all my fish have ich

[BIG-G]

im not sure where it came from havent added anything in over two months but they got it. what should i do now? i have a dogface puffer, harliquin tusk, bluejaw trigger and a picasso trigger. They are in a 150gal tank with some live rock nothing else. They are to big to remove and i dont have another tank big enough.

 

[Damsel13]

sorry to hear the bad news Big-G. Had any events that caused extra stress lately? I have ich in my tank. Dormant at present. I just try to feed a varied diet of frozen, pellets, seaweed, garlic extreme soaked stuffed spirilina brine shrimp. And after the ich on the fish phase I blasted my live rock and did several large water changes making sure new water was matching temp. and ph.. I know this isn't a cure but my fish are showing no signs of ich now.

 

[returnofsid]

Slowly lower your salinity level until you're at 1.009. Keep it there for about 4 weeks, 6 weeks would be better. Your tank may go through a mini-cycle but it'll definitely get rid of the Ich. Make sure you use a refractometer to make sure you're salinity is low enough. You want to make sure you keep up with your freshwater top-offs so your salinity doesn't rise. It'll kill the Ich...but is safe for your fish.

 

[ronj]

don't lower the salinity with your liverock in your tank!!! the salinity drop will cause a massive dieoff on your rock...always perform your treatments in a qt tank

 

[jsmkmavity]

you could take your live rock out and put in a cheap container like a laundry tub or rubbermaid container or a plastic barrel with a heater and some type of circulation. if you have sand it could go in there too then the main tank could be the qt untill the ich is gone. lower salinity slowly and feed as already stated by others. monitor closely and if it doesnt start clearing up in a couple days start with cupramine. check with steve if hes around now.

 

[BIG-G]

thanks everyone, most of the live rock is not really live rock its argocrete i only have a few real rocks in there to seed the others so im not really worried about loseing the rock. I have already started lowering the salinity for hypo. I was just whanting to see if i could get some other ideas. Should i just do the hypo or can i use copper at the same time? would the copper cause any damage to the fish? i have heard that you cant use copper on puffers but what about the tusk?

 

[ronj]

are you sure you haven't added anything in 2 months???? have any of the fish had ANY spots on in the past few weeks????...remember,you will have to throw your rock away if you use copper while it is in the tank...also, do not combine these two treatments(hypo and copper)....the ph can become unstable and cause the copper to turn to a toxic soup if it drops too much...not sure about the puffers..better ask Steve to be sure..also, if you do hypo in a tank that large, you will be doing large water changes and you will have to do large WC's to get the salinity back to normal...hope it goes well

 

[Holygral]

If you use copper in your main tank, you need to be concerned about residual copper in the sand, rock or even the sealant. It may take months, a year or never to be completely gone. So with that said think about what you want to put in the tank in the near and far future.

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

You obviously know there is no easy way to erradicate this. You really need to remove the fish for treatment and let the tank go fallow 6-8 weeks. Depending on the size of your fish a 55 would be okay for a temporary home as would a few smaller tanks.
Hypo in your main would be tricky, it will cause a dieoff in your sand, rock etc.. You will have to do frequent water changes to keep water pristine..Very expensive in a 150!
I would NOT use copper in your display or on a Puffer!
If this is ich, it won't go away [and saltwater ich does NOT lie dormant due to the warmer temps] It will eventually kill the fish as they weaken from repeat attacks of this parasite. Secondary infections usually accompany ich and this will need to be treated with antibiotics.
If you want to get rid of the ich for good, do it the right way from the start
Good luck

 

[Jan]

Jan-the-thread-highjacker is at it again....

I've been doing the hypo treatment in my QT tank for a sick clownfish. He seems to have recovered. I know I need to raise the salinity slowly, but not sure how slow "slow" is. It's taken me 5 days to raise it from 1.011 to 1.014. Should I aim for a one point raise each day or is that too fast for a clownfish?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Big G, stick with the hypo you have started, do NOT use copper unless you feel like tossing the rock or using it in a FOWLER tank.

Jan, you can raise it faster. 20% increase a day is fine.

 

[BIG-G]

Im using hypo now and all the spots that were on the fish are gone. I know that i've got to keep it going for 4 to 6 weeks to be sure its gone. As far as keeping the water pristine my normal routine is to change about 30gallons each week so im thinking that this should be okay. im just trying to figure out what happened to bring this on? The last time i added anything it was a bluejaw trigger and he was clean, that was prolly two months ago. Is it possable that he had ich and it took this long to show up? And on top of that he was the last one to show any sign of the parasite. The puffer was the first one to get it. Ive had Ich in this tank before several months back i bought a sohal tang that had it i treated with hypo then to and it has been gone for some time untill now, (the sohal is also gone). Where do you think the Ich came from?

 

[BIG-G]

I just looked at my log that i keep on my tanks, and i added the bluejaw on Dec 28 2006.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

It can be brought in on anything wet from another tank though typically on a fish. It does not need to be epidemic to be present.

 

[Shawn C]

I have the same Prob.I have a tank that i havent added any thing to in about 4 months.Did a water change last week and woke up today to fish with white spots "ICK" IM geting ready to do hypo treatment.How is it poss to get this with out adding new livestock or anything.Im confused!!

 

[leebca]

There are a lot of myths about Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) I wrote some of them out. You might find it useful to review them, Shawn C.:
http://www.reefland.com/forum/marin...e-treatment/20321-marine-ich-myths-facts.html

Most of the problems come from the fact that aquarists don't see it coming in and that some fish can develop a resistance to it so that the aquarist doesn't know it is in the aquarium. Then, when there is a stressor (drop in temperature, new fish added, etc.) the parasite can bloom and even infect and kill the fish that were resistant to it.

 

[Shawn C]

so if i remove the fish from the tank to treat them (Hyposalinity)i can leave my star fish in the tank and leave it for around 6 weeks this should kill off any ick that is in the tank?Sorry if im beating a dead horse just want to be safe and do it right the first time.

 

[ronj]

correct!!! if you want to be absolutely sure, go for 8 weeks....make sure to keep up with water changes in the hospital tank...i made that mistake before and ended up with a fish in qt for about 4-5 months!!!!! infections and other thing can set in

 

[saltwater newbe]

ick can lay dorment in a fishes gills for months and they can show no signs of it,then BAM your fish have ick
no one likes to maintain a QT tank but it is almost a nessesity in this hobby

 

[Jan]

2 Questions:

How often should you do a water change in a hospital tank with 1 inmate? I've been told to do it every 2 days but that is a daunting schedule to keep up! I put a small carbon/ziolite insert in my HOB filter and have stretched the water changes to every 3 days...it's still daunting. :|

Next...do you mean by "maintain a hospital tank" that it should always have heated, recently changed water in it? Rather than set it up when you see a problem and add the fish to it the next day?