Help Please need an honest answer.

[dh350twin]

My question is i have a 300 gallon mixed reef i left fallow for 10 weeks quarantined all my tangs and other fish then put them in all at the same time. they were very happy for several weeks then they got ich or something that looks to me to be ich, so i removed all the tangs which was easy to do with a fish trap.
The damsels and lawnmower blenny are not falling for the fish trap. they have been in there for a couple weeks now with no signs of ich.

1st question why are the remaining fish not getting the disease?
2nd guestion should i get the tangs healthy and re introduce them back into the main tank again and see what happens?
3rd question any advice on getting the remaining fish out?

Thanks

 

[b0bab0ey]

1st question why are the remaining fish not getting the disease?

Symptoms are not always visible.

2nd guestion should i get the tangs healthy and re introduce them back into the main tank again and see what happens?

Assuming this is Ich, your only option is go fallow again and re-treat ALL of the fish.

 

[caribfan]

When your fish were in QT during the fallow period, were they treated for any parasites?g Was ich present any time during the quarantine period? All of my tangs are treated with cupramine in quarantine before being introduced into my DT.

I agree with letting he tank run fallow again, but it must be completely devoid of fish during this time and all your fish must be treated for ich prior to being re-introduced.

It's a frustrating situation, I've been there before. Good luck with treatment.

 

[dh350twin]

Yes they were treated with Cupramine before introduction to the display tank....
The not showing signs thing is what i have a problem with. One would think eventually the ich would multiply enough to attack any fish visibly?

 

[StaghornE]

There are allot of stronger fish like damsels for instance that will carry a parasite like ich and not show signs even when other fish are dying around them. With that being said you must have introduced this parasite with something new. An infected fish? An item from an infected tank that brought in larva?

 

[StaghornE]

There are allot of stronger fish like damsels for instance that will carry a parasite like ich and not show signs even when other fish are dying around them. With that being said you must have introduced this parasite with something new. An infected fish? An item from an infected tank that brought in larva?

 

[b0bab0ey]

FWIW, I sorta went thru the same thing. Got ich in my DT, went fallow for 10+ weeks, treated all my fish with Coppersafe. Everything was fine for a few months until I went on vacation for a couple of weeks and my automatic feeders failed. BAM! I came back to a tank full of Ich!

I still can't figure out what happened. I didn't add any new fish or anything obvious like that. So, I went fallow again, but this time for 4 months and I've been fine ever since.

 

[dh350twin]

it must have came in on some coral or inverts that i bought.

 

[h2so4hurts]

Did you treat the damsels and blennies the first time? How did you catch them that time?

 

[caribfan]

FWIW, I sorta went thru the same thing. Got ich in my DT, went fallow for 10+ weeks, treated all my fish with Coppersafe. Everything was fine for a few months until I went on vacation for a couple of weeks and my automatic feeders failed. BAM! I came back to a tank full of Ich!

I still can't figure out what happened. I didn't add any new fish or anything obvious like that. So, I went fallow again, but this time for 4 months and I've been fine ever since.

This is interesting, I had the same experience. I have read that there are a number of different Ich strains and some have longer life cycles, I suppose it is possible that the Ich you had in your tank was one of those varieties.

If you leave your tank fallow long enough, and are certain to remove all fish species, the ich in your tank will not survive.

And if you treat all fish prior to entering the DT with Cupramine, or some product that is equivalent, this too should prevent Ich from being inside your DT.

With that having been said, the best way to protect against these outbreaks is to maximize the water quality and minimize the stresses on the fish.

Such a frustrating problem, I do not envy you.

 

[b0bab0ey]

This is interesting, I had the same experience. I have read that there are a number of different Ich strains and some have longer life cycles, I suppose it is possible that the Ich you had in your tank was one of those varieties.

If you search the forums, you'll find there are a lot of people who have had similar experiences. Whether it's a strain with a prolonged life cycle or what I do not know. What I do know is that the second time around my PBT still had symptoms after more than a month in copper (Coppersafe). So, I finally resorted to Chloroquine Phosphate to completely knock it out.

 

[dh350twin]

Did you treat the damsels and blennies the first time? How did you catch them that time?

i did treat them i took the tank they were in down and this time that is not an option.

 

[dh350twin]

Also what level were you keeping the cupramine? i try to keep it just below .025 api test kit

 

[b0bab0ey]

Also what level were you keeping the cupramine? i try to keep it just below .025 api test kit

This could be your whole problem. Most opinions I've read say 0.35 mg/L is the minimum effective dosage. 0.5 mg/L is what you're supposed to achieve if you follow the directions on the bottle.

 

[Sk8r]

Be sure, too, that you're not dealing with lympocystis, which looks a lot like ich in some manifestations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphocystis It's viral, not a parasite, and does not respond to copper.
Google the disease, view several pix of the disease, take a close look at your fish and see if the bumps are regular, same-size, and symmetrical (ich) or if there is irregularity.

 

[caribfan]

I agree on the concentration, I always achieve 0.5 mg/l for at least two weeks.