My journey to Ich eradication, maybe, and how Polyp Labs Medic poisoned and wiped out almost my entire tank

[konatown]

I had ich showing up on a hippo, naso and 4” Hawaiin yellow tang, all of which are now dead after dosing Polyp Labs Reef Safe Medic. Within 36 hours of the first dose, my tank was dying. Everything was swimming sideways, upside down and gasping for air. I followed the instructions exactly. I pulled all of my fish, and started quarantining.



Within hours I lost a few fish that were very dear to me, one being a falco hawkfish that we are very sad over. Within 24 hours, I lost all of my tangs, hundreds and hundreds of dollars of fish that I was very attached to.



All I have left are my clowns, that I put into a separate tank, that fortunately didn’t die along with all of my tangs and many of other animals. They are the first fish I bought, and I am happy they were lucky enough to survive.



I’m breaking down my tank and cleaning it. I don’t know if I can go on, all of the corals, which are very unhappy and not doing well, the live rock, dozens and dozens of crabs/snails.. kinda need help to keep everything alive. Corals are in a coral tank with anemones, for 76 days.



1 - Will 2 year old live rock with coralline algae live in a dark Rubbermaid bin with a power head and heater? Either will be leaving it for 2.5 months or giving it to someone to use. Just want to keep bacteria and coralline alive.



2 - Will ich get ‘rinsed’ away, or does something like a pump or power head NEED to DRY for a couple of days for the Ich to die? This will be during my tank transfer method, and for items in my dt/sump while I think about filling it back up again. I’m sure pipes in the sump will stay wet for days.. I will have to let it dry out completely?



I’m planning on tank transferring my clowns, ridding them of Ich, and completely eradicating ich from my system, then staring over. I’ll be qt each and every wet thing I buy from here on out. That is if I don’t sell my tank and take a break from this.



Any help is appreciated

 

[Spieg]

What size QT did you have the fish in when they died? Not familiar with the product you used... why not just use copper like most people?

 

[Qasimja]

are you sure it wasnt marine velvet that got your fish? i ask because polylab medic is basically just hydrogen peroxide and i dont know if that can kill your fish like you say

 

[konatown]

What size QT did you have the fish in when they died? Not familiar with the product you used... why not just use copper like most people?

I haven’t used copper due to copper being a poison to fish so I could have lost them anyway. They were stressed and pulling them for a copper treatment would have stressed as well.

They were in a 20 long. Ammonia was 0 hours before they died

 

[konatown]

are you sure it wasnt marine velver that got your fish? i ask because polylab medic is basically just hydrogen peroxide and i dont know if that can kill your fish like you say

It killed all shrimp also. Leads me to believe it wasn’t the ich or even velvet that got them. I still have three fish alive also, two clowns and a blenny. They were moved to a separate tank pretty early on

 

[Squidward]

I believe your live rock should be fine with a heater and a pump for water movement.

Yes you would have to dry the pump(s), equipment that was in the infested tank. I usually pour scolding hot water on my equipment(heater, pump) after each tank transfer and let them fully dry.

Sorry for your losses. TTM is the right choice to go. Having suffered losses like you have, I was determined to never have to deal with ich again. I've been doing TTM since I upgraded in 2019 and my tank is ich free. Couldn't be happier. I wish you luck and success!

 

[threebuoys]

The best advice I can offer is read the stickies in this forum. They have been written by experts in treatment of fish diseases. In the active threads below the stickies, some hobbyists will share with you the methods they feel are successful for them. These methods will run the gamut. Keep in mind, many hobbyists will follow the advice in the stickies and never post on the forum. However, you will find that several posters, including the moderator @Jay Hemdal try to respond to every post for which they have suggestions.

I believe the stickies will clarify for you that copper today, if administered according to instructions is not dangerous to most species of fish and remains the only medication that is effective against an active case of crypto. You will also find discussions of the pros and cons of other methods to combat this parasite..

I believe you will also find that many products on the market are not effective against crypto and no regulatory group is present to protect the buyer from those ineffective products.

I am not familiar with the product you used. In a google search I was unable to find any documentation of what chemicals are actually in the product. That is always a red flag for me.

I am sorry for your loss. I know how disheartening that is, not to mention the impact on your pocket book.

Good luck moving forward.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I had ich showing up on a hippo, naso and 4” Hawaiin yellow tang, all of which are now dead after dosing Polyp Labs Reef Safe Medic. Within 36 hours of the first dose, my tank was dying. Everything was swimming sideways, upside down and gasping for air. I followed the instructions exactly. I pulled all of my fish, and started quarantining.



Within hours I lost a few fish that were very dear to me, one being a falco hawkfish that we are very sad over. Within 24 hours, I lost all of my tangs, hundreds and hundreds of dollars of fish that I was very attached to.



All I have left are my clowns, that I put into a separate tank, that fortunately didn’t die along with all of my tangs and many of other animals. They are the first fish I bought, and I am happy they were lucky enough to survive.



I’m breaking down my tank and cleaning it. I don’t know if I can go on, all of the corals, which are very unhappy and not doing well, the live rock, dozens and dozens of crabs/snails.. kinda need help to keep everything alive. Corals are in a coral tank with anemones, for 76 days.



1 - Will 2 year old live rock with coralline algae live in a dark Rubbermaid bin with a power head and heater? Either will be leaving it for 2.5 months or giving it to someone to use. Just want to keep bacteria and coralline alive.



2 - Will ich get ‘rinsed’ away, or does something like a pump or power head NEED to DRY for a couple of days for the Ich to die? This will be during my tank transfer method, and for items in my dt/sump while I think about filling it back up again. I’m sure pipes in the sump will stay wet for days.. I will have to let it dry out completely?



I’m planning on tank transferring my clowns, ridding them of Ich, and completely eradicating ich from my system, then staring over. I’ll be qt each and every wet thing I buy from here on out. That is if I don’t sell my tank and take a break from this.



Any help is appreciated

Sorry to hear this.

At first, I agreed with @Qasimja - Polyp Lab Medic, when dosed properly usually does....nothing at all (grin). I suspected that the fish died from some uncontrolled disease, like velvet. Then, you threw in that the shrimp died also. Shrimp are really sensitive to peroxides. So - that brings me back to a bad bottle of product, or a mistake in the dose (like the tank volume being off).

The live rock bacteria will be fine in a Rubbermaid, but the coralline will take a hit. Wet aquarium equipment is a common means of ich transfer. Rinsing in freshwater and thoroughly drying is one thing to do. Some people sterilize with bleach, but that requires testing and rinsing.

Jay

 

[konatown]

The best advice I can offer is read the stickies in this forum. They have been written by experts in treatment of fish diseases. In the active threads below the stickies, some hobbyists will share with you the methods they feel are successful for them. These methods will run the gamut. Keep in mind, many hobbyists will follow the advice in the stickies and never post on the forum. However, you will find that several posters, including the moderator @Jay Hemdal try to respond to every post for which they have suggestions.

I believe the stickies will clarify for you that copper today, if administered according to instructions is not dangerous to most species of fish and remains the only medication that is effective against an active case of crypto. You will also find discussions of the pros and cons of other methods to combat this parasite..

I believe you will also find that many products on the market are not effective against crypto and no regulatory group is present to protect the buyer from those ineffective products.

I am not familiar with the product you used. In a google search I was unable to find any documentation of what chemicals are actually in the product. That is always a red flag for me.

I am sorry for your loss. I know how disheartening that is, not to mention the impact on your pocket book.

Good luck moving forward.

Thank you for your tips. I have been scouring the stickies this week and reading everything I can. I will likely try copper in the future, I was just worried about trying it for the first time. It’s seems if you want a disease free tank, I’ll have no choice but to use copper eventually, so I might as well read up on it and get to know it. Thanks again

Sorry to hear this.

At first, I agreed with @Qasimja - Polyp Lab Medic, when dosed properly usually does....nothing at all (grin). I suspected that the fish died from some uncontrolled disease, like velvet. Then, you threw in that the shrimp died also. Shrimp are really sensitive to peroxides. So - that brings me back to a bad bottle of product, or a mistake in the dose (like the tank volume being off).

The live rock bacteria will be fine in a Rubbermaid, but the coralline will take a hit. Wet aquarium equipment is a common means of ich transfer. Rinsing in freshwater and thoroughly drying is one thing to do. Some people sterilize with bleach, but that requires testing and rinsing.

Jay

Thank you for the reply. I ended up taking the rock out, draining 100% of the water, and putting the rock back, packing the old sand around it and refilling with fresh saltwater. Hopefully the sand is okay, and not holding anything bad. I plan on trying the 45 day higher temp fallow, and testing to see if that worked. If not, 70 something days it is.
I just realized I can’t stare at an empty tank right now so I wanted to at least get some water in it, and I really didn’t want to mess up the rock too.

 

[KeepSwimming12]

I had ich showing up on a hippo, naso and 4” Hawaiin yellow tang, all of which are now dead after dosing Polyp Labs Reef Safe Medic. Within 36 hours of the first dose, my tank was dying. Everything was swimming sideways, upside down and gasping for air. I followed the instructions exactly. I pulled all of my fish, and started quarantining.



Within hours I lost a few fish that were very dear to me, one being a falco hawkfish that we are very sad over. Within 24 hours, I lost all of my tangs, hundreds and hundreds of dollars of fish that I was very attached to.



All I have left are my clowns, that I put into a separate tank, that fortunately didn’t die along with all of my tangs and many of other animals. They are the first fish I bought, and I am happy they were lucky enough to survive.



I’m breaking down my tank and cleaning it. I don’t know if I can go on, all of the corals, which are very unhappy and not doing well, the live rock, dozens and dozens of crabs/snails.. kinda need help to keep everything alive. Corals are in a coral tank with anemones, for 76 days.



1 - Will 2 year old live rock with coralline algae live in a dark Rubbermaid bin with a power head and heater? Either will be leaving it for 2.5 months or giving it to someone to use. Just want to keep bacteria and coralline alive.



2 - Will ich get ‘rinsed’ away, or does something like a pump or power head NEED to DRY for a couple of days for the Ich to die? This will be during my tank transfer method, and for items in my dt/sump while I think about filling it back up again. I’m sure pipes in the sump will stay wet for days.. I will have to let it dry out completely?



I’m planning on tank transferring my clowns, ridding them of Ich, and completely eradicating ich from my system, then staring over. I’ll be qt each and every wet thing I buy from here on out. That is if I don’t sell my tank and take a break from this.



Any help is appreciated

Ive just got 2 points to make. Firstly, I’ve heard of Polyp Lab Medic and was very close to buying it myself but after seeing mixed reviews I decided not to but considering it’s reef safe, regardless of whether it cures ich, I would make the hypothesis that it didn’t wipe out your tank which leads onto my second point. I very recently battled Marine Velvet and it’s been an absolute nightmare. Ive now started my fallow period and if that doesn’t work which is most likely should, I’ll probably cry lol. Ive also battled Ich before which is rather annoying in and of itself. Personally, to me the symptoms you’re describing sound like marine velvet to me. I lost a Midas Blenny and a Longnose butterfly due to the same symptoms. Although Ich can certainly kill, in my experience I’d say not normally that quickly.