Question about ich

[J Rog]

Hi everyone,

SO i recently had a very bad out break of ich in my 120 gallon and wiped out almost all of my fish... :cry: I have a 29 gallon biocube that is cycled and i set it up for to do hypo salinity to treat my fish that are left. The fish i have left is one clown, mystery wrasse and Niger Trigger. All the fish left are displaying very bad singns of ich except the mystery wrasse. Not a sign on him.. All the other fish look horrible.. I wanted to go fishless in the main tank that got ich for a month or 2 to let the ich die off in there. But i can't seem to catch the mystery wrasse.. If I leave him in there will the ich still die off in the tank? He is showing no signs of ich or discomfort and is eating normally, like a hog.. i hope someone can knows if the ich will die off in my system with the mystery wrasse still in there..

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

If you are having ich outbreaks, something else is wrong with your system.

Water quality, stress, lack of nutrition, all of the above or something else is the reason why your fish are showing it.

Tanks that are done "properly" rarely get ich, and when signs do show, it means something needs to be altered. If I start seein my tang itch, or a few specks here and there, it reminds me that I skipped an h2o change, or havent been giving him as much or as high quality food as I should have.

One h2o change and a sheet of selecon soaked nori later and they usually recover. But I havent had a breakout in over 5 years, and I havent seen a spec on any fish in about a year.

 

[Bubbles_B]

:nerd: A water change will definitely help in your situation. I had a HippoTang that had ich on it for a couple days. So I called a buddy of mine and contact the expertise of a local fish owner and they both stated the same, "that a water change is definitley needed" ich remover has copper in it so don't go using it unless you what your invert to perish. Also if your mystery wrasse show no signs of ich then it should be fine. Do you feed your fish with food that is high in vitamin c? I switched to a vitamin c enriched pellet food that doesn't have any phosphates as an ingredient and I have not had an outbreak in the past 6 years. So do a water change and eventually the ich will be eliminated from your main tank. I hope this info helps. :angel:

 

[J Rog]

Thanks for the reponses. But i do a 22 gallon water change every Sat... So that shouldn't be the issue. I also have a pretty good skimmer (Reef octopuss extream 200) and run a GFO and cabon reactor (BRS dule reactor).. So my water qualitiy should be fine. I also test for a Nitrite and Ammonia weekly. Both undectabile.. As far as foods, their main meal at night is a mix of Rogers food, mysis shrimp, and Brine shrimp soaked in Garlic extract and Aminomega (both brightwell products). So i figure there food should be very healthy as well. Thats why im so frustrated. I feel like im doing everything correctly and still having bad luck.. So the ich will die off in my tank even with the wrasse in there? I just read that the tank has to be fishless for 7 weeks for the ich to die out because it won't have a fish to host it..

 

[phil519]

It has to be fishless. Given the life cycle of the parasite - that's the best remedy at this point. During the motile stage it will not be able to eat and therefore not reproduce again. However you have to wait for all the egg/cysts to hatch and go to the motile stage, hence why it takes so long.

The true BEST method to fight ich is prevention. That means Qt'ing all fish purchases and dipping all corals/frags etc prior to introduction. As mentioned previously - keeping the water quality up and avoiding fish that are antagonistic to one another helps too!

p.s. sorry to hear about your losses.

 

[J Rog]

It has to be fishless. Given the life cycle of the parasite - that's the best remedy at this point. During the motile stage it will not be able to eat and therefore not reproduce again. However you have to wait for all the egg/cysts to hatch and go to the motile stage, hence why it takes so long.

The true BEST method to fight ich is prevention. That means Qt'ing all fish purchases and dipping all corals/frags etc prior to introduction. As mentioned previously - keeping the water quality up and avoiding fish that are antagonistic to one another helps too!

p.s. sorry to hear about your losses.

Thanks Phil, thats what i thought but thought i would ask everyone anyway. So I guess i have to find some way to get my mystery wrasse out without tearing apart my reef..

 

[nixer]

It has to be fishless. Given the life cycle of the parasite - that's the best remedy at this point. During the motile stage it will not be able to eat and therefore not reproduce again. However you have to wait for all the egg/cysts to hatch and go to the motile stage, hence why it takes so long.

The true BEST method to fight ich is prevention. That means Qt'ing all fish purchases and dipping all corals/frags etc prior to introduction. As mentioned previously - keeping the water quality up and avoiding fish that are antagonistic to one another helps too!

p.s. sorry to hear about your losses.

thats the first time i have ever heard about dipping corals/frags for ich.

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

Something has to be stressing your fish then in your case.

Keep looking for whatever it is...ich isnt something that should ever really be an issue. Im not even afraid to buy fish with a touch of it as long as they look otherwise healthy because I know that I am putting them into a situation where they can kick it.

I look at it like the flu, yes, it kills people but not average people, usually people that are older, sick etc...its something that pushes them over the edge, but usually not fatal if handled correctly.

 

[Murfman]

ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site - Reference - Marine "Ich"

 

[sohal tang]

I would not catch the mystery wrasse at all ! I would leave things alone...do water changes regular of 10 percent every 2 weeks or 5 percent every week...whatever floats your boat...and....feed only good food. Thats it! I would then begin to introduce fish in about 6 weeks.
I believe ick is in EVERY tank...you will notttttttttt get rid of it.... The condition of the reef and environment the animals live in will determine
if they get sick again or not... How long has the tank been set up? What size is it? Thanks, Best of luck, Tim

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

I believe ick is in EVERY tank...you will notttttttttt get rid of it.... The condition of the reef and environment the animals live in will determine
if they get sick again or not...

+100

 

[J Rog]

SO you guys don't think i should get he wrasse out?? But they life cycle of the parasite will never die out then.. Im starting to believe that i would be better off just getting him out and let the life cycle of the ich die out. Then just quarantine everything that i put in the tank.. That way I know that its not in my tank and what ever i put in there will have been treated if it did have anything.. Am i wrong?

 

[Sasquatch]

wow, Ich is certainly not in every tank (thats like saying eveyone has worms!) its a parasite, when you can see it on a fish that means the gills are packed with it and is really effecting the fish, ich is a time bomb that many things can set off
I think promoting the idea of "live with it" is very disrespectful to the creatures we keep and will only hasten the end of stock available for capture by government clamp downs. A system that isn't set up correctly will NEVER produce ich if it isn't there already, patience is a requirement to rid your fish of ich, 8 to 10 weeks is a minimum fallow time on a tank and fish that are quarantined and treated must be stressed and watched before release back to the system. J rog, stay the coarse and do the treatment

 

[J Rog]

wow, Ich is certainly not in every tank (thats like saying eveyone has worms!) its a parasite, when you can see it on a fish that means the gills are packed with it and is really effecting the fish, ich is a time bomb that many things can set off
I think promoting the idea of "live with it" is very disrespectful to the creatures we keep and will only hasten the end of stock available for capture by government clamp downs. A system that isn't set up correctly will NEVER produce ich if it isn't there already, patience is a requirement to rid your fish of ich, 8 to 10 weeks is a minimum fallow time on a tank and fish that are quarantined and treated must be stressed and watched before release back to the system. J rog, stay the coarse and do the treatment

I think i will do just that.. Learning the hard way by losing over $300 in fish, i just can't go through that again.. It most certainly SUCKS!! Its not just the money either... I was most upset when one of my black ice clowns died.. The other one is in the hypo salinity tank and this is the 3rd night.. He's not eating much though.. I hope he makes it.. I think she is depressed because her mate is gone..

 

[bruin11av]

Very possible your tank is experiencing temp changes due to sun or your room temp. This will always make your tank suseptibable to ich. Find the cause not the cure

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Ich is only in the tanks of the owners who don't treat fish (or anything else) prior to introducing them to the DT. No fish can be left in the DT so the parasites life-cycle can expire like stated above (Phil). I went through the same thing a few years back. Bought some rock of a fellow reefer who was tearing their tank down and put it directly into my established tank. Within the next 2 weeks all my fish showed ich, even the ich resistant mandarin goby. Who knew ich could embed in all the rock? I set up another tank, dipped my fish in Paraguard, and then Hypo'd the fish in another tank. Didn't loose any fish during this process. Just take it veeerryyy sllooww, change water often, and feed well. No lights on the tank either. Less stress. Good Luck

 

[J Rog]

Very possible your tank is experiencing temp changes due to sun or your room temp. This will always make your tank suseptibable to ich. Find the cause not the cure

No temp swings. I have a JBJ 300w digital heater. the tank stays between 79 and 80. I also have an extra temp probe in my sump so i can see if one is misreading or something like that. They are 1 degree off from each other but they are always one degree diffrence so there is no swinging here.. Any other possibilities? :confuse:

 

[J Rog]

Ich is only in the tanks of the owners who don't treat fish (or anything else) prior to introducing them to the DT. No fish can be left in the DT so the parasites life-cycle can expire like stated above (Phil). I went through the same thing a few years back. Bought some rock of a fellow reefer who was tearing their tank down and put it directly into my established tank. Within the next 2 weeks all my fish showed ich, even the ich resistant mandarin goby. Who knew ich could embed in all the rock? I set up another tank, dipped my fish in Paraguard, and then Hypo'd the fish in another tank. Didn't loose any fish during this process. Just take it veeerryyy sllooww, change water often, and feed well. No lights on the tank either. Less stress. Good Luck

Come to think about it the ich got really bad after i added a bunch of live rock off of craigslist.. hummmmmmmm and my mandarin got ich as well after i added the rock!! WOW

 

[Murfman]

Guys, did you read the site I posted on ich? The parasite has a life span of 34-37 cycles, as long as no new variants are added in to the mix. I introduced ich in to my 300 by adding a few fish from a system that had ich. I lost 5-6 fish and then the parasite stopped showing up. I added a White Cheek Tang and boom, fish was gone in 2 weeks, from ich. It has been over a year since I had an outbreak and the only fish added were put in QT to ensure that they were not sick. It was not feasible for me to try and take out every fish in the tank. If you can do so and let the tank sit fallow for 6-10 weeks, then the ich will die out since they have no hosts to keep the cycle going. If you can't keep your fish as healthy as possible, add garlic extract to entice them to eat more. It is like catching the flu, the healthier you are, the more likely you are to fight it off.

ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site - Reference - Marine "Ich"

 

[J Rog]

Guys, did you read the site I posted on ich? The parasite has a life span of 34-37 cycles, as long as no new variants are added in to the mix. I introduced ich in to my 300 by adding a few fish from a system that had ich. I lost 5-6 fish and then the parasite stopped showing up. I added a White Cheek Tang and boom, fish was gone in 2 weeks, from ich. It has been over a year since I had an outbreak and the only fish added were put in QT to ensure that they were not sick. It was not feasible for me to try and take out every fish in the tank. If you can do so and let the tank sit fallow for 6-10 weeks, then the ich will die out since they have no hosts to keep the cycle going. If you can't keep your fish as healthy as possible, add garlic extract to entice them to eat more. It is like catching the flu, the healthier you are, the more likely you are to fight it off.

ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site - Reference - Marine "Ich"

Yep, I read it and plan on getting my wrasse out of there this weekend. The tank will be fishless for 7 or 8 weeks. Thanks 1smile1