Help, ICH OUTBREAK LIKE IVE NEVER SEEN....

Roemer3

New member
Check out this picture guys, Im pretty sure I have a serious ich problem. or is this something else? I just had a fish die from ich and there is no fish currently in my system. Does this look like ich to you? There is latterly thousands of them all over the glass and in the water.... :/ What should I do? Ive been planning on investing in an Aqua 57 Watt UV Sterilizer.
 

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You can't see ich. Even the white spots you see on your fish, are not ich, it its the reaction of the fish to the parasite. Meaning it is mucus and the fishes healing process in reaction to having the parasite. Whatever is on your glass its most likely some filter feeding tube worms or pods if they are moving.
 
& if ich wa in your tank, you need to go without fish (& other new additions) for 12 weeks to ensure new fish are not infected.

Very good time to learn about a proper qt. Read up on all the stickies in this section & you wil seldom lose a fish.
 
will ich be able to survive on crabs? or will they be fine to stay in there for the next 12 weeks while the ich dies off? Do crabs , snails count as a host for icy?
 
Crabs and snails are not hosts for ich and can stay in your main tank during the fallow period. The pic might be pods.
 
Yep just the fish will have to come out. I reapond because I basically crashed my last tank due to ich. I got ich and stirred up everything catching fish. Then in qt they died slowly....

I now qt everything fishy, for at least 6 weeks.

My thing is I am new at treatment. The first battle I had after the major loss I used copper. Some say copper is not the way to go but it worked.

Now I am researching ways to treat it other than copper.

Curious as to what ur strategies are for curing ich.
 
The tank needs to be without fish for 8-12 weeks. See the sticky for why 8 weeks is likely good enough, but 12 weeks almost certainly makes it extinct.

I used tank transfer to successfully treat ich. It only takes 12 days. I would recommend having a cycled QT beforehand that you leave empty. Use 2 other tanks for your transfers, then place the fish into your cycled, clean QT.
 
& if ich wa in your tank, you need to go without fish (& other new additions) for 12 weeks to ensure new fish are not infected.

Very good time to learn about a proper qt. Read up on all the stickies in this section & you wil seldom lose a fish.

This website is truly amazing with its opinions. I've read 4-6 weeks, 8 weeks, now 12 weeks lol.
 
This website is truly amazing with its opinions. I've read 4-6 weeks, 8 weeks, now 12 weeks lol.

It's getting better than it was 20-30 years ago; but most of what you read in this hobby is still just opinion vs. fact. However, I think snorvich did an outstanding job explaining the percentages in this sticky:

If you add percentages, you will see that approximately:
• 68% of the distribution lies within one standard deviation of the mean.
• 95% of the distribution lies within two standard deviations of the mean.
• 99.7% of the distribution lies within three standard deviations of the mean.

These percentages are known as the "empirical rule". What this means for Cryptocaryon irritans is that leaving a tank fallow for 3 weeks will give you a 68% chance that you have eradicated the parasite, leaving a tank fallow for 6 weeks will give you a 95% chance of eradication, but if you want 99.7% chance, you will leave the tank fallow for 9 weeks. That is the reason you see different numbers being used on Reef Central and in the literature.

So, if you're comfortable with 99.7% then go fallow for 9 weeks. But if you want something a little closer to 100% (but you'll never actually hit 100%), then tack on more weeks after you hit the 9.
 
It's getting better than it was 20-30 years ago; but most of what you read in this hobby is still just opinion vs. fact. However, I think snorvich did an outstanding job explaining the percentages in this sticky:



So, if you're comfortable with 99.7% then go fallow for 9 weeks. But if you want something a little closer to 100% (but you'll never actually hit 100%), then tack on more weeks after you hit the 9.

Thanks for the information. Yeah I am aiming for a 8 week QT but will just do the full 9 then. I wasn't trying to bash anyone but just thought it was funny because everyday I read something contradictory and different...which is totally fine since this website is based off of experiences. But I noticed there are rarely same answers.
 
Little white things are some kind of crustacean or worm I'd think. One benefit of having a fish-less reef tank is that things that previously got eaten can now breed un-predated. If you build up a nice population of pods, maybe you can keep a Mandarin?
 
This website is truly amazing with its opinions. I've read 4-6 weeks, 8 weeks, now 12 weeks lol.

Of course, nothing is static in our hobby and there is very little professional grade research. With ich, I suspect some strains are becoming more resistant to older treatment options. We are a bunch of amatures and opinions and experience varies widely. If this wasn't the case, I wouldn't trust anything I read here. But this forum has more active expert aquarists than anyplace I know of. BTW; if Snorvich has his name on a sticky, I trust it completely.
 
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