Fighting Ick...

[kaiserkid]

I have lost a several fish over the past month to Ick (Powder Blue Tang, Sailfin Tang, Green Mandarin, and a Naso Tang) so I borrowed a 55 gallon tank from a buddy of mine to set up a hospital tank for the rest of the fish (Cinnamon Clown, 2 Yellow Tail Damsels, One Spot Foxface and my 2 new tangs, Powder Blue and Sailfin to replace the ones that died).

I am treating the hospital tank with CopperSafe. It is bare bottom also. In the main tank (a 90 gallon reef) I also took out the majority of the sand and replaced it with new sand (actually med size crushed coral). All that is left in the main tank is the coral and the inverts. My plan is to keep the fish out of the main tank and in the hospital tank for 30 days as I have read on the forums here that it is the life cycle of the Ick.

My hope is that the copper will kill the Ick in the hospital tank and without fish to host on the Ick in the main tank will die. Is there anything else that I can/should be doing?

 

[kinlayan]

30 days is not long enough to leave the aquarium fallow you need to extend it to at least 60 days to make sure that no latent cysts rehatch and reinfect the fish

Copper will kill the ich in the hospital tank but time and temperature without fish is the only factor which will determine the eradication of whitespot from the main tank, so you must make sure you maintain excellent water quality in the hospital tank while the fish are being treated

 

[ron17225]

Hey kaiserkid...I am in a similar situation. I just lost a powder brown tang and it looks pretty bad for my juvenile emperor. He is very lethargic, wont eat and is damned near dead. I just put him in a hospital tank which is bare and being treated with Coppersafe. My problem is that I have no idea if the current reading of 1.0 ppm is therapeaudic or lethal. I cant seem to find the recommended target level. Any ideas?

 

[MrTuskfish]

Hey kaiserkid...I am in a similar situation. I just lost a powder brown tang and it looks pretty bad for my juvenile emperor. He is very lethargic, wont eat and is damned near dead. I just put him in a hospital tank which is bare and being treated with Coppersafe. My problem is that I have no idea if the current reading of 1.0 ppm is therapeaudic or lethal. I cant seem to find the recommended target level. Any ideas?

Look at the label or packaging; instructions have to be somewhere. Call the place you bought it. You can always find a tech support phone number on line too. Finding this info can't be hard.

 

[Reefers Digest]

Increasing the infected tank's temperature will speed the irritans life cycle up as well. I'd go as far as 82-84~ but monitor other invertebrates for any signs of stress. Even with the decrease in life cycle duration, I would leave the tank fish-less for more than 30 days (upwards of 60) to stay on the safe side, and quarantine all future fish purchases for 6-8 weeks.

Good Luck

 

[MrTuskfish]

Increasing the infected tank's temperature will speed the irritans life cycle up as well. I'd go as far as 82-84~ but monitor other invertebrates for any signs of stress. Even with the decrease in life cycle duration, I would leave the tank fish-less for more than 30 days (upwards of 60) to stay on the safe side, and quarantine all future fish purchases for 6-8 weeks.

Good Luck

Raising the temp speeds up the life cycle of FW ich significantly. IMO, raising the temp on SW ich does so little, it isn't worth the effort. But, I agree that 30 days is not enough time for the tank to remain fishless.

 

[Sk8r]

8 weeks minimum fishless to starve ich out. Keep changing out the filter medium on your qt tank so it does not harbor the encysted form and allow reinfestation. Read the ich sticky above.