Ich in DT, pls help

[itselenababe]

About a week ago I moved all of my fish from my smaller tank (now a qt) into our newer bigger dt and up until yesterday they’ve been completely fine. One of our clowns had signs of ich so I immediately put her back in the smaller/qt tank and started treatment. All the other fish looked ok so I let them stay in the dt seeing as I caught the symptoms on the clown so quickly.

All day today our blue tang has been hiding and just not acting herself so I nudged her out of hiding with a net and now she has ich as well :’(

I think my two damsels (a talbot and domino) might have it as well, however the two mandarins and saddle valentini puffer look completely fine.

Our blue tang and other clown are currently in bags in the qt but the damsels are IMPOSSIBLE to get into the net. I really don’t want to have to take out all the aquascaping to get all of the fish out. Is there any way to keep all the fish in the dt and just treat the whole tank without killing everything else? There’s live rock (plus their hitchhikers), two soft corals, a cowery snail and hermit crabs.

I swear the only thing more stressed out than my fish is me

 

[Jrod381]

There are a couple methods you can try but it all depends on your tank. Do you have any corals in the tank?

 

[MERKEY]

Unfortunately no...You need to remove all fish and go fallow for best results.

Or you can try ich management.

 

[Jrod381]

If you have only fish and no corals or cuc you can try the hipo salinity method to help kill some of the parasites. Also ruby reef makes an ich treatment product that is pretty good and is safe if you have corals and cuc

 

[Jrod381]

But the ich will remain in your tank unfortunately so unless you go fallow you will never really avoid ich in the future

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

If you don’t have any coral or clean up crew in the dt and can safely get your fish into qt you can sterilize everything in your dt and re-cycle. It may or may not be as fast as allowing the dt to run fallow and you run the risk of missing something only to reintroduce the problem. Your best bet is what’s been recommended. Pull all fish and run fallow in the dt coral or not. Just my 2 cents. I know fallow sucks! I’ve been there! But it’s better than loosing fish!

 

[itselenababe]

There are a couple methods you can try but it all depends on your tank. Do you have any corals in the tank?

Two soft corals and hermit crabs. Also live rock, idk if that would affect it or not, it has a lot of corraline algae

 

[itselenababe]

There are a couple methods you can try but it all depends on your tank. Do you have any corals in the tank?

Two soft corals and hermit crabs. Also live rock, idk if that would affect it or not, it has a lot of corraline algae

 

[itselenababe]

If you don’t have any coral or clean up crew in the dt and can safely get your fish into qt you can sterilize everything in your dt and re-cycle. It may or may not be as fast as allowing the dt to run fallow and you run the risk of missing something only to reintroduce the problem. Your best bet is what’s been recommended. Pull all fish and run fallow in the dt coral or not. Just my 2 cents. I know fallow sucks! I’ve been there! But it’s better than loosing fish!

How long did you have to fallow for? Unfortunately I think this is the only option at this point. Now I’m going to have to figure out a way to get all the fish out

 

[itselenababe]

I’m going to have to fallow the dt,

my only fear now is having so many fish in such a small tank. will they be ok? I don’t want ammonia levels to spike.

That being said I guess they have tons of fish in small tanks at lfs’

 

[MERKEY]

76 days is the recommended time.

I read some of the fish you have but how many total?

 

[itselenababe]

76 days is the recommended time.

I read some of the fish you have but how many total?

8

 

[MERKEY]

Ok so
2 damsels
2 clowns which are in the damsel family
2 manderins
Blue tang how big?
Puffer

For that long if you can I would set up 2 20g longs.

1 for the 2 damsels and clowns and 1 for the others if the blue tang isn't too big.

you can get seacham ammonia alert badges to monitor that.

HOB filters and some media from you DT should be enough to seed some good bac.

Copper is a good way to treat ich but so is Tank transfer method.

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

How long did you have to fallow for? Unfortunately I think this is the only option at this point. Now I’m going to have to figure out a way to get all the fish out

I’m sorry it took so long to respond here!!! But I’ve been told by reputable sources 92 days is the actual minimum for some strains. When I went fallow I went a bit nuts and ran my reef for well over 120 days. I wasn’t taking ANY chances! As it stands I have assessors and anyone that knows them knows they can be the all time masters of hide and seek! So I had to actually break down my rock and play their game my way. I WAS not doing that again! Lol. As far as qt and observation tank size that all comes down to fish size. If you are going to fallow as long as I did you need something that your fish are be comfortable in for the extended period. If you wouldn’t mind posting some sizes I would be more than happy to help with that like @MERKEY has already suggested.

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Size on the blue tang and size and type on the puffer would be massively helpful please and thank you!

 

[MERKEY]

I’m sorry it took so long to respond here!!! But I’ve been told by reputable sources 92 days is the actual minimum for some strains. When I went fallow I went a bit nuts and ran my reef for well over 120 days. I wasn’t taking ANY chances! As it stands I have assessors and anyone that knows them knows they can be the all time masters of hide and seek! So I had to actually break down my rock and play their game my way. I WAS not doing that again! Lol. As far as qt and observation tank size that all comes down to fish size. If you are going to fallow as long as I did you need something that your fish are be comfortable in for the extended period. If you wouldn’t mind posting some sizes I would be more than happy to help with that like @MERKEY has already suggested.

Its over kill and will get the 1% of ich that can with stand copper and 70+ days fallow.

If you're already going fallow why not 1 more month lol

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Its over kill and will get the 1% of ich that can with stand copper and 70+ days fallow.

If you're already going fallow why not 1 more month lol

I was absolutely not risking it with 2 breeding pairs of assessors! I have breeding yellows and breeding Randall’s. So for me overkill was the only answer to safe my coral and my slimy babies! Lol

 

[itselenababe]

Ok so
2 damsels
2 clowns which are in the damsel family
2 manderins
Blue tang how big?
Puffer

For that long if you can I would set up 2 20g longs.

1 for the 2 damsels and clowns and 1 for the others if the blue tang isn't too big.

you can get seacham ammonia alert badges to monitor that.

HOB filters and some media from you DT should be enough to seed some good bac.

Copper is a good way to treat ich but so is Tank transfer method.

Ok I’ll definitely look into that! Thank you

The tang is 2” at best, all of our fish are still pretty little except for one of the mandarins which seems to be fully grown.

I purchased some blue API ich treatment, I’m not sure if that’s reputable but it’s the only one I could find

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Ok I’ll definitely look into that! Thank you

The tang is 2” at best, all of our fish are still pretty little except for one of the mandarins which seems to be fully grown.

I purchased some blue API ich treatment, I’m not sure if that’s reputable but it’s the only one I could find

Are the mandarin eating prepared foods?

 

[itselenababe]

Size on the blue tang and size and type on the puffer would be massively helpful please and thank you!

Tang is 2” at best and the puffer is a saddle valentini and on the smaller side