Ich in my display

[Heart is what matters]

I am writing to seek advice regarding an ich outbreak in my reef tank. Despite previously quarantining every fish using Copper Power and Prazipro, several are now showing signs of ich infection. Fortunately, they are all still active and eating, and I haven't experienced any losses yet. My guess is that ich got induced by a coral frag since Ive been buying a-lot from local reefers or an invertebrate, i don’t quarantine those!

The tank currently houses a Yellow Tang, two Storm Clowns, a Melanurus Wrasse, a Naoko Fairy Wrasse, a Tricolor Fairy Wrasse, a Possum Wrasse, a Cleaner Wrasse, a Cardinal, a Midas Blenny, a Watchman Goby, a Lawnmower Blenny, and a Hawkfish.
All these fish have been in my system for multiple months healthy!

Given the situation, should I allow the ich to run its course and hope for survival, i do have aqua uv sterilizer property sized, or should I remove all fish for another quarantine treatment? 6-10 week fallow. Additionally, if i do remove all fish do I need to remove snails and other invertebrates also during this process?

 

[winxp_man]

If you QTed before you know that nothing will get rid of it outside of QT.

I have tried plenty in my tank and killed corals in the end trying to get “reef safe” options. Nothing worked.

Ich will only get worse and worse. There will be times that give you the impression that it’s gone then it comes back. And every time it’s going away it only comes back in larger numbers.

Eventually it will kill all fish life. And yes your corals possibly brought it in, if you QT’ed to the T in regard to the fish you said you QT’ed. I got ich in algae I got from a LFS. At that point I said nothing will be going into my tank that has not been QT’ed!

Seems you will be going back into the QT season if you want the fish to live. And if you don’t care then they will eventually perish. This is a decision you have to make. And I would not dose anything in a tank with corals any longer.

 

[Mebbid]

What you should do all depends on your situation. As you mentioned, the ich can be transported in on coral frags or even inverts like snails or hermit crabs. So if you're not going to quarantine both corals and inverts then there's really no point in going through the fallow process again.

Assuming the ich isn't out of control to the point of putting fish in danger and is still just a few spots here and there then I would feed frequently with high quality food with something like selcon added in and work to minimize stress of the fish until it calms down.

Otherwise, if the fish are in danger then remove them, treat them in a hospital tank, and take things from there.

 

[winxp_man]

What you should do all depends on your situation. As you mentioned, the ich can be transported in on coral frags or even inverts like snails or hermit crabs. So if you're not going to quarantine both corals and inverts then there's really no point in going through the fallow process again.

Assuming the ich isn't out of control to the point of putting fish in danger and is still just a few spots here and there then I would feed frequently with high quality food with something like selcon added in and work to minimize stress of the fish until it calms down.

Otherwise, if the fish are in danger then remove them, treat them in a hospital tank, and take things from there.

The issue with the calms down, it only gives the impression of your winning the fight. And it comes back in larger and larger numbers until fish are all dead. As long as there is a food source there will be ich unless fallow period is taken and fish QT’ed again.

Just go to face book aside from here and see how many posts of feeding fish this or that until it beats ich. To eventually dead fish posts.

The biggest myth from all the research I have done is that ich can be beat or put at bay with food. I have yet to see many successful stories with good endings. The sad thing is I see many posts egging on the idea on a regular.


Fallow period for 60 days and temps above 77* with good amount of moving water to prevent stagnant areas in the tank, and copper at 2.25ppm min and 2.5ppm max has been the cure for me. And now I QT everything and it’s mum! Haha!

 

[Mebbid]

The issue with the calms down, it only gives the impression of your winning the fight. And it comes back in larger and larger numbers until fish are all dead. As long as there is a food source there will be ich unless fallow period is taken and fish QT’ed again.

Just go to face book aside from here and see how many posts of feeding fish this or that until it beats ich. To eventually dead fish posts.

The biggest myth from all the research I have done is that ich can be beat or put at bay with food. I have yet to see many successful stories with good endings. The sad thing is I see many posts egging on the idea on a regular.


Fallow period for 60 days and temps above 77* with good amount of moving water to prevent stagnant areas in the tank, and copper at 2.25ppm min and 2.5ppm max has been the cure for me. And now I QT everything and it’s mum! Haha!

I would say most tanks have ich unless strict quarantine protocols have been kept in place, I would bet money that the number of people doing that is less than 10%.

Ich is absolutely a manageable issue, having done it myself for multiple years. Most tanks with ich keep a low stress environment, feeding appropriately to help accentuate the fish's natural immune system. It is of course a risk because when a new fish is added or something stresses a fish out then it can get to plague like proportions very quickly.

Here's an article from Humblefish. If anyone can be described as an expert in fish disease it's him.

Ich eradication vs. Ich management

Ich eradication vs. Ich management The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of ich eradication and ich management, and present the best methods for implementing each. Ich eradication - Simply put, this method means doing everything possible to keep ich out of your tank. That...

humble.fish

Or Jay here on reef2reef if you'd prefer.

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[winxp_man]

I would say most tanks have ich unless strict quarantine protocols have been kept in place, I would bet money that the number of people doing that is less than 10%.

Ich is absolutely a manageable issue, having done it myself for multiple years. Most tanks with ich keep a low stress environment, feeding appropriately to help accentuate the fish's natural immune system. It is of course a risk because when a new fish is added or something stresses a fish out then it can get to plague like proportions very quickly.

Here's an article from Humblefish. If anyone can be described as an expert in fish disease it's him.

Ich eradication vs. Ich management

Ich eradication vs. Ich management The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of ich eradication and ich management, and present the best methods for implementing each. Ich eradication - Simply put, this method means doing everything possible to keep ich out of your tank. That...

humble.fish

Or Jay here on reef2reef if you'd prefer.

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

So what happens if ich can’t feed? Les say you see no more spots within a year? Does this disease not need to feed? I see more and more post about this disease, and dead fish.

I have read plenty of Jays and other medics posts talking about how this disease works. Most know that it will come off the fish part of the cycle. Then breed and jump back on fish as part of the cycle.

Most tanks have ich is too broad of a statement. What I mean by this is that a higher percentage of the time we never hear back on how many fish died because all the did was try to feed well, and produce a stress free environment. I look at it as in the fact that these fish are in an aquarium stress over anything can happen. We are not the ocean.

Lastly never said it can’t be done. But fish will be lost. In my last run in with ich, I decided screw it eradication it is! And the results it got are awesome. And each tank we hear about is different. But the QT solution can increase success more than any other method for fish survival. And this is coming from a year of running QT with various fish. And spending time under a microscope.

My advice will always be QT over feeding and attempting to create a maybe out of the situation. I do digress and only offered my view and opinion on the best option.

 

[winxp_man]

I would say most tanks have ich unless strict quarantine protocols have been kept in place, I would bet money that the number of people doing that is less than 10%.

Ich is absolutely a manageable issue, having done it myself for multiple years. Most tanks with ich keep a low stress environment, feeding appropriately to help accentuate the fish's natural immune system. It is of course a risk because when a new fish is added or something stresses a fish out then it can get to plague like proportions very quickly.

Here's an article from Humblefish. If anyone can be described as an expert in fish disease it's him.

Ich eradication vs. Ich management

Ich eradication vs. Ich management The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of ich eradication and ich management, and present the best methods for implementing each. Ich eradication - Simply put, this method means doing everything possible to keep ich out of your tank. That...

humble.fish

Or Jay here on reef2reef if you'd prefer.

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

Ps I did these methods, ended up killing corals, and ich came back. If we are playing for better odds, that would be to choose QT over management.