Flame Angel with ICH

[boardn365]

I have had a flame angel for about a month and up to now he has been eating well and very active. He has had ich for over a week. I haven't seen him eat in about two days. Shows interest but won't eat. I feed frozen mysis, frozen marine and pellets. His stomach still seems normal.

Am I worrying to soon? If I caught him (in a reef so not easiest thing) would he be saveable?

Curious on opinions?

 

[snorvich]

If he has ich, your tank has ich. Please read the stickies.

 

[SPotter]

All fish are saveable but you need to do it sooner than later. Ich+no eating = not a good thing. Listen to what snorvich is saying and read tge stickies.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[MrTuskfish]

You need to get all of your fish into a HT and treated. Don't use copper with the FA; tank transfer or hypo are your only real options.
Repeating what was said above; read the ich stickies. Ich is serious stuff and can destroy the hobby for you, as well as killing your fish. Knowing fish parasites is as vital as knowing how to feed them.

 

[snorvich]

Knowing fish parasites is as vital as knowing how to feed them.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of this advice.

 

[boardn365]

Ok I read the stickies...guilty. I have been in this hobby a long time and definitely am guilty of the reef has remedied my tank belief and that it has gone away on its own by good feeding and low stress. I feel bad for stressing my fish now but will make sure to do better for my fish from now on.

Now to get it out of my system here is the question. I am currently in two tanks waiting for a larger tank to put them in one. The Flame Angel is in the tank with a Blue Tang that shows signs of Ich every couple weeks but the Blue Tang is very fat and seemed happy so I didn't stress. The other tank doesn't seem to have any ich or hasn't had any outbreaks in a few months.

Do I need to quarantine both tanks even though there has been no sign of Ich in the one tank for 2 months.

Is this correct for remedy...Remove all fish from tank for four weeks? I will try Hyposalinity in the QT.

 

[snorvich]

Fallow period for ich is 9 weeks. I prefer tank transfer over hyposalinity as that is much more difficult to properly execute.

 

[boardn365]

OK, I will try tank transfer then.

Do I take all the fish out of the reef and in to QT or just the ones affected?

It says that it is best to have the QT tanks free of live rock or substrate cause the ich can live there. If I take the fish out and QT in theory can't the ich stay in the reef even if there are no fish?

 

[paulus81]

Soaking some nori in garlic might help. I had one of the hardiest little guys die. I accidently forgot to turn a pump back on and he started to suffocate. I immediatly turned the pump on when I realized what I did, but the guy stopped eating. I tried everything, and the only thing he ate was the aformentioned.

 

[snorvich]

All fish must be treated and the tank left fallow for 9 weeks.

 

[MrTuskfish]

OK, I will try tank transfer then.

Do I take all the fish out of the reef and in to QT or just the ones affected?

It says that it is best to have the QT tanks free of live rock or substrate cause the ich can live there. If I take the fish out and QT in theory can't the ich stay in the reef even if there are no fish?

The ich need a fish host to live. That's why the 9 weeks is needed; it gives all the newly released ich free swimmers a chance to enjoy starving to death.
LR & substrate can absorb & release meds, another reason not to use them in a QT.

 

[boardn365]

What do you mean by "absorb & release meds?"

 

[Tin_Whistler]

What do you mean by "absorb & release meds?"

The rock will basically absorb anything you put into the tank.

So if you dose copper with rock in there, the rock will absorb some of that copper. Later, when the rock is put into a tank without copper, it'll release some of that copper into the water.

 

[hackney]

just in my experience. When i first started in the hobby i did like everyone said, remove all fish for 3 months, leave tank fallow, the whole 9 yards. The result was a bunch of dead fish. I believe the tank transfer stressed them and only made matters worse. I know leave the fish in the DT to fight it on its own EVERY TIME. I have not lost a fish to ich since. I just feed garlic. As long as your other fish are strong and healthy they will be fine.

 

[boardn365]

Ok, after reading as much as I could and taking in everyones opinion, I couldn't make a decision. A couple days had passed and the flame angel started eating again. He seemed to like certain foods and ate better in the morning so I kind of thought maybe in the afternoon the ich on his gills was bothering him and he didn't want to eat.

Well long story short he is doing good right now. He is eating twice a day, pellets in the morning and frozen at night and only shows very small signs every once in a while.

I do believe that the ich is still in the tank but my thoughts were that even if I made it through all the QT for all my fish that ich would inevitally find its way back so I am deciding to ride it out to see what happens.

Thanks to everyone for their help on this. I am thankful to be more educated moving forward.