Ich - do I need to treat all the fish?

mattsilvester

mattsilvester

Team RC
Dear All,

There are some great articles on here - I intend to download and read them all this evening. In the mean time, I need a quick answer to the following:

Relatively new 8x2x2 aspiring reef tank - currently being stocked..... I normaly q-tine, but this time I didn't, now I got hit with Ich.

Thing is, the tangs got it, the angel and butterfly don't.....

I have a 75 gal tank, which really isn't big enough to treat ALL the fish....... the question is, is it a waste time to remove the infected fish only and treat them? I could get another 4' tank (30 gal) but I have no biologically mature for it (I'm pushing it as it is with the amount of filter I have for the 75).


I'm not exactly a begginer, but this is my first time in 10 yrs encountering ich in a LR type system!!!

Thanks,

Matt (standing by with treatment tank ready).
 
If one fish has ich prudence would dictate that all fish have ich even if they don't show obvious signs. Further ... even after you have treated all fish you have to deal with the tank which is infected .. leaving that tank without fish for approximately 5 weeks will kill off the ich (ich need to have a fish to perpetuate their life cycle).

While a mature bio filter is helpful its not mandatory in a QT. You can maintain water quality with simple water changes. Use a bare bottom QT and make sure you siphon out any uneaten food or fish debris (turkey baster works great) .. removing this crud will help mitigate any ammonia issues. Good idea to prepare a large supply of replacement water when you setup a QT.
 
thanks guys - I got them all out, borrowed a spare tank and will treat accordingly....... guess its the long wait now..... again! Serves me right really - at least my mistake has only cost me time, and not money or some poor creatures life.
 
And if you want to make it as easy as possible for yourself and the fish, perform hyposalinity in the QT instead of treating with copper. SO easy a caveman could do it.
 
I'm sort of embarrassed to admit, but I don't know how to bring down the s.g. without lowering pH etc. I was half thinking that I could do it by dripping in kalkwasser? Even a weak solution of kalkwasser?

The second thing is that I only have a swing needle hydrometer thingy - I don't have a super sensitive refractometer thingy......

If you think you can help / advise, then please do :-)

Cheers,

Matt
 
To do hypo you really should have a calibrated refractometer. Then you can keep your salinity down to 1.009 very easily by marking the water line when you have your salinity down and keeping the water level constant by adding fresh water to the line. EASY. I'd say that with a pH controller it would be pretty easy to keep your pH in check as well. That's what I use on my QT.
 
HI Freed,

Thanks so much for the advice. I am making up some RO water now - I am going to add a small amount of kalk to it.... 1 spoon for 5 gals and start the hypo process.

In the mean time, I started dosing with cupramin last night - but I only dosed at about 60% the recommended dose........

Is it too late to "reverse" the process now and start the hypo ..... I can easy enough put some carbon in.

All I need now is a refractometer thingy. Gonna have a look now on my LFS website to see if he has any.....

Cheers,

Matt
 
Hmmmm, good question. Before adding kalk or really anything make sure you test before and after to actually be sure you need it and/or don't overdose. You may raise alk, calcium, pH, etc. too much. I'd say it's not too late to reverse the process and do hypo but I'm not an expert on copper or its interactions with hypo. I do know the two in conjunction with each other can be deadly for fish though. Also if you have already added copper to your QT I think you can't keep corals or inverts in there in the future unless you make sure there is no more copper in the tank.
 
Thanks Freed - well as they say, whats done is done!

RE hypo - well if I do a 20% water chance with fresh water, and check the pH as you say, then I will only be reducing the s.g. to min of 1.020, so thats not going to be disasterous regardless, and will allow 24 hours for the carbon to remove the copper.....

I'm just trying to track down a refractormeter - I wouldn't try it without one......... if it takes a couple of days to locate one then I don't mind that, the fish will hold out until then.

Cheers,

Matt
 
You can lower the salinity rather quickly over a couple/few days but slowly bringing it back up.
 
thanks again freed - I have just been reading through the hyposalinity giude that is mentioned in the ich write up sticky thing at the top the the disease forum by 'billsreef'.

thanks again for your help.

Matt
 
Freed - I cannot get hold of a reasonalby priced refractometer as quickly as I would like - I do however have a floating hydrometer used for making home brew beer - do you think that is sufficiently accurate?
cheers,

Matt
 
Not familiar with those. Drs. Foster & Smith have them for about $35. Go to the sponsors tab and then arrow down to find them or just go here: www.petwarehouse.com under hydrometers/refractometers
 
Oh well that just kind of sucks the blarney stone doesn't it? Didn't see that. Sorry I can't direct you to someone from here.
 
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