Ich in tank please help!

asapcjp · Apr 26, 2026

Hi guys, I’m new to this forum.

My tank is about 4 months old. I’m new to reefing and I definitely rushed things by adding a lot of fish and coral too quickly. Last week, I noticed one of my fish had a lot of white spots, and the next morning I found it dead. Now, a week later, all of my fish have died (I believe due to ich).

At this point, all my fish are gone but my corals continue to thrive. How do I get rid of the ich in the tank before adding new fish? I don’t have the space to set up a QT tank. And before anyone says it—I know I should have quarantined fish beforehand.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Fish Fan · Apr 27, 2026

asapcjp said:
Hi guys, I’m new to this forum.

My tank is about 4 months old. I’m new to reefing and I definitely rushed things by adding a lot of fish and coral too quickly. Last week, I noticed one of my fish had a lot of white spots, and the next morning I found it dead. Now, a week later, all of my fish have died (I believe due to ich).

At this point, all my fish are gone but my corals continue to thrive. How do I get rid of the ich in the tank before adding new fish? I don’t have the space to set up a QT tank. And before anyone says it—I know I should have quarantined fish beforehand.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I'm sorry to read about your fish losses, that's tough, but it's happened to most of us.

I'm not one of the R2R Fish Medic team, but I think one approach is to allow the tank to remain running without fish (fallow) for about 45-60 days. This will allow any fish parasites to die off without a fish host to complete their lifecycle. Corals and other inverts should be fine. Don't add anything at all during the fallow period, not even snails.

Here's a good thread with more info on this:

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

In the future, consider QT'ing your fish or purchasing pre-QT'ed fish from one of the vendors who offers that now. Here's the R2R protocol for QT:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 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, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Good luck going forward!

Kooma · Apr 27, 2026

45 days eh? Haven’t heated that before but sounds like we need a new study. I always stick to 76 days for anything from another tank that has a hard surface. Urchins don’t need QT surprisingly.

Copper QT for fish.

A QT can be a 10 gallon tank in another room with filter and heater. Nothing fancy.

vetteguy53081 · Apr 27, 2026

asapcjp said:
Hi guys, I’m new to this forum.

My tank is about 4 months old. I’m new to reefing and I definitely rushed things by adding a lot of fish and coral too quickly. Last week, I noticed one of my fish had a lot of white spots, and the next morning I found it dead. Now, a week later, all of my fish have died (I believe due to ich).

At this point, all my fish are gone but my corals continue to thrive. How do I get rid of the ich in the tank before adding new fish? I don’t have the space to set up a QT tank. And before anyone says it—I know I should have quarantined fish beforehand.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Please post video of tank to confirm if you actually have ich before taking any steps going forward

drstardust · Apr 27, 2026

vetteguy53081 said:
Please post video of tank to confirm if you actually have ich before taking any steps going forward

....he said his fish are all dead

vetteguy53081 · Apr 27, 2026

drstardust said:
....he said his fish are all dead

Yes I want to see video of tank

Jay Hemdal · Apr 27, 2026

Kooma said:
45 days eh? Haven’t heated that before but sounds like we need a new study. I always stick to 76 days for anything from another tank that has a hard surface. Urchins don’t need QT surprisingly.

Copper QT for fish.

A QT can be a 10 gallon tank in another room with filter and heater. Nothing fancy.

Take a look at the post - 45 days works at higher temperatures, but I’ve settled on 60 days for temps below 80.
The 76 days came from a single paper looking at ich tomonts in xeric culture. The author even said that the tomonts don’t last that long in real world systems.

Kooma · Apr 28, 2026

Jay Hemdal said:
Take a look at the post - 45 days works at higher temperatures, but I’ve settled on 60 days for temps below 80.
The 76 days came from a single paper looking at ich tomonts in xeric culture. The author even said that the tomonts don’t last that long in real world systems.

What would it be closer to 75-76F? I’m curious as I run my tank around 76 year round.

Jay Hemdal · Apr 28, 2026

Kooma said:
What would it be closer to 75-76F? I’m curious as I run my tank around 76 year round.

60 days still works. Below 70 degrees and things get weird - where Ich seems to hang on longer.

The whole fallow period idea has multiple variables; water temperature, how many Ich parasites were present when the fallow period started, water flow, type of substrate, and probably other variables as well.

resortez · Apr 28, 2026

vetteguy53081 said:
Please post video of tank to confirm if you actually have ich before taking any steps going forward

Second this. Visuals will always help in giving proper ID to the infection & proper course of action. There are several infections that are similar but require completely different approaches & treatments, the reason for the need of a visual. Just saying for future reference. Good luck