down in the dumps..

foster200

foster200

New member
Ok. So, I had a breakout of Ich, despite trying numerous other "miracle" cures I removed all the rock and coral out and captured the rest of my alive fish. I put them in a uncycled QT tank and battled with ammonia for 5 weeks. It was a horrible experience and to top it all off i didnt have my fish in my DT to calm me down.. only stressed out sick fish. 8 weeks was over with and I put my fish back into the tank.. Ich free! 3 weeks before this, I purchased some coral and gave it a dip.
I forgot to purchase the premade dip at the store, by the time i got home, it was to late.. they were closed. I researched it and made my own. 18 drops of iodine solution to 1 liter of water. "this should cure anything that is living here" I thought.

I have my tank again. I found one fish that i loved. A pyroferus (mimic) tang. Absolutely gorgeous! I got him from Manhattan aquariums in NYC. They assured me that I would not need to QT him because all of their fish tanks are constantly treated with Copper. I can simply toss him in. I gave him a freshwater dip and tossed the little bugger in. He is doing well.. excpet..

So sorry for the length of this by the way.

4 days into my tank.. I noticed a small white spot on his fin yesterday.

I noticed 4 more today. It looks like Ich, and im sick.. to my stomach

My question: If it is ich, did it come in by way of the gonipora or the tang that i purchased?

If it came in on the tang, should i remove him and toss him in my QT to get rid of what is on him now before they drop off and multiply?

and yes, I am an idiot. I should have been patient with the tang and not have trusted anyone. Can anyone help me despite that fact?

Please and Thank you
 
how about another freshwater dip then into your qt? you might want to check out wet web media for another reference.

Dropping the salinity will assist in killing off the ich too

you gotta let your dt go fishless for at least 30 days.

Hopefully someone else can confirm this & steer you in the right direction. Good luck dude!
 
pktech said:
Dropping the salinity will assist in killing off the ich too

you gotta let your dt go fishless for at least 30 days.

Hopefully someone else can confirm this & steer you in the right direction. Good luck dude!
Click to expand...

For hyposalinity, it must be 1.009, dropping it is insufficient.

A tank must be sallow (fishless) for 9 weeks for 99% effectiveness.
 
I am willing to bet that the Ich was brought in by the Mimic Tang.

It's unfortunate. But, if you spent all that time QT'ing the other fish, why would you risk it on an LFS worker's word that the fish was clean? It's their job to sell you something.

Removing him alone will do nothing. It's already fallen off and is multiplying. That's why the Ich cysts are starting to show up all over his body, they're multiplying. Unfortunately all your fish are infected. You have two choices, pull them all back out for 8+ weeks and QT them, or roll with it and see what happens.

I know many people "live" with Ich in their systems. Which, IMHO, is not the correct method. It's a tough learning experience, but I would pull them all and QT them. And make sure to QT all incoming fish/corals. Don't take someone's word for it that the fish are "clean".
 
AuroraDrvr said:
I am willing to bet that the Ich was brought in by the Mimic Tang.

It's unfortunate. But, if you spent all that time QT'ing the other fish, why would you risk it on an LFS worker's word that the fish was clean? It's their job to sell you something.

Removing him alone will do nothing. It's already fallen off and is multiplying. That's why the Ich cysts are starting to show up all over his body, they're multiplying. Unfortunately all your fish are infected. You have two choices, pull them all back out for 8+ weeks and QT them, or roll with it and see what happens.

I know many people "live" with Ich in their systems. Which, IMHO, is not the correct method. It's a tough learning experience, but I would pull them all and QT them. And make sure to QT all incoming fish/corals. Don't take someone's word for it that the fish are "clean".
Click to expand...

Having said all of that, get the tang out and into QT asap, like tonight if possible. Then monitor the other fish in the system and reassess the situation in the coming days/weeks once the tang is out. This will give you time to figure out what you want to do, what you need to do, and what you can do.
 
AuroraDrvr said:
Having said all of that, get the tang out and into QT asap, like tonight if possible. Then monitor the other fish in the system and reassess the situation in the coming days/weeks once the tang is out. This will give you time to figure out what you want to do, what you need to do, and what you can do.
Click to expand...


+1....I agree with removing the newly infected fish as the best choice at this time. Get it to the QT and then monitor the DT fishes for Ich. Treat in QT with Cupramine for at least 4 weeks.
 
I know the best solution for my stupidity, but I really really do not want to go through that again. When looking tank photos on this site, i saw that alot of fish have ich.. people live with ich and their tank right? I might go that route. Any thoughts?
 
from everything I read on this site & wet web, ich seems to be an opportunistic parasite that creates most damage when it's host is stressed.

It would be a good idea to create a highly stress free environment & lot's of vitamin based feeding to keep it's immunity up.
All in all the PITA route fishless as mentioned above & comfy QT is the way to go ...

Also go to the hardware store & buy some big pvc elbows (5"+) for the fish to hide in - try & get black. This is good if you're gonna hit it w/ copper as it won't leach into the pvc .... good luck & keep us posted
 
foster200 said:
I know the best solution for my stupidity, but I really really do not want to go through that again. When looking tank photos on this site, i saw that alot of fish have ich.. people live with ich and their tank right? I might go that route. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

In my opinion the only way to live with ick is in a stress free environment. If you have any aggressive fish that like to chase others around it will come back.
 
The copper run at the LFS is probably at very low levels and just enough to prevent huge outbreaks, but not enough to kill it, once you brought your fish home the ich was copper free and started to thrive again (on your tang) and now all your fish are carrying it. If something happens like a power failure or mixup in water quality surely your fish will become overcome by the ich. If you have a QT big enough for your fish which you do since you just did this. I would put them back through QT. Then once they are out of QT, just make sure each new fish goes through that QT process.

You aren't in bad shape at all, since you already have a QT tank, just need to use it. You can treat cupramine and prazipro at the same time to combat most diseases.
 
Yeah, Im not in that bad of shape.. the only problem is that I would have to break down my 180 gallon tank full of LR and coral.After all that I have to sit there and watch my fishless tank for 9 weeks. Lesson learned i guess.. the hard way.
 
Hang on, you said it looked like ick and it was on the fins. Also, it doesn't sound as prolific as ick, so I'd be willing to bet that the new tang has Lymphocystis. The pics on the internet probably look a lot worse than what you see on your fish, but I'd wait at least a couple more days and see if the tang turns out to truly and obviously have ick, or if it doesn't spread so much, it's probably Lymphocystis. Is it eating? If so, and it's calmed down some more, and it is Lymphocystis, it will just go away over a few weeks, won't spread to any of your other fish (provided they aren't stressed) and is nothing to worry about. If I were you, and the tang is acting fine and not being stressed by anything else in the tank, and it's eating, even if it is ick, I'd just leave the fish in the tank and feed with garlic/etc and it should go away on it's own. You may also want to think about installing a UV light. GOOD LUCK!
 
well, i really hope that is what it is. He is eating fine and really doesnt seem to be bothered by it. I am feeding the whole tank really well, probably too much, so I am hoping that they will learn to live with it because honestly, Im not going to go through that again. The water params are great and there are no agressive fish whatsoever so Im hoping for the best here. Thanks
 
I wish I could answer that. I had to fly to Dubai yesterday for work and will be here for a few weeks. My girlfriend will be taking care of everything for a while. Hope it all works out. When i left though, the spots were the same size. soaking the food in selcon in the morning and garlic at night. everyone is eating well and there is no stress at all. im keeping my fingers crossed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
200 Gallon Mixed Reef - Rock Questions
2
Replies
20
Views
327
wvned
wvned
OrionN
Naso elegans, the Blonde Naso
Replies
1
Views
270
OrionN
OrionN
M
help with new dracula goby
Replies
5
Views
470
leebca
L
K
Compatibility
Replies
3
Views
1K
wvned
wvned
N
75 gallon set up and stocking advice
Replies
8
Views
2K
Newham94
N
Back
Top