Achilles with Ick

[220tang]

Wanted to start by saying I had read through snorvich post on Ick. But I would love a more specfied answer towards my specific fish and situation. To start off my water parameters are as follows..
Salinity ppm 35
Ph 8.05 to 8.15
Temp 78.2 to 79.1
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
The flow is great in my tank and the fish is an absolute pig eats everything from flakes morning to nori throughout the day and mysis at night! I was so happy about him feeding as I literally based this tank around him! It's a 250DD currently only a magnificent fox face for fish tank mates. The tank is an sps dominated reef with one calm. I have had him only two weeks and last week I noticed him dipping and scratching on the sand bed. He is still eating and I was hoping he was healthy enough to kick it which was obviously ignorant of me. Today I did a 50 gallon water change that I have done weekly and noticed the first white specs today. The water was heated to 78 so I don't think that was the issue since there was obvious signs before. I guess my question is now how to deal with it the outbreak??? It's an Achilles tang so obviously easily stressed how do I go about treating him? I really only feel comfortable performing the hyposalinty or treating with copper out of my three options for treatment. But both seem like they would create a lot of added stress especially with the move to my QT tank since I obviously can't treat him in my reef tank. If someone could give me so advice and talk me through it I would really appreciate it.

 

[skp]

If I were you I would want to beat it and not worry about it coming back for the kill. This would require taking all fish out of dt and going fallow for at least 2 months. Do the tank transfer method with both fish and put the Achilles in it's own quarantine and observe for a couple months. If the Achilles is eating like a pig then I would guess that it is pretty healthy and it will be fine with the tank transfers and the moving from quarantine to display.

A lot of work but if well worth it if you have a healthy specimen imo.

 

[220tang]

So I guess I'm kind of confused about the tank transfer method! But I totally agree I realize how tough it it to get an Achilles to feed! He is very healthy and very fat! But another question I have is the stages of Ick is there more then one stage of Ick going on in the tank? Would I be able to remove the two fish and place in a copper of hyposalinty qt and place other fish that are currently in the qt in my display? If the stages are what was stated in the Ick sticky and the white spots just appeared is my display infected at the moment or is it just my Achilles since he is the only one with the parasites?

 

[skp]

It's safe to assume that your display is infected. I've noticed that they come in waves starting from one or two spots and can turn into a hundred within 2-4 days which means not all cysts on the substrate hatch on the same day. You can use tank transfer, hypo or copper and I suggest you research all three to decide which is the one for you to treat your fish. However, to make sure that the display tank is ich free, you're going to have to go fallow. How long you do it is up to the amount of risk you are willing to take.

 

[Polkman]

You're going to need a holding tank/qt for your fish. TTM is a must if you plan on irradiating cryptocaryons. And you need to leave your tank fish less for 72 days. Any fish you add to the DT without letting it sit fallow will be infected with those parasites. I also prefer ttm over copper, as ttm has a high success rate and only takes 12 days. After ttm you can observe them for any reinfection or other secondary infections. I would also recommend to keep the qt and ttm tanks far away from your DT as there is a chance of airborne contamination which WILL cause a reinfection of cryptocaryons.

 

[scooter31707]

+1..well said Polkman!!

 

[Deinonych]

I would also recommend to keep the qt and ttm tanks far away from your DT as there is a chance of airborne contamination which WILL cause a reinfection of cryptocaryons.

+1

I have experienced airborne contamination firsthand and now keep my QTs in a completely separate area of the house.

 

[220tang]

So in my specific situation I do not think ttm will work all I have is tanks in my fish room unfortunately now with the thought of airborne ttm doesn't make much sense with all tanks being in the same room.. Also my order of white tail bristle tooth tangs got in so now I have two more fish to worry about... Fantastic... so I decided my best option is to treat the fish with copper. My plan is to split my 120 into two sections and treat all three fish with copper. I'm not really sure what else to do at this point to be honest. I have another 40 gallon tank for a qt but my scribble is in there and obviously I can't put him in the display if I'm going to leave my display fallow and treating him with copper obviously would kill him. So I will go through treat the three tangs with copper and leave the scribble as I have already preformed hyposalinity on him and feel confident he is ick free and keep a close eye on him while my other tangs are going through treatment. I'm trying my best to follow everyone's advice and I think this is the best option for me but I'm always open for suggestions if anyone can think of anything better? As for my display why 72 days? I thought 28 would be enough with is being fallow??? Also by fallow does this include me removing inverts? i just really don't want to have anymore issues like this and I really want to tackle the problem and get it done right.

 

[220tang]

Oh and my lfs took my foxface for now and is just going to get me another one I just don't need the added fish to deal with at the moment

 

[skp]

+1

I have experienced airborne contamination firsthand and now keep my QTs in a completely separate area of the house.

Doesn't this render the ttm non effective? If the parasite can ride along water vapor in the air then how can we eliminate all water from the specimen before transferring to the next tank?

 

[mattcoug]

Doesn't this render the ttm non effective? If the parasite can ride along water vapor in the air then how can we eliminate all water from the specimen before transferring to the next tank?

If you leave the old tank/buckets around it might be possible but to do this correctly you need to immediately clean and dry the old tank/bucket as soon as the fish moves to the new tank/bucket. This prevents ich from forming tomites(getting rid of them before they 'hatch'). W/o tomites, ich won't jump tanks.

 

[220tang]

A little update I decided to literally take down the tank and preform ttm with all the fish I scattered the tanks around in different room and preform the tank transfer method! Its working like a charm and after a little more research it is really pretty easy to preform. My Achilles is a champ and kept his appetite through the process so far. The tank was a lot of work I pulled out all my coral drained the tank and left it dry for a couple days. New sand in the tank and I am preforming a method of ttm with the live rock. Haven't heard of anyone doing this really but I figured if it works for fish should work for live rock??? Anyway I filled the tank up and got the coral home safely with only one sps casualties! Not to bad considering but I have been keeping a close eye on everyone. Hoping this works and and gets the problem fixed

 

[Deinonych]

A little update I decided to literally take down the tank and preform ttm with all the fish I scattered the tanks around in different room and preform the tank transfer method! Its working like a charm and after a little more research it is really pretty easy to preform. My Achilles is a champ and kept his appetite through the process so far. The tank was a lot of work I pulled out all my coral drained the tank and left it dry for a couple days. New sand in the tank and I am preforming a method of ttm with the live rock. Haven't heard of anyone doing this really but I figured if it works for fish should work for live rock??? Anyway I filled the tank up and got the coral home safely with only one sps casualties! Not to bad considering but I have been keeping a close eye on everyone. Hoping this works and and gets the problem fixed

Good to hear the Achilles is doing well. TTM only works for fish - it will not work on rocks or inverts.

 

[220tang]

Does anyone have a suggestion for treating the rock it's live rock that I need for my tank and I don't want to kill all the beneficial bacteria established but want to make sure it won't bring ick back into my system? Do I have to worry about any of the different stages of ick being attached to the live rock?

 

[shifty51008]

Just leave the tank with sand, live rock, inverts, corals in the dt but leave it fishless for 72 days. After that time ich will be out of the tank unless added again.

 

[220tang]

I don't feel comfortable leaving my fish in qt for that long a 120 is not big enough and will just stress my fish out and cause more issue. That's why I tore apart the tank. I was trying to speed up the cycle.

 

[skp]

I don't feel comfortable leaving my fish in qt for that long a 120 is not big enough and will just stress my fish out and cause more issue. That's why I tore apart the tank. I was trying to speed up the cycle.

The live rock will have to go a fallow period or be totally dried out maybe even bleached. You cant keep the live rock live and kill the Ich unless you go the fishless fallow period route.