dose for ich? when nitrates are off the charts.

[schoolisbad1]

I have a dilemma, a friend of mine has a tank with about 100 gallons total volume. I'm taking care of care of the tank and need help! They introduced new fish, some which had ich. It has spread throughout the tank. One has a bad case of it. Multiple fish have died within the past week, some which were never found. I think they decomposed in the rock work. Adding to high bioload/feeding. Nitrates are literally off the charts. I am and will be doing water changes a lot. But I don't want to do a huge one, they are stressed and don't want any super quick parameter changes to kill them.

Problem
I would like to dose no-ich immediately. but skimmer must be off.
but fish must be fed and still produce waste so without the skimmer the nitrates will be raising... I don't want even a days worth more of possible nitrates building up.
So I don't know if I should dose for the ich, which I have had good results with this stuff. Or If i should focus on getting the nitrates down and using the protein skimmer.
I don't want to do anything that would shock them since they are already so stressed right now.
They have soft corals, shrimp, sea stars, anemones, so I don't want to bump up the temp or hyposalinity.
No quarantine tanks, and one fish is fairly big.
Thank you.

 

[Glove]

If your not going to treat the fish out of the tank it will be a 50-50 chance.
I really dont think anything but copper will cure ich troubles.
I would say a micron type canister filter and a UV light are your only hope

...your friend added those fish, knowing they had ich?
Pretty careless in my eyes, maybe they will learn from this.
Id like to say more but this is a public forum.

From all I have ever read this will be truely fixed unless you get the fish out and leave the tank fallow for weeks and cure the fish.
Anything else is snake-oil, -again- in my eyes.
I dont even think hypo will cure all ich strains.
To address you topic, I would do water changes, matching everything (temp, ph, salinity...), get the skimmer going asap and keep an eye on things and see how it goes. Water changes shouldnt stress fish.
I also wonder if you would find any amonia if tested.

Good luck.
Other people have reported a positive turn around in a situation like yours.

 

[schoolisbad1]

Thank you.
Fish with ich were not knowing/purposely added, but they were not QT. I am going to replace the old UV bulb soon.

 

[capecoral]

Good luck!

 

[mballant]

How often does a uv light need to be replaced? Also is there something I can add when adding new fish to keep getting ich?

 

[mballant]

ich

ich

How often does a uv light need to be replaced? Also is there something I can add when adding new fish to keep getting ich?

 

[steelhead77]

Do a 50% WC immediately. Wait a week, do another. Your nitrates are now 25% of what they were when you started. There will be NO issues with any livestock with this treatment. I did this 4 times in 4 weeks in my 180, my nitrates are now constantly <10. What's worse, fish (or corals) being in "poisoned" water or fish (or corals) instantly getting fresh clean water?

Good Luck.