At my wits end with ich!!!

[bguile]

....so long story short, I was going good for a while avoiding ich in the DT. I was QTing and observing my fish for 4 weeks before adding to the DT until I got to an Auriga that I ended up having to use Cupramine. I performed a two week treatment like suggested on the package and one extra week for good measure. It had appeared all the ich was gone and I observed for another two weeks. Everything seemed fine so I added the Auriga to the DT. Three weeks later, ich started showing up on several fish :eek1:

So eventually I caught all the fish and put them into a QT. I thought I was reading the Salifert Copper test properly, but was never for certain. So one day I filled a 20 long, which I found actually holds less than 17 gallons, with NSW and dosed for 21 gallons, then compared the color samples and matched them. I left the QT at what appearred to be .5ppm for 4 weeks!!! I then removed all copper. It hasn't even been 2 full weeks and I noticed what appeared to be ich on my Golden Angel and after observing the fish a while longer I noticed the Auriga FLASHING!!!! :furious::furious:

Maybe I need to see if I can get a picture and get other opinions because I'm so frustrated that I cant seem to eradicate ich that I'm almost just ready to throw in the towel and give up. Am I being to hasty in assuming that the Auriga is flashing due to Ich? Oh...and to top it off...my Lamarck Angel has popeye. NOW IN BOTH EYES!! :worried:

 

[Recty]

....so long story short, I was going good for a while avoiding ich in the DT. I was QTing and observing my fish for 4 weeks before adding to the DT until I got to an Auriga that I ended up having to use Cupramine. I performed a two week treatment like suggested on the package and one extra week for good measure. It had appeared all the ich was gone and I observed for another two weeks. Everything seemed fine so I added the Auriga to the DT. Three weeks later, ich started showing up on several fish :eek1:

So eventually I caught all the fish and put them into a QT. I thought I was reading the Salifert Copper test properly, but was never for certain. So one day I filled a 20 long, which I found actually holds less than 17 gallons, with NSW and dosed for 21 gallons, then compared the color samples and matched them. I left the QT at what appearred to be .5ppm for 4 weeks!!! I then removed all copper. It hasn't even been 2 full weeks and I noticed what appeared to be ich on my Golden Angel and after observing the fish a while longer I noticed the Auriga FLASHING!!!! :furious::furious:

Maybe I need to see if I can get a picture and get other opinions because I'm so frustrated that I cant seem to eradicate ich that I'm almost just ready to throw in the towel and give up. Am I being to hasty in assuming that the Auriga is flashing due to Ich? Oh...and to top it off...my Lamarck Angel has popeye. NOW IN BOTH EYES!! :worried:

Did you measure the copper in the water in the QT for those 4 weeks or just assume the copper level stayed the same? You need to test daily and re-dose to keep the level therapeutic.

 

[bguile]

Did you measure the copper in the water in the QT for those 4 weeks or just assume the copper level stayed the same? You need to test daily and re-dose to keep the level therapeutic.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I did. Checked it twice a day for the first week then once a day week 2 and every other day or so the following weeks. The color didn't seem to shift at all. I had even bought a Seachem test kit just to try and verify my Salifert readings but the Seachem test didn't even turn blue at all using the included reference or the actual treated water. It just turned a yellowish gray. Id been meaning to call Seachem to get a replacement kit, but got busy and never did.

Well now that I've had a chance to sleep on it a bit and clear my head I'm not sure if what I'm seeing on the Angel is really ich. It almost looks more like a pimple than a "grainy white" ich tomite but of course it wont stay still long enough to get a good look. Though it still concerns me that the Auriga was caught flashing twice. :worried: I did some water changes and prepared another QT for the Lamarck so that it can get treatment for pop-eye. I should be able to retrieve the Angel to hopefully get a good look.

 

[bguile]

Today I checked on my fish and all seems to be ok. I did some reading on flashing and found that flashing could be caused by poor water quality which is probably also what caused the pop-eye in my Lamark. The "pimples" I noticed on the Angel have seemed to be gone now also. This is a little encouraging that I may have actually eradicated the ich properly, but I'll wait another two weeks and see.

 

[Recty]

Yep, keep that water quality high.

 

[reefsic]

Water quality should always be of concern when it comes to the health of your livestock.

Also...any type of flux like, temp. or salinity can and will promote ich. If there's a number of aggressive fishes housed in one tank, this can build stress which also encourages the spread ich from one fish to another! Once its in the tank, the hardest part is removing it so that each and every fish is ich-free and healthy.

Good to hear of the improvements and GL!