4 Weeks QT and ICH

[Reefir]

I QT'd 3 tangs a hippo a yellow and a powder blue for 4 weeks before adding them do my DT . the DT has 2 Clowns and has been good . After adding the CLEAN fish to the CLEAN tank the PB and Hippo are both covered in ICH ....NOW WHAT ..I put in a U.V. I dont want to take the tank apart with all the rock and coral but I will if I have to . I am afraid of QTing them and after everything is good putting them back in the tank and have it happen again . They must have gottin it from stress if they were good for 4 weeks in QT ...RIGHT... any thoughts on what to do next .. THANKS in advance ....



soooooo stressed ......I love my fish and want the best for them .

 

[LukFox]

Did you treat with cupramine in QT? Were the clowns treated before going in? Did you keep the rock, coral, and anything wet in isolation for 10-12 weeks before getting it near a fish?

If no to any of these, chances are the tank and or the new fish were not clean. Covered in ich is not good, and may need intervention if they continue to decline. Watch closely over the next day or two. UV will not get rid of the ich, and it may have to come to fishing them out if they can't recover on their own. Ich will still be in the system when/if they recover. Getting rid of ich once it is in the display is not easy, and it is harder if you have a reef opposed to a FOWLR.

To really get rid of it, you'd have to take every fish out, treat them with cupramine for at least 3-4 weeks, and leave the tank fallow for 10-12 weeks. Then everything you add in the future would need to be treated if a fish, or left in isolation for 10-12 weeks if it is wet and not a fish. It's a lot of work and some people don't like treating healthy appearing fish, so I'm not sure if you're up for that.

Otherwise you can just try to ride it out with feeding the fish well and rely on their weakened immune system to take care of it. Even if you remove the tangs for treatment, the clowns and tank are still carrying the parasite. You'd have to treat every fish and leave the tank fallow, or else treating the tangs alone would be added stress, only for them to be reinfected upon introduction again.

Good luck with whatever you decide.