best method for fighting ick in a reef

yes, copper will kill coral and inverts. The QT is done in a seperate Quarantine, or Hospital tank. This tank will have nothing in it but some PVC pipe for hiding spots, a hang-on filter with bacteria-filled sponge, and the fish being Quaranteened. No problems with the mis-understanding.
 
The ich can and will survive in your Main Tank for a specific amount of time. I am not up on the EXACT life-cycle of Ich, but let's say it is 4-5 weeks. Any parasite needs a HOST to survive. It cannot live ANYWHERE where it is not supported by a host organism. In this case, ICH needs a fish. It cannot be hosted by a shrimp, or coral, or something else. This is why you leave the tank entirely fishless for x amount of time. The parasite can survive for a set amount of time without a HOST. That is it's normal life cycle. So by leaving the tank fishless, with nothing for the ich to attach to for it's life cycle, it cannot survive. So it will survive for a certain amount of time, then once they have all died, you can return the fish. If you put your fish back one day too early, it may have defeated the entire purpose of the quarantine. Like I said, my 4-5 week is just an example, and I am NOT entirely sure of the time for Ich.

Also, although copper can be great, hyposalinity will work too(very low salinity content), but read up on either treatment, as they are both very controlled. Like VERY, VERY specific amounts of copper, AND very specific levels for the salinity. If either are off, the ich may not die.
 
In order to pull a fish out of the display tank Id have to remove 80 lbs of rock to catch it.I think keeping my water perfect and stress low is all I can do.Id treat with kick ick again but the ick only returns a couple weeks later,so ill save the money.
 
Chiefsurfer said:
The ich can and will survive in your Main Tank for a specific amount of time. I am not up on the EXACT life-cycle of Ich, but let's say it is 4-5 weeks. Any parasite needs a HOST to survive. It cannot live ANYWHERE where it is not supported by a host organism. In this case, ICH needs a fish. It cannot be hosted by a shrimp, or coral, or something else. This is why you leave the tank entirely fishless for x amount of time. The parasite can survive for a set amount of time without a HOST. That is it's normal life cycle. So by leaving the tank fishless, with nothing for the ich to attach to for it's life cycle, it cannot survive. So it will survive for a certain amount of time, then once they have all died, you can return the fish. If you put your fish back one day too early, it may have defeated the entire purpose of the quarantine. Like I said, my 4-5 week is just an example, and I am NOT entirely sure of the time for Ich.

Also, although copper can be great, hyposalinity will work too(very low salinity content), but read up on either treatment, as they are both very controlled. Like VERY, VERY specific amounts of copper, AND very specific levels for the salinity. If either are off, the ich may not die.
Click to expand...

Generally 6-8 weeks. There is some variability between strains and with temperature. IIRC 72 days is the longest recorded but in a very cold tank.
 
jenglish said:
Generally 6-8 weeks. There is some variability between strains and with temperature. IIRC 72 days is the longest recorded but in a very cold tank.
Click to expand...

good point, ive actually read 77 days, but accept 72 as the longest.
 
I fully understand now.Starve them out.I still only have a 10 gal. hospital tank and dont think its big enough for all the kids.Ive got reading to do.hanks for the help yall.
 
Have a look at my Purple Tang. If any fish should have succumbed to ich, it was this one. I did not QT this guy. I am of the opinion (based on personal experience) that as long as a fish is eating well and still swimming around, he can and will fight it off. It took almost two weeks for him to kick this, but he did. I had about six other fish in the tank at the same time as this, and none of them came down with it. He is still going strong over a year later and there has never been another case of ich in my tank.

There are many on this forum who say that the ONLY way to rid ich from a tank, is to remove all fish and leave it fallow for 6-8 weeks. To most of us, it is not feasible to remove a fish from a tank that has 100 lbs of LR. If your fish has a few spots, leave him alone. Don't panic, stress on the fish will only make it worse, and chasing him around with a net WILL create more stress.

3526844642_841f746b6a.jpg
 
I purchased a UV sterilizer and also medicated my tank with reef safe Aquarium Munster protomarin coral. Haven't seen any sign of ich for just about a year. Not sure whether the UV or medication worked but didn't really care, I was just happy it was gone!
 
I had the same thing happen to my blue hippo tang wen I first bought it. It looked great in the store and healthy (I also paid $50 for it) but after a day at home it was covered in ich :( I was so worried It was gonna die and Id loose out that money so I immediately went back to the store and they suggested I treat my tank with ich attack. Its a 100% organic tgreatment made by Kordon. You can buy it at any LFS. Even Petco and petsmart sell it too.
I had to treat the tank for almost 2 months straight and it turned the water a nasty brown color but, I'm happy to say all my fish Including the blue hippo tang made it :) Its gotten big and fat now, I've ad it almost. A year now.

Goodluck to you!
 
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