Looking for some help.

Kari · Dec 15, 2016

Im new to the tank reef world and have learned the hard way what not to do.
I have a 72 gal reef tank with sump. I purchased an established tank with live rock, a niger trigger & goby. I later added a powder brown surgeonfish, bubble tipped anemone and a clown. Things were ok for a few weeks then I just had all of them die one by one from what I believe to be ich. I tried the hypo treatment on one and a freshwater dip on the other but I think it was too late. All of my water tests are fine the whole time as well. I have some questions and would really appreciate some advice.

1.) Whats the best way to treat ich? And when? ( A fish store employee told me some fish can just fight it off on their own)
2.) What do I have to do to my system now that it has been infected before i can start adding fish?
3.) I have live rock, new sand, a fan worm, one bubble tipped anemone and a soft coral. The coral and anemone seem to not be doing so great now either, Can i treat them somehow? Ive heard raising temps to 90 for 3 days but can they stand this?
4.) What can I do to the live rock to get the it removed from it?

Im a little confused because Ive been told all tanks have it, but as long as the fish are healthy and not stressed, they shouldn't get it. So now what to do to my system?
Any advice will help..
THANKS!

KJ · Dec 15, 2016

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/
Welcome to R2R!

bevo5 · Dec 15, 2016

Lots and lots of great information on this site for Ich.

Basically - since this is a new tank and all of the fish are gone, you're in great shape for actually getting rid of ich altogether. And it's easy. Just don't put another fish in there for 70 days. Maybe it's 60. I can't remember exactly. Just search 'going fallow for ich,' and you'll get the right information.

It sucks to not have fish in there for so long, but any fish you put in at this point will most likely succumb to the disease. And even if they don't, it won't be a happy life.

Go fallow now. Use that time to focus on getting the corals and stuff you like. And set up a 10g quarantine tank and follow the QT directions on this site.

TLDR: Bite the bullet and go fallow now and QT all future fish.

melypr1985 · Dec 15, 2016

Kari said:
1.) Whats the best way to treat ich? And when? ( A fish store employee told me some fish can just fight it off on their own)
2.) What do I have to do to my system now that it has been infected before i can start adding fish?
3.) I have live rock, new sand, a fan worm, one bubble tipped anemone and a soft coral. The coral and anemone seem to not be doing so great now either, Can i treat them somehow? Ive heard raising temps to 90 for 3 days but can they stand this?
4.) What can I do to the live rock to get the it removed from it?

Hi! I'm so sorry for your troubles. I'll see if I can answer some questions for you real quick.
1. The best time to treat ick is before they ever go into your display. Put them in a seperate QT and treat with either Copper, Tank Transfer Method or Chloroquine Phosphate. Take 30 days to treat your fish before putting them in the display. Even if you don't treat them before hand, at least monitor them for 30 days first and treat if something pops up (not my favorite method)
2. Leave the display fallow (fishless) for 76 days. All inverts and corals can stay in the tank the whole time. Run your tank like you normally wood with normal water changes, feeding the corals ect.
3. Ick doesn't effect inverts. It can travel into the tank on them, and it's best to QT them in a fishless tank for 76 days before putting them in the display as well, but not all can do that.
4. Nothing besides the fallow period. Simply leave all rocks, sand, corals, inverts in the display with NO fish at all for 76 days and the ick will starve itself out and die. No need to raise the temp in the tank at all. 90 degrees would likely kill all your inverts and corals anyway.

I hope this helps. Please take a look at the link that was posted for you above. It's great info. There is much more info in the disease forum stickies. Feel free to ask any and all questions you have.