Ich in the DT…

[Shilpan Patel]

Hello team! My lovely blue tang has a few days left in QT…and I just noticed ich in my DT. It’s only the foxface and a blenny. I suspect this must be because I added some shrimp to the tank recently without QT.

I have a few questions. I want to go fallow for 76 days and treat all the fish. I have a foxface, a lawnmower blenny, 2 clownfish, 4 peppermint shrimp, and then a Midas blenny and blue tang still in QT. I have two questions.

1. The last time I did this I moved all the fish to a 40g breeder, had an ammonia spike and they all died. Any suggestions? Should I maybe move some live rock to the 40g tank and then move all the fish there? Should I add some bottled bacteria maybe?

2. I will be treating the ich with copper for 30 days. When do I start the copper? Since ich can survive encrusted onto stuff for 76 days, won’t that mean if I copper them now and then wait for 46 days for fallow to finish they can get reinfected again? Should I instead do the copper in the last 30 days of quarantine?

Any other suggestions to make this process logistically easier? I’m a bit nervous because last time I saw ich, panicked and put 8 fish in 40g breeder with one bottle of starter bacteria, and the all died from an ammonia spike (which being way more experienced I wasn’t monitoring so totally my fault, I have test kits for everything now and check regularly).

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello team! My lovely blue tang has a few days left in QT…and I just noticed ich in my DT. It’s only the foxface and a blenny. I suspect this must be because I added some shrimp to the tank recently without QT.

I have a few questions. I want to go fallow for 76 days and treat all the fish. I have a foxface, a lawnmower blenny, 2 clownfish, 4 peppermint shrimp, and then a Midas blenny and blue tang still in QT. I have two questions.

1. The last time I did this I moved all the fish to a 40g breeder, had an ammonia spike and they all died. Any suggestions? Should I maybe move some live rock to the 40g tank and then move all the fish there? Should I add some bottled bacteria maybe?

2. I will be treating the ich with copper for 30 days. When do I start the copper? Since ich can survive encrusted onto stuff for 76 days, won’t that mean if I copper them now and then wait for 46 days for fallow to finish they can get reinfected again? Should I instead do the copper in the last 30 days of quarantine?

Any other suggestions to make this process logistically easier? I’m a bit nervous because last time I saw ich, panicked and put 8 fish in 40g breeder with one bottle of starter bacteria, and the all died from an ammonia spike (which being way more experienced I wasn’t monitoring so totally my fault, I have test kits for everything now and check regularly).

First - be certain you have ich in the DT.

1) Yes, you'll need to control the ammonia in the QT. If you have filter media from the DT you can move over, that will help. I try to avoid using live rock because it can absorb and adsorb copper. Bacteria in a bottle and ammonia neutralizers are you next layer of defense.

2) Start the copper on the fish in the QT right away, I would use coppersafe at a dose of 2.5 ppm measured with a good test kit. Don't use copper in your DT. At the end of the 30 days of full copper, just remove some of it through water changes and let them coast in the QT until the 75 days is up.

Jay

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Just get yourself a UV. Has always worked for me. I recently introduced Ich with some coral. Turned the UV back on and a week later it was gone (or at least not on the fish). If you use copper, don't forget it'll kill your inverts.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Just get yourself a UV. Has always worked for me. I recently introduced Ich with some coral. Turned the UV back on and a week later it was gone (or at least not on the fish). If you use copper, don't forget it'll kill your inverts.

While UV is a good tool for parasites, It does not kill ich within the tank but rather what passes through the column with the UV light

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Hello team
Sorry my dad was writing the initial post as I dictated and doesn’t know what fish are called what so put the wrong names in his confusion

The blue tang has FINISHED QT and is in my DT. It’s been there for 5 days. The Midas blenny has not (it stopped eating so it’s staying there longer). The white spots are on the blue tang. The foxface and clownfish and lawnmower blenny are in the DT too for the last 4 years, they have NO spots on them. The lawnmower blenny I thought had a spot but it wasn’t. So in summary the blue tang has 3 to 4 small white spots over its body. The other fish have nothing on them. I’ll try send pictures later when the lights turn on and it’s easy to see. The spots are so small it’s hard to capture it on camera. How do you tell the difference between sand stuck on the fish versus ich?

I did 30 days of copper for the blue tang and checked copper levels daily with Hanna so I don’t think ich is from there. I suspect it is from my DT tank from the shrimp I added without quarantine a month or two ago.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Get a uv Aqua ultra violet

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Thank you for the suggestion! I think I’ll probably go fallow because I want to eliminate ich. I’ll just wait a few days to see how these white spots evolve to make sure I have the diagnosis correct.

 

[threebuoys]

Please post some photos of the blue tang. As Jay said, be sure its ich and not something else. The 30 day copper treatment should have handled ich. Perhaps the spots are something else.

 

[MnFish1]

Hello team
Sorry my dad was writing the initial post as I dictated and doesn’t know what fish are called what so put the wrong names in his confusion

The blue tang has FINISHED QT and is in my DT. It’s been there for 5 days. The Midas blenny has not (it stopped eating so it’s staying there longer). The white spots are on the blue tang. The foxface and clownfish and lawnmower blenny are in the DT too for the last 4 years, they have NO spots on them. The lawnmower blenny I thought had a spot but it wasn’t. So in summary the blue tang has 3 to 4 small white spots over its body. The other fish have nothing on them. I’ll try send pictures later when the lights turn on and it’s easy to see. The spots are so small it’s hard to capture it on camera. How do you tell the difference between sand stuck on the fish versus ich?

I did 30 days of copper for the blue tang and checked copper levels daily with Hanna so I don’t think ich is from there. I suspect it is from my DT tank from the shrimp I added without quarantine a month or two ago.

Pictures are important here. BUT - lets pretend its ICH on the tang.

IF it is - you put all of your fish in a hospital tank with therapeutic copper for 30 days. Then change water (i.e. remove the copper) - in the QT - but leave your display fallow for 76 days. I.e. You do copper for 30 days in the hospital tank, you leave the fish in the hospital tank for another 46 days - (in regular saltwater) - and after 76 days re-introduce to the display tank. make sure you're following ammonia, and keep the QT tank well oxygenated (airstone, etc.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Pictures are important here. BUT - lets pretend its ICH on the tang.

IF it is - you put all of your fish in a hospital tank with therapeutic copper for 30 days. Then change water (i.e. remove the copper) - in the QT - but leave your display fallow for 76 days. I.e. You do copper for 30 days in the hospital tank, you leave the fish in the hospital tank for another 46 days - (in regular saltwater) - and after 76 days re-introduce to the display tank. make sure you're following ammonia, and keep the QT tank well oxygenated (airstone, etc.

And every single thing moving forward needs to go through quarantine too… 76 days observation . Want a new coral? 76 days …

Please correct me if I’m wrong

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Thank you here are pictures. There is one spot on each side of the tang. I thought there was another near the tail fin but it’s gone.

yeah next time I’ll need to QT my shrimp and coral too…I have not been doing this and that’s my fault.

 

[Tamberav]

I am not sure I am seeing ich here...the spots look kinda big to me

Use biospira if you do QT them... it is faster then some of the other bacterial products.

I would not pull these fish out without confirming ich. Might just be a mucus plug or a viral nodule.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I also don’t see definitive ich here. Watch for spots that come and go, changing in relative numbers over days. The spots may clear up and then return - that is more likely ich.
Mucus plugs and other skin blemishes tend to stay in the same place over days.
Jay