Having trouble with Ich

[Zerc]

So I noticed just a little bit of ich (i think?) on the fins of my powder blue, and on the side of my purple tang. This was in the first few days of July. I promptly bought a 20g quarantine tank and set it up. I put all my fish (the two tangs, a maroon clown, a firefish goby, and a royal gramma) in it and started changing 5 gallons of water per day for a few weeks. Now I am changing 5 gallons every 4 days or so. I used my swing arm hydrometer to lower my salinity from 1.026 to 1.02 in the first few days, then I bought a refractometer and over the next few days lowered it to 1.009. I thought the Ich had cleared up, but last night I noticed that my purple tang had a lot more cysts on it than before. What am I doing wrong? (I thought that Ich will die in these kind of conditions over a few weeks).

 

[253 FISH]

Try dipping them in ich solution.
When my tank got ich. I took my Naso Tang,Yellow tang,2 clown fish and put them im seperate containers with tank water and a air stone with a air pump then left them there for 30min each then put them back in the tank and turned off the lights for a day.
They got better in 3-4 dips.
Be careful with the amount of ich-x you use measure and calculate carefully.

Now my tangs and clown are healthy and eating well

Hope this helps

 

[Holygral]

Ich x and all the others are just snake oil, hypo and/or copper is the only two ways to cure ick. Keep in mind that your main tank will also have to be fallow for 6-8 weeks to rid it of MI. As far as what you are doing wrong, you can not do hypo with a swing arm, you must have a refractomer, a swing arm is just not accurate or consistence enough for hypo treatment. Also keep in mind there are many different strains of MI, some are a lot harder to get rid of.

 

[NC2WA]

Zerc,

I strongly suggest you read the following post about Ich:

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f15/curing-fish-marine-ich-50933/



It will answer most of your question.

Second, I am moving this thread to Lee's forum where you will get better coverage.

 

[leebca]

You want to remain calm. Your post sounds like you're 'excited.' No need to be. I know that when my fish are ill, I feel ill. The start of the quarantine and treatment was slow to poor. Now that you have your refractometer and the sp. gr. reading is 1.008, then you have just now begun the treatment.

Don't do anything for the time being. Wait and see if the spots go away. If the spots remain or keep coming back, then check your refractometer for accuracy (did you calibrate it?), and be sure when you make a water change, the water coming in is the 1.008 sp. gr. water. If you're sure of the sp. gr. and you are doing things properly, then there is a possibility you did not diagnose the parasite/condition properly. Go to the link that NC2WA gave you in the above post and look at the beginning on how to do your own diagnosis. Go back to that step and see if you are in fact sure the fish have Marine Ich. You can also take photos of the fish that show these spots clearly, in hi def, and up close, for us to see what it is you're looking at, if you are in doubt about the diagnosis.

You need the right diagnosis before you can help the fish and I hope you have made the right one. No problem if you haven't though, so check it out. Only you can tell us. . .

 

[Zerc]

Here is 3 pics of the purple tang, and 1 pic of the powder blue tang (the powder blue only has one or two spots on one front fin, and is otherwise clean.) Both tangs are eating lots, i feed them a sheet of algae soaked in vitamins twice per day, plus they eat brine/mysis shrimp from when I feed the other fish. You can see white spots on the middle and lower body of the purple tang.

 

[Zerc]

I should probably mention, none of my other fish have or are at this time displaying any symptoms of being sick. However I put them in the QT at the same time to hopefully eradicate any ich that may have been in my DT.

 

[Zerc]

@ NC2WA I read that post and several like it on the eradication of ich using hyposalinity. As far as I could tell I was doing everything right, other than not having all of the equipment when i wanted it, but I purchased everything I thought I needed within a couple days to get the QT up and running. The powder blue tang has cleared up, except as I mentioned a spot or two on one of its front fins. The purple tang was improving for a while, but then got worse.

 

[Zerc]

Oh, and yes the refractometer was calibrated by Barrier Reef when i bought it. How often does it need recalibration? (I purchased it the first week of July, assuming one calibration should be good for at least a month)

 

[NC2WA]

hmmm...personally, I dont see anything....maybe Lee has an opinion.

your refractometer should be calibrated monthly....so are there any fish in the DT?

if not, you might want to let the tank go fallow for 8 weeks..

 

[Zerc]

Nope, I moved all of my fish out of the DT so I could be sure that any ich in the tank would be dead. I had hoped to return fish to the DT by labor day. You dont see the spots on the fish? I can try taking closer pictures i guess, but the darn fish doesnt hold still for long.

 

[NC2WA]

Ok..so don't add any fish back to the DT for 8 wks
Keep up with water changes in the QT and feed good food to the fish

Going thru this myself, 8 wks is a long time but necessary to ensure the tank is free of parasites

 

[leebca]

Tell me: Since the sp. gr. first hit 1.008, how many days has it been? Do the spots come and go? move around? since the 1.008 was reached?

It looks like Marine Ich, but there are a few parasites that do. The photos aren't clear enough, nor close up enough for a good picture of the spots, for me to be sure.

The photos you took are of your fish in the QT? Is that live rock or ? kind of rock is in there with them? Rock will interfere with good curing because it gives a place where tiny environments are developed to offset the sp. gr. Not a good idea to have anything in the QT other than resin-type fake decorations, plastic tubing, etc.

 

[Zerc]

It was a piece of dead lace rock I had to give the fish some places to hide. I can go buy some pvc if that would be a better choice though. I have not reduced it to 1.008, most of the articles I read said to put it at 1.009? I have not noticed a specific pattern so I cannot say if they move around or not, but the fish have been at 1.009 for nearly 3 weeks. I can reduce it to 1.008 today though, I just did not want to go too low for the fish.

 

[leebca]

Do remove the rock and see if that makes any difference. Start the clock again the day after the rock is removed. Post again in 4 days if the spots are still there. PVC tubing is good. Make sure you clean it before its first use.

The 1.009 is okay. How was the refractometer calibrated? Let's verify it. Get some double distilled water (or distlled water if you can't find dbl distilled) and put a drop on the refractometer. What does it read?

Also, is the refractometer specifically for salt water use or was it made for measuring something else?

 

[Zerc]

I can double check when i get home, but I purchased it at barrier reef aqariums (one of our sponsers), so I assume it is for salt water use. It was calibrated by them when i bought it using their brand name calibration fluid. I will take out the rock when i get home from work and check the calibration again.

 

[Zerc]

Well, I got some distilled water and checked my calibration that friday and it was off by .005 points! That seems like a lot of drift for 2 weeks of ownership, so I am calibrating it before every use now. Since a few days after my recalibration, the fish have been totally clean. I also removed the rock per your instructions. My DT should be officially clear of ich (July 4th to sept 3rd) by the end of this month. From what I read, low salinity/SG prevents the breeding phase of the lifecycle, so after 5 weeks or so(max) my QT should be clean as well correct?

 

[Holygral]

your DT will need to be fallow 8-10 weeks, better off with 12. There are many different strains of MI, some more harder than others. If you rush it, you will be back to square one. 5 weeks is not long enough. Also keep in mind it it is wet, it can carry MI. Not just on the fish. You seem to be in a hurry to get everything back into the DT. This is not the way to go. 8-10 weeks as a minimum, and 12 to be safe. If you rush it because the spots are gone, you are going to be going backwards and have to start the process all over again with more stress on your fish. Also with the Tangs you have, If I am correct, you have a 36 gallon, if so that is way too small for 1 tang alone 2. MI outbreak is cause (along with other factors) stress and to put 2 tangs in a 36 gallon, they will never be stress
free. You will be fighting a uphill battle. They should be in a 125 at minimum. We can not buy fish and make them live in the environment we have, the environment we have must be suited for the fish.

 

[Zerc]

I am sorry holygral, but do you read any of my posts before you post? Your first post you lectured me about how I need to have a refractometer... yet I clearly stated that I bought one the day after i set up my QT. Now you are saying that 5 weeks is not long enough in for my DT to be fallow, but i clearly stated it to be from July 4th to Sept 3rd, which is nearly 9 weeks. And you are not correct, as all of my fish are going into my 72 gallon that I stated would be replacing my 36 gallon before i returned fish to it. Please read carefully before replying, I am here because i recognize that I don't know everything and more often than not I need help! BUT, it is frustrating to hear you tell me I am doing it wrong and then repeat what I just said I am doing as the correct course of action.

 

[Holygral]

I am sorry if I missed a post or another thread, I see nothing in the 2 pages of this thread of a mentioned 72 gallon up grade. IMHO that is still way too small for 2 Tangs. They swim 20 plus miles a day in the wild. I was only trying to help, stress is a big factor in
outbreak of MI and putting 2 Tangs in a small tank (less than 125) is going to cause major stress on them. I hope you get it cleared up and good luck with your upgrade.