Ich Issues

[Diazcm]

Alright so I've read many threads on "how to" QT and "how to" treat ICH but still have some questions. I've noticed my powder blue tang is getting more and more white sprinkles over its body over the last week but he's been eating well, happy, swimming, not flashing, scratching, etc and i suspect its ICH and not velvet cause i have had this tang for a month already and everyone else in the tank is still alive, happy, and fat.
No other fish are showing signs of ich but i do plan on trapping everyone and placing them all in QT.

Now this leaves my inverts, sps, lps corals in the DT, if i go fallow will this still kill off the ich in the DT even though i still have some live stock in the DT?
whats a recommended copper solution out there? Seems like BRS doesnt sell copper stuff or i maybe over looking it. I do plan on using prazipro Thank everyone.

 

[Humblefish]

Now this leaves my inverts, sps, lps corals in the DT, if i go fallow will this still kill off the ich in the DT even though i still have some live stock in the DT?

So long as you remove ALL the fish from your DT, going fallow will work because you are denying the parasite it's food source. Ich can adhere to corals/inverts for up to 72 days, but eventually free swimmers have to be released to seek out fish to feed upon. If they find none within 48 hrs, they die and the parasite's life cycle ends.

whats a recommended copper solution out there? Seems like BRS doesnt sell copper stuff or i maybe over looking it. I do plan on using prazipro Thank everyone.

I personally prefer Coppersafe, but many people have good success using Cupramine as well.

This sticky lists several different copper brands, their therapeutic ranges and applicable test kits to use: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copper-test-kits.257924/

 

[Diazcm]

So long as you remove ALL the fish from your DT, going fallow will work because you are denying the parasite it's food source. Ich can adhere to corals/inverts for up to 72 days, but eventually free swimmers have to be released to seek out fish to feed upon. If they find none within 48 hrs, they die and the parasite's life cycle ends.
Thank you @Humblefish that info.

 

[Diazcm]

I have 11 fish i need to catch and QT with one of them being a mandarin. if i get a 50 gal tank would that be enough and can i add pods to the QT to feed my mandarin?

 

[cmcoker]

I have 11 fish i need to catch and QT with one of them being a mandarin. if i get a 50 gal tank would that be enough and can i add pods to the QT to feed my mandarin?

Mandarins can not tolerate copper. They need TTM if certain it's ich, not velvet. Otherwise chloroquine phosphate is needed, and requires a prescription from a local veterinarian.
TTM would be easier probably and then he could wait in his own tank for fallow to end

 

[Diazcm]

I would say im about 90% sure its ICH cause of the characteristic I've read about but i have been noticing that all signs of it is all gone by around 5am when i get up for work and come back around 10:00 at night. I did read somewhere that ICH is active at night when fish sleep. is this part still true?

 

[cmcoker]

I would say im about 90% sure its ICH cause of the characteristic I've read about but i have been noticing that all signs of it is all gone by around 5am when i get up for work and come back around 10:00 at night. I did read somewhere that ICH is active at night when fish sleep. is this part still true?

I seem to remember that ich is more likely to hatch out and attach to the fish at night, but I'd be worried that if you spots are disappearing and coming back daily that you may have velvet. Ich spots usually stick around a few days before disappearing. Can you post some pics of the most alseverely affected fish?

 

[Diazcm]

I seem to remember that ich is more likely to hatch out and attach to the fish at night, but I'd be worried that if you spots are disappearing and coming back daily that you may have velvet. Ich spots usually stick around a few days before disappearing. Can you post some pics of the most alseverely affected fish?

Yea but if it was velvet my tank would of been wiped out already by now. That’s why I’m ruling it out. Anyways.... here a quick pic of my powder blue tang as you can see his face has little spots on it and his fins have spots. I’ll try and get some more tonight

 

[Humblefish]

@Diazcm Looks like ich, but I would give him a FW dip en route to QT to check for flukes: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

 

[Diazcm]

@Diazcm Looks like ich, but I would give him a FW dip en route to QT to check for flukes: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

any recommendations you guys can give me to at least manage this out break? I'd hate to lose him.
I really don't know how I'm gonna QT all 11 fish at the same time plus i have a mandarin that i was told is sensitive to copper.
I'm sure this would defeat the purpose but can i just QT the tang for 72 days? I have never had an outbreak in my tank until i added the tang all my other fish look good with not one spot on them.
Has anyone ever used polylabs medic before?
Bottom line if i have to buy two QT tanks i will just trying to figure out alternatives before i spend the money on QT tanks. Thank again @Humblefish for the help.

 

[HB AL]

If he's eating and the rest of the fish are fine if you don't want to try and catch all the fish I would just let it run it's course. Feed the fish some variety off good frozen food and if the tang keeps eating it will pass on its own. I have a heavily stocked tank and don't run a quarantine but i know for sure ich is always present in me reef, but aside from when I first started the tank it never shows except a couple months ago my hippo had a couple spots that popped up and was visually gone in a couple days. Now if it's velvet I would react quickly to save what fish you can. That's just my opinion on ich, not a big deal.

 

[Humblefish]

@Diazcm You can QT/treat the PBT, but reinfection will occur once he is placed back in the DT unless all fish are treated and the DT itself is left fallow (fishless) for 76 days.

The reason you are seeing ich on him, and maybe not your other fish, is because he is an Acanthurus tang: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/ich-and-acanthurus-tangs-years-of-experience-and-ich-management.106/

Their mucous/slime coats are reduced in composition, making them more susceptible to parasites and other diseases.

Ich management is possible, but less likely to be successful with an Acanthurus tang in the tank: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.188775/

 

[melypr1985]

If you can get a RX for chloriquine Phosphate, then that would be a good alternative to copper and would allow you to QT the mandarin with the rest.

 

[4FordFamily]

If he's eating and the rest of the fish are fine if you don't want to try and catch all the fish I would just let it run it's course. Feed the fish some variety off good frozen food and if the tang keeps eating it will pass on its own. I have a heavily stocked tank and don't run a quarantine but i know for sure ich is always present in me reef, but aside from when I first started the tank it never shows except a couple months ago my hippo had a couple spots that popped up and was visually gone in a couple days. Now if it's velvet I would react quickly to save what fish you can. That's just my opinion on ich, not a big deal.

That doesn’t work for acanthurus tangs, particularly powders, Achilles, and gold rim.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/ich-and-acanthurus-tangs-years-of-experience-and-ich-management.106/

Edit: I see there’s a link echo in here, @Humblefish

 

[HB AL]

Glad it works for the tangs and other fish I have in my system. Getting it to eat is definetly very important to the survival of the fish.

 

[Diazcm]

He eats all the time and swims like nothing's going on. I can probably ask my vet for an RX of CH Phos and run two QT tanks for for the whole family and battle this thing once an for all.
Does anyone have any experience with polylabs medic?

 

[cmcoker]

I don have experience with Medic sorry.
See here before you start meds: https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/283450/
Some fish don't tolerate CP, some don't tolerate Copper, that link gives you guideline for which fish can handle which med.

 

[Diazcm]

if i get an RX from my dogs vet, can i pull up to a walgreens and pick it up there or would that be something the vet keeps in stock?
i'm already preparing myself to set up two QT tanks for the 12 fish which are the following:
1- skunk clown
1-Foxface
2- PJ cardinals
4- Damels
1- Mandarin
1- purple fire fish goby
1- royal gamma
1- PBT
are two 30 gal tanks enough?

 

[Diazcm]

just spoke to my LFS and they are recommending me a product called ICH-attack that is reef safe. anyone heard of this? still keeping my options open

 

[cmcoker]

just spoke to my LFS and they are recommending me a product called ICH-attack that is reef safe. anyone heard of this? still keeping my options open

There's no known reef safe treatment for ich that actually eliminates the parasites. Otherwise we wouldn't be doing all the work of a seperate hospital tank.

Best route for chloroquine is have your vet call in the powder form to Diamondback drugs, a veterinary compounding pharmacy