Any success with ICH in a reef

Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum

Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:

WA coral

im watching you
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Messages
405
Location
puyallup
Any success with ICH in a reef ???

Has any one ever had any success treating fish for ICH in a reef>???? I have a 240 full mixed reef and now after a new addition which was supposed to qt already I have an outbreak of ICH, it seems to be on all of the fish almost overnight. I thought about taking all of the fish out but that is 15 fish and I would need a huge qt tank. I am trying a couple of things now in the first 2 days to start treating one product is called ICH attack active ingrediant is naphthoquinone, also some marine max for imune booster. Is there something that works better or is a sure fix besides taking out all of the fish for qt and leaving the tank with no fish for hosts?? any success storys please share process time conditions ect. thanks andy
 
Big trouble. The only way to be sure is to remove all the fish and treat them separately, IMO.

Good luck with that...
 
Serial fish killer huh, Well I need to find myself a name. Maybe like tacoma chainsaw fish massacre. I saw your posts about all of your ICH troubles, Have you had any success ? I really can only joke about it at this point because it is so frusterating. I was just hoping someone out there will have the magic potion or secret answer, Or at least a success story
 
I am sorry to hear that Andy.
it doesnt sound good. I havent had any luck ever treating ich, if you cant qt then in my experience they are doomed!

I hope for the best for you..

keep us posted..

Matt
 
Do I want to put all of the fish in the qt tank or what is the best way to treat this Should I leave some in the main tank? I am not sure how to seperate the good healthy fish from the not healthy ones or to treat them all at once. How long does it take for the tank to rid itself of the Ich without fish in there? can it live off of other things on the tank? so many questions huge problem
 
Not only will you have to hypo all the fish, the tank will have to be left fallow (fish free) for quite some time. No other way to be sure. At least you can accomplish both at the same time. Hope you have a second tank handy. Ensure there is enough tubes, pipes, pots, etc to give the fish some hiding places and security. I prefer using rock, but most here advise against it in case you have to medicate later. Make sure the tank is big enough for all the fish.
 
I am going to post on the other forum for a 55 tank to use or buy so if someone has an extra one laying around for cheap that would be great. I have 2 other 30s so I can treat in those and put healthy fish into the 55
 
Fine plan, but the fish in the 55 will have to be watched to ensure disease free for 4-6 weeks to be safe. If any of these show symptoms, better treat all with hypo-salinity. IMHO, hypo is not hard on the fish, the often extreme conditions in the QT tank can be worse than the disease. Keep the fish happy, well fed, in clean well aerated proper PH water. As to the treatment tanks, there are many written articals on Ich and hypo. I will attach a couple here:


http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15979

p.s. Good thing you still have the extra 55 stand
 
Andy,
I have a tank you can borrow, but I'd like it back when you're done. It's a 55 and should fit on stand just fine. Let me know and I can leave it on my porch tomorrow.

Susie :)
 
That would be great I can come and get it tommorow thanks a ton it will save me a little$ I will be sure to get it back to you .
 
I have 2 other 30s so I can treat in those and put healthy fish into the 55
even if the other fish don't show any signs yet, they must be treated as well...any fish that were possibly contaminated must be qt'd and treated with hypo or copper!!!!!!!
 
I would be very hesitant to treat symptom-free fish with any medication such as Cu, when hypo seems to do just fine. Use the lightest approach possible.
 
It took 2.5 months for my butterflies to get over ich. Hyposalinity isn't fast but is effective. Watch the salinity twice daily. If it ever rises above 12-14ppt you may have to start over.

Also I had low pH troubles when doing hypo. Keep the makeup water buffered (don't add to the tank), and use only eggcrate to cover the tank.

There is tons of info on this subject here, especially in Steve's forum. Good luck.

As everyone else says, QT all new fish. I've never had ich in my reef but I expect most new fish to come with it.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all of the help I am getting a tank from susie today ( thanks a ton) I am debating on taking out all of the sand and live rock so I can rid my tank of some other pests and be able to catch all of the fish. A couple of questions, what should the salinity range be and does it have to be all freshly mixed water? I was lucky with fish till this point and I knew butterflies almost always carry it but he looked healthy so I put him in and now I made a huge mistake that will make a huge project for me and I think I have learned my lesson
 
oh, i agree to treat with hypo , but sometimes copper must be used...i just mean, if some of the fish are showing signs, then just assume the rest have it as well..
 
what should the salinity range be and does it have to be all freshly mixed water?
..
i keep my hypo tank at about 1.009-1.010...this leaves me a little room for error. in case i don't add topoff water for one day, the salinity won't go above the safe point...it doesn't have to be all new water..did you read this article?? it will help
http://petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top