bit was to feed your fish and keep them fat, happy, and healthy so their immune systems are strong.

I have a 120g also and went with a 40 watt UV sterilizer. I made sure I had the correct flow going through it. Since its incorporation, I have only seen ich reappear briefly, probably within three months of the first outbreak. It's been close to a year and a half and I have not seen any fish with symptoms since.

 

[Slawman]

The answer is it depends. Sometimes healthy fish will not succumb to the parasite and if you have no further serious infections then leave as it. If it were me I would watch and wait and be ready to act. The Tang and the Angel are the most susceptible. Fortunately Ich is pretty obvious and you will be able to see it progress if it does. Read up on ich cycle, treatments in relation to your fish species in particular. Feed garlic soaked food for the time being, some people will tell you it's witchcraft but I am a believer based on my own experience.

Hyposalinity is my preferred treatment for Ich but only if you have time to implement and you may not if you are dealing with an advanced infection.... Good luck.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

The right answer is to go fallow. You need to decide what’s worse, living with ich and possibly losing more fish or setting up a QT. I had to do this last year and all livestock were fine and adjusted well, similar fish to you. I found is easier to rip all rocks out on several towels, then get fish out because catching them is much easier that way. The rock and corals can be out of the water for 30mins to hour no problem as long as they stay wet.

just keep feeding same foods you were before and dose nitrate of phosphate as needed. My corals were fine.

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

I know the right answer is to pull all the fish and move to QT

Going fallow is AN answer. The only right one is whichever answer feels right to you. Many many people have ich in their tanks and don’t worry about it. I’m a recent convert from QT to no QT. I rely on good nutrition to keep my fish healthy and it’s working. I have two non-QT’ed tangs as well as some others. Saw a couple spots on some fish upon introduction and then they went away. It feels more right to me and I feel like my fish are healthier now. It’s your choice to make and only you can decide what feels right to you.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

Going fallow is AN answer. The only right one is whichever answer feels right to you. Many many people have ich in their tanks and don’t worry about it. I’m a recent convert from QT to no QT. I rely on good nutrition to keep my fish healthy and it’s working. I have two non-QT’ed tangs as well as some others. Saw a couple spots on some fish upon introduction and then they went away. It feels more right to me and I feel like my fish are healthier now. It’s your choice to make and only you can decide what feels right to you.

Until you have something bring in velvet. It’s a numbers game

 

[SeaDweller]

The best answer is to pull them all and then go fallow, that's an option. OR to manage it. I have ich, and i have 35+ fish in my system, no way will I pull them. I can't. I have a blonde naso in copper now, to prevent something like velvet coming in, only to be hit with ich anyway. sucks for me.

 

[ReefingHavoc]

I do appreciate the experiences brought to this discussion. I do have a 55 watt UV that can easily be moved to the display. My gut tells me that since the fish have been doing pretty well thus far to take some extra steps to see where this goes. I have 50 gallons of saltwater on hand and plenty of media cycled if I need to move to QT in a hurry. I'm also good with my stocking for a while so I won't be submitting new fish to the problem.

 

[SeaDweller]

IF I had a small fish list like you, i'd probably pull them (and did). Even thru meticulous TTM and fallow period, ich somehow slipped thru. I should have stuck to copper in the past.

 

[Ironwill723]

Not worth the hassle and stress to the fish if everything seems fine. I've had best success running ozone but UV will work also.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

The best answer is to pull them all and then go fallow, that's an option. OR to manage it. I have ich, and i have 35+ fish in my system, no way will I pull them. I can't. I have a blonde naso in copper now, to prevent something like velvet coming in, only to be hit with ich anyway. sucks for me.

LOL - I just saw your tag line for the first time: "bubbaque is really FarmerTy"

 

[ReefingHavoc]

Thought I'd update this thread in case anyone else runs into this dilemma.

I opted to pull the fish from the display. Everything seemed to be going fine with monitoring and subsequent use of UV and then several fish started to show severe signs of ich. My first loss was my kole tang, followed by my dottyback. At that point I decided to pull the fish and QT to stave off more deaths. Since in QT, I also lost my clownfish of 7 years. The rest are holding on and am treating with coppersafe.

The stress of dealing with this is not fun, but in the long run, I'll feel better not having to worry about introducing fish to a tank with known ich.

Moving forward, no shortcuts with QT, even if it's from a reputable store that says they've treated for disease/parasites

 

[Willbiker]

In my experience, living with ich is fine. I first got ich in my 700 litre, I took all my fish out and treated with copper. The stress was huge and I lost a couple. I went fallow for 80 days and then returned the survivers. I quarentined all fish from then on and treated with copper. I found copper treatment very difficult. I probably lost 30% of fish i introduced even though I tested thoroughly to slowly increase copper and keep at the correct level. Anyway....ich must have came in on a frag because it came back weeks after returning the frag. Unless you quarentine everything...frags, inverts and fish, ich will make its way back in eventually.

So now I feed a big variety of foods and installed uv. I very occasionally get minor spots now on my regal but not very often. All other fish, including many tangs, show no signs of ich at all...ever.

I decided I will stop using copper and will visually check my fish in QT daily for 6 weeks. As long as a fish is eating and active after 6 weeks with no visual issues or strange behaviour, thats enough for me. Velvet is the main parasite i want to avoid and I am confident that after 6 weeks of visual QT, this should be long enough to know the parasite isn't present.


My advice is feed well, keep stress down and run a large slow flowing UV.