A few questions regarding ICH.....

[aj934]

I just put all 4 of my fish in a QT, After reading alot of info on ICH, I have a few questions....

1. Can live food (i.e. Brine Shrimp) bring ICH to my tank?

2. Is the life cycle of ICH about 31 days? After that my Main Tank should be free of ICH??

3. Should I take this oppurtunity to clean my Main tank real good, by scrubbing the glass, cleaning the heater, cleaning the gravel, cleaning pretty much anything in the tank? Chemical free of course.

4. Should I scrub my Live Rock to get rid of the red and white algae(i think it is)....Chemical free of course.

5. Will my snails, crabs and soft coral be free from ICH after the time period?

Thanks for you time and answers to any or all of my questions.!

 

[rayn]

I wouldn't think that the food would bring ich in, but if you're worried go with frozen for the time being.
Keep you're DT fallow for 8 weeks, not just 31 days. 31 days or 4 weeks if where you need to keep your copper at the correct level or hypo at the correct salinity for.
Sure go ahead and clean your tank, rocks, powerheads, whatever you want. Take whatever out, clean it in saltwater or RO water and rinse in the same, but clean.
Your snails, crabs, corals, don't get ich, but they can transfer it in by cysts. They should be fine and will get clean while your tank does during your fallow period.

If you go through all this and have a clean disease free tank, QT everything from here on out. Snails, corals, fish, rock, everything. While dips and rinses help some, they haven't been proven to kill ich. Anything wet can carry a cysts and it only takes one to start it up again. Also remember that if you QT corals, they will need the correct light in QT or they may start to bleach. MAY, as some might hold out better then others.

 

[Reefman29]

Make sure that you don't put copper in the tank, at all! Even minimal amounts can and will kill your inverts.

 

[rayn]

Make sure that you don't put copper in the tank, at all! Even minimal amounts can and will kill your inverts.

That would be no copper in the DT not the QT. If he is doing copper in QT without inverts it is fine. No inverts in the QT if doing hypo either though, I don't think they can handle the low salinity.

 

[Kweli]

ICH can come in from shells of snails or even coral/live rock purchased..

So its a gamble either way

 

[Palting]

1. No.
2. 28 days is the usual number quoted, though there are several unknowns. 6 weeks fish free is probably better for the DT.
3. Why not? Sounds like a good idea in general, not needed for Ich control.
4. Red and white algae? iI you get too aggressive, may cause a mini spike by removig a lot of good bacteria. Cyano (red slime) will blow off/wash off easy.
5. After 4 weeks, preferably 6, all the Ich should be dead, in theory, since they all have gone through the swimming phase with no fish to complete the next phase.

 

[lordofthereef]

Anything that you introduce into the tank, technically speaking, CAN introduce the parasite. Chances are greatly reduced when introducing a specimen that isn;t a host ofr said parasite (in your case brine shrimp). If you are hatching the brine shrimp yourself in an isolated medium (it's own grow out tank with freshly made water), you don't have anything to worry about. if you are using water from a tank that can be infected, there is the risk of introducing the ich to your tank as well.

I find everything else stated above to be accurate IMO

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

Live brine can most definitely bring ich to your tank and it is virtually devoid of any nutritional value unless enriched.
The best way to handle ich IMO is to keep your parameters where they should be and feed a varied nutrition rich diet.
Since I stopped freaking out everytime I saw a white spot on a fish (several years ago) I have not had a single ich outbreak.

 

[Steven Pro]

1.) Possibly, although you are far more likely to bring it in with new livestock whether that is fish, corals, or inverts. Anything wet coming out of an infested aquarium can bring the parasite into your display.

2.) Usually, although there is some variation based on temperature.

3.) Can't hurt.

4.) I don't know what kind of algae you are referring to. Could be bad or not.

5.) They are fine.

 

[Floowid]

Live brine can most definitely bring ich to your tank and it is virtually devoid of any nutritional value unless enriched.
The best way to handle ich IMO is to keep your parameters where they should be and feed a varied nutrition rich diet.
Since I stopped freaking out everytime I saw a white spot on a fish (several years ago) I have not had a single ich outbreak.

^^^

Best advice. Keep the tank stable and the fish happy.

 

[Palting]

^^^

Best advice. Keep the tank stable and the fish happy.

What if something unforseen destabilizes the tank? Power outage, bad salt batch, bad test reagent, malfunctionig heater, broken pump in the middle of the night, dead member of CUC unseen and rotting................a million other things that can happen and has happened. You've just left the possibility of an Ich breakout and fish annihilation occuring in that instance. That can and has happened, too.

Hers' an example in real life. I have been driving for decades. Never had an accident, not even a close call. Seat belts suck!!!. But I wear one, just in case.

QT and treat. Just in case.

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

What if something unforseen destabilizes the tank? Power outage, bad salt batch, bad test reagent, malfunctionig heater, broken pump in the middle of the night, dead member of CUC unseen and rotting................a million other things that can happen and has happened. You've just left the possibility of an Ich breakout and fish annihilation occuring in that instance. That can and has happened, too.

Hers' an example in real life. I have been driving for decades. Never had an accident, not even a close call. Seat belts suck!!!. But I wear one, just in case.

QT and treat. Just in case.

If something goes wrong you fix it pronto.
Most of the unforseen destabilizers you mention could not be cured by QT.
I have lost more fish to QT than have been saved by it.
Unless you have a tank nearly as big as your DT with an established biological filter and lots of hiding places QT makes no sense IMHO.

I wear seatbelts too and have been driving the same truck for 13 years and there is not a scratch on it. Practical saftey pays off. To me QT is not practical.

 

[Palting]

LOL! Of course QT is not a cure for the unforseen destabilizers. QT keeps the Ich out of the tank so the chance for an Ich break out is not there to begin with.

I recognize that you have killed more fish in QT than have been saved by it, and I recognize your experience in reef and fish keeping. My probably less extensive experience, however, has shown me that hyposalinity can be done in a large established tank, and, as an extension of that experience, I will from now on QT and treat all fish in a smaller QT before introducing them to the DT so I don't ever have to treat the whole DT ever again. I am just being practical .

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

I wish you luck with that approach, I truly do.
It hasn't worked for me but hopefully it will for you.:beer:

 

[Jstdv8]

when you say you've lost more fish to QT.. how is that possible?
Is it becasue they were allready sick and when you Qted them they died? or are you talking about QT before addition to the DT?
If it's the later it seems your system may have a flaw in it somewhere.
Putting a new fish in a tank by itself shouldn't be anymore or less stressful than the time it was caught, put in a bag, moved on a baot to a holding facility, moved accross the country to a vendors tank, possibly moved a few times while at the store, and then put in another bag and brought home to you to put in your QT.
Something isnt adding up here.

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

The fish wre already sick and they died in QT.
Putting a fish alone in a tank is not that stressful, but people on here are recommending you QT all of your fish and leave your DT fallow for 8 weeks or more. That on the other hand is VERY sressful and likely to kill all of your fish anyway, so that is why I recommend keeping parameters in check and feeding a varied nutrition rich diet instead.
I have had much better luck catching the fish (there is an art to that in a 180, my neighbor is astonished) and giving them a 5 minute freshwater dip and then right back in the DT. (Haven't even had to do this in several years, but I still have the coral beauty I last did this on.)
I now know better than to impulse buy fish. QT is my LFS's job.
If I see a fish I am interested in I put a deposit on it and come back in a week, if the fish looks healthy then and only then will I buy it.
I would never buy a fish already obviously in distress and try to "save" it by plopping it directly in my DT.
This is not my first trip to the rodeo.:spin3:

 

[Floowid]

The QT environment is naturally stressful. If you set up a QT correctly, you have a small volume of water, very little natural cover or filtration, and either hypo salinity or copper. Add it up it is a very harsh contrast the the natural reef they probably just came off.

Now I am not bashing QT, nor am I telling people they shouldn't do it, but in my personal experience I find that a stable tank that closely mimics a fish's natural surroundings is much better than a small stressful little quarantine tank.

Of course things can come along that destabilize a tank. It happens. If it does you have more to worry about than the ensuing ick. Clear it up quickly, get the environment stable, and ick is once again not a problem. Don't clear it up, and you have a bigger problem.

And I don't mind seat belts

 

[Kfig7]

I have mixed feelings about the whole QT thing. I've been doing it for a while now fresh and saltwater. I just recently had some fish in QT for about 6 weeks with no signs of anything wrong. I put them in my DT and within a week, 2 of them have a couple spots on them. Didn't want to treat them in the QT tank if they were not showing signs of anything because I just frankly think its cruel to use copper for no reason.

Well anyway, the fish either had Ich in their gills where I couldnt see or it came in on a cuc I put in the DT right after I put fish in. Either way, I think it would just be too stressful for the fish right now to catch them and put them in QT again. Going to ride it out and see what happens. I make an extreme effort to keep my parameters perfect all the time so I may just be fine.

Why did I bother to QT the new fish in the first place? So I guess the best thing to do is treat all fish as if they have ich? Just doesnt seem right to me. Who knows?

 

[Palting]

I have mixed feelings about the whole QT thing. I've been doing it for a while now fresh and saltwater. I just recently had some fish in QT for about 6 weeks with no signs of anything wrong. I put them in my DT and within a week, 2 of them have a couple spots on them. Didn't want to treat them in the QT tank if they were not showing signs of anything because I just frankly think its cruel to use copper for no reason.

Well anyway, the fish either had Ich in their gills where I couldnt see or it came in on a cuc I put in the DT right after I put fish in. Either way, I think it would just be too stressful for the fish right now to catch them and put them in QT again. Going to ride it out and see what happens. I make an extreme effort to keep my parameters perfect all the time so I may just be fine.

Why did I bother to QT the new fish in the first place? So I guess the best thing to do is treat all fish as if they have ich? Just doesnt seem right to me. Who knows?

Stories like yours, and my own personal experience, is the reason I now QT and treat all my new fish regardless of appearance. I've had good luck with hypo, so I will continue to use that.

 

[Sk8r]

1. Can live food (i.e. Brine Shrimp) bring ICH to my tank? Not unless they were hatched in ich-y water. Not commercially likely at all.

2. Is the life cycle of ICH about 31 days? After that my Main Tank should be free of ICH??
It takes 8 weeks to starve ich out of a tank. Keeping inverts in said tank is ok during this period.


3. Should I take this oppurtunity to clean my Main tank real good, by scrubbing the glass, cleaning the heater, cleaning the gravel, cleaning pretty much anything in the tank? Chemical free of course.
Just keep it running for your inverts and bacteria. Don't ever clean your gravel: hire a nassarius snail or 2 to do that. You can clean equipment with white vinegar---aside from your tank, of course.

4. Should I scrub my Live Rock to get rid of the red and white algae(i think it is)....Chemical free of course. NO, no, no, no, no. Let your rock alone!

5. Will my snails, crabs and soft coral be free from ICH after the time period? They're already free: they don't get ich..only fish do.