Ich - To Treat or Not to Treat

Reef GE · Mar 1, 2021

My purple tang and others are showing signs of ich. I don't have any idea where the ich came from unless it was already in the tank when I bought it (7 months ago)??? Already established tank.

1. Should I treat this - requiring me to somehow catch all the fish and move them to a quarantine tank?
2. Should I risk it and just go the vitamin / PolypMedic route? I've been treating 8 days already - the spots left after day #1 but came back on day #8.
3. I'd like the fish to build natural immunity but what to do if they show signs of ich now? All are breathing fine and eating well.

I have an oxydator on order as I've heard that that can be helpful (?).

4. If I should remove all fish (wrasse, 11 clowns, 1 sailfin tang, 1 purple tang, one copperband butterfly, red fire goby) how to catch??????? 150 gallon tank. It's disheartening to think about how I would catch them all without totally removing all the rock / coral and taking water down to a low level.

Micah

Reef GE · Mar 1, 2021

I will add that one clown is bloated and seems about ready to pop, eyes are bulging too. I just noticed it today at the same time as the ich outbreak. So far only the purple tang shows spots, but as I said in the original post, others had it a week ago and then it went away after I started Polyplabs Medic. I realize Medic is not a cure, but thought I could manage it enough and maybe the fish build up some "immunity / resistance." Thoughts?

(I'm sure responses will be all over the spectrum here...)

davidcalgary29 · Mar 1, 2021

Do you have substrate? If not, I wonder if you could remove all the live rock, coral, and inverts and use your main tank as a QT? Yes, yes, I know it's a controversial suggestion, but it might be less stressful for the fish than catching them and placing them in a smaller tank when they're sick.

Reef GE · Mar 1, 2021

davidcalgary29 said:
Do you have substrate? If not, I wonder if you could remove all the live rock, coral, and inverts and use your main tank as a QT? Yes, yes, I know it's a controversial suggestion, but it might be less stressful for the fish than catching them and placing them in a smaller tank when they're sick.

I have substrate and lots of live rock. It would be difficult for me to have a quarantine big enough to handle all the rock.

davidcalgary29 · Mar 1, 2021

Well you could put it in a large garbage can with adequate water flow, but I'll guess that you have beautiful coral growing on your LR in an interlocked, e-Marcoed and intricately aquascaped system. If that's the case, I'd remove the fish and put them in a QT for treatment. Restocking those won't be cheap if they all die.

Tamberav · Mar 1, 2021

Reef GE said:
I will add that one clown is bloated and seems about ready to pop, eyes are bulging too. I just noticed it today at the same time as the ich outbreak. So far only the purple tang shows spots, but as I said in the original post, others had it a week ago and then it went away after I started Polyplabs Medic. I realize Medic is not a cure, but thought I could manage it enough and maybe the fish build up some "immunity / resistance." Thoughts?

(I'm sure responses will be all over the spectrum here...)

Sounds like a bacterial infection... maybe brought on by aggression or secondary to ich.

Flexin · Mar 1, 2021

"Hi my name is Rob and I have ICH in my tank..." "HI Rob" should be the response since many of us should be in the same meeting...

I've been pouring over videos and articles. You have to decide for yourself. Find the article Ich Eradication or Management by Humblefish... I decided to QT but lost my Purple tang. A hawk fish focused on him and here we are.

I had to remove almost all the rock, to catch the hawk. Next day (24 hours later) the tang had spots... So had to catch him (remove all the rock again..) He only lasted another 72 hours and passed today in the QT. There is no easy way, make a decision and act. For me, management will be the answer knowing I may be an event away from an outbreak, so will focus on nutrition and low stress, especially when adding fish... Best wishing on all of it...