Marine Ich - seems to be clearing up?

JohnH123

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Hi All, appreciate there are many threads on ich but didn't want to hijack them. So about 2 years ago I set up a 300lt DT with 50lt sump. New SW in tank but moved my LR across. I had a Regal Tank, Clown, Filefish and 6 line wrasse. These fish had been in my old tank for well over a year and never seen ich. Moved them across and everything was fine. I don't really have room for a QT. I purchased a Flame Angel from the LFS and the tang got ich. I treated them with something recommended by the LFS and lost the Flame Angel and Filefish but the other 3 survived and seemed fine. No signs of ich for over 2 years. Presumably the tank was completely clear at this point?

One morning the 6 line wrasse had simply disappeared never to be seen again. No ammonia spike. I have since bought a foxface. Acclimated and no problems.

So recently bought a Sailfin Tang and after 3 or 4 weeks the fish all seemed healthy.

I'm trying to up the ph and read that getting a fresh air supply to the skimmer helps. So a friend came round with a drill that was 1M long and 25mm diameter and went through the wall by the tank allowing me to run the pipe. It made a heck of a racket as he did it. 3 days later the Regal Tang has ich. Could that racket have caused it?

So I've treated the tank with Esha Oodinex and the Tang looked better but not clear. I've given the Tang 2 fresh water dips, 2 days apart and that helped a lot. He now looks ok and is eating well.

Will everything settle down if I just keep them all stress free for a few months? None of the other fish have showed any signs of ich. I'm trying to set up a 50lt QT tank with water from DT and seeded sponge so I can treat with Cupramine but it isn't big enough to take all the fish. Is there any point in just treating the Tang and not the other 3? Also worried that if I get an ammonia spike in the QT and it has copper in it, what's my best cause of action if I do? Can't put him straight back in the DT obviously.

Really appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance Guys.

I'm also worried that

IMG_1758.jpg
 

Doctorgori

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dunno if this helps but just one sample and one persons experience ..

I’ve seen fish recover from ich in a reef tank and the disease never appears ...I went decades without ever seeing it again

...but years later I lost dozens of fish; some I had over 10 years incl a pair of pet Marine Bettas .... it hurt bad ...
...I QT always even if I gotta use the guest bathtub
..to each their own risk
 
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sharpimage

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If you are going to qt, it is all or nothing. All the fish in cupramine and dt fallow for, I believe 76 days. You can practice ich management instead.
 

Jay Hemdal

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Hi All, appreciate there are many threads on ich but didn't want to hijack them. So about 2 years ago I set up a 300lt DT with 50lt sump. New SW in tank but moved my LR across. I had a Regal Tank, Clown, Filefish and 6 line wrasse. These fish had been in my old tank for well over a year and never seen ich. Moved them across and everything was fine. I don't really have room for a QT. I purchased a Flame Angel from the LFS and the tang got ich. I treated them with something recommended by the LFS and lost the Flame Angel and Filefish but the other 3 survived and seemed fine. No signs of ich for over 2 years. Presumably the tank was completely clear at this point?

One morning the 6 line wrasse had simply disappeared never to be seen again. No ammonia spike. I have since bought a foxface. Acclimated and no problems.

So recently bought a Sailfin Tang and after 3 or 4 weeks the fish all seemed healthy.

I'm trying to up the ph and read that getting a fresh air supply to the skimmer helps. So a friend came round with a drill that was 1M long and 25mm diameter and went through the wall by the tank allowing me to run the pipe. It made a heck of a racket as he did it. 3 days later the Regal Tang has ich. Could that racket have caused it?

So I've treated the tank with Esha Oodinex and the Tang looked better but not clear. I've given the Tang 2 fresh water dips, 2 days apart and that helped a lot. He now looks ok and is eating well.

Will everything settle down if I just keep them all stress free for a few months? None of the other fish have showed any signs of ich. I'm trying to set up a 50lt QT tank with water from DT and seeded sponge so I can treat with Cupramine but it isn't big enough to take all the fish. Is there any point in just treating the Tang and not the other 3? Also worried that if I get an ammonia spike in the QT and it has copper in it, what's my best cause of action if I do? Can't put him straight back in the DT obviously.

Really appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance Guys.

I'm also worried that

IMG_1758.jpg
The sound/vibration could have stressed the fish, but for them to break with ich, there had to have been active theronts in the water.
I would not treat a portion of your fish for ich, I always go all in.
Jay
 
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JohnH123

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Thanks Chaps. I'm thinking if I took out the Coral Banded Shrimp and the 2 soft corals I have (that aren't doing very well which is why I wanted to improve the PH) and put them in the QT tank. I could then go hyposalinity on the DT without too much fear. My LR will then presumably recover once I start to ramp up the salinity again?

Appreciate I didn't mention the shrimp and corals earlier but was just trying to figure out where ich actually came from.

I am keeping the small QT tank completely free of anything absorbent. If I started to dose all 4 fish in the QT and suddenly had water parameter issues, could I chuck Cuprisorb in the QT and get them back in the DT quickly.

The Regal is about 5" nose to tip of tail, the Foxface 3", the Sailfin 2" and the Clown 2". How long do you think it would be in a 50lt QT before I'd got parameter problems? I can obviously do daily water changes but the more you play with copper the more chance there is of a mistake.
 

DSEKULA

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Thanks Chaps. I'm thinking if I took out the Coral Banded Shrimp and the 2 soft corals I have (that aren't doing very well which is why I wanted to improve the PH) and put them in the QT tank. I could then go hyposalinity on the DT without too much fear. My LR will then presumably recover once I start to ramp up the salinity again?

Appreciate I didn't mention the shrimp and corals earlier but was just trying to figure out where ich actually came from.

I am keeping the small QT tank completely free of anything absorbent. If I started to dose all 4 fish in the QT and suddenly had water parameter issues, could I chuck Cuprisorb in the QT and get them back in the DT quickly.

The Regal is about 5" nose to tip of tail, the Foxface 3", the Sailfin 2" and the Clown 2". How long do you think it would be in a 50lt QT before I'd got parameter problems? I can obviously do daily water changes but the more you play with copper the more chance there is of a mistake.
I appreciate that your thinking ahead doing the main tank with hypo and new qt with copper but if your doing this at the same time with the situation you mentioned (moving a qt fish to the dt in an emergency) i could see problems. Generally going down to hypo conditions is a slow process, I've never personally used the method but recommend looking into others time lines (if i remember correctly) most people take about a week to acclimate their fish down. Also, most hobby refractometers arnt made to read accurately down to hypo, id recommend investing in a digital meter that can accurately get you down to the exact point you want to ensure you dont over or under shoot the goal. The issue i see is in this emergency situation you'd essentially be taking a fish thats already probably not 100% happy and healthy due to being in copper treatment and then tossing them in hypo potentially shocking them to death. For my qt i either copper or ttm special circumstance fish, my special circumstance are things like dragonets where i essentially set up (15) 5gal buckets of pod cultures and move the fish daily never using the same bucket etc but done to maintain food which would die in copper. When i set up a copper treatment i always have 100% of the tank volume on hand for a wc just in case. Just mix copper in the new wc water and test before wc matching the level (recommend the hanna test kit for this) and do your water change as normal. If your worried about the potential Emergency you could always mix a batch (with copper) ahead of time and keep it temped and ready to go. In a bare container copper shouldn't fluctuate much but it dosent hurt to double check before adding it to the tank. Also keep in mind that you need to stay on top of top offs as along with evaporating messing with salinity it will also play on the copper concentration. Good luck!!
 
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JohnH123

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Thanks TJDSEKULA,

I was actually thinking of moving the corals and banded shrimp to the 50Lt QT tank and then hyposalinity the DT with the fish still in it? Then my LR will come back to life when I up the salinity and I can return the corals and shrimp?
The shrimp and corals should be fine in the QT tank for ages I would have thought?
 

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