guitarfish
Premium Member
Guy - what's the fish on the pic on the right, bottom left? It looks like a Scott's Fairy Wrasse. The new firefish is drop dead gorgeous. Ooops, poor choice of words. 
ALL THE BEST !!
ALL THE BEST !!
"ICH FREE TANK" Quest Begins
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
Triggerfish
Active member
guy..you've been busy eh... awesome looking little fish that is..
i think i still would have quarantined the fish,,even for a couple weeks.
gl with the new additions.
i think i still would have quarantined the fish,,even for a couple weeks.
gl with the new additions.
guyguerra
Premium Member
Dave, that is a Solor Wrasse, also called a clown fairy wrasse. It's a really good looking fish. It's similar to the Scott's fairy wrasse and very colorful. The helfrich's firefish looks better than the picture I got this morning. here's a link to a better photo. http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/gobies/helfrichsfirefish/ . He's doing well so far. He doesn't join the crowd for dinner, but he catch's the drift by's and he stayed out a good part of the day today. I'm very hopeful on the Sailfin this time. He's healthy and eating well. If this doesn't work I'll give up. I tried QT in a group, QT alone, and now this. I hope I don't have to QT a fish again for a long time. It's really hard, and you really can't be sure if your doing more harm than good. I still would not suggest that fish shouldn't be QT'd, and I am taking a calculated risk with the firefish. The group that are in the 50 gallon tank are really being QT'd in my mind, they are just doing it on the better side of the tracks. All I have to loose is 2 bags of sand, and I could fallow the rock if things went south, but for some reason, I don't think these will have a problem. The stress is certainly reduced. I even put a couple of soft corals in the tank to make it look and feel like home. It's probably a fish's equivalent to Martha Stewarts jail cell.
jimmyj7090
aka John K
hey all,
Just an update on my exp.
It's been 101 days and I haven't seen a single spot. I've had a few power outages and a couple of temp swings but all is well. No fish losses, no Ick. I have a PBT, CBB, 6line, true perc pair, maroon perc pair, bi-color blenny, and a rabbitfish, 180G total in system.
(I Treated with hypo at 1.008 for 7 weeks and the display fallow for around 9 weeks or so. )
Guy, best of luck with the new additions.
jk
Just an update on my exp.
It's been 101 days and I haven't seen a single spot. I've had a few power outages and a couple of temp swings but all is well. No fish losses, no Ick. I have a PBT, CBB, 6line, true perc pair, maroon perc pair, bi-color blenny, and a rabbitfish, 180G total in system.
(I Treated with hypo at 1.008 for 7 weeks and the display fallow for around 9 weeks or so. )
Guy, best of luck with the new additions.
jk
jimmyj7090
aka John K
I meant maroon clown pair
jk
jk
Brock Fluharty
New member
Is it safe to treat hypo on a tank that has corals and inverts in?
In a word, no. It isn't safe to use hypo on any inverts, corals or even live rock (the rock will die off and foul your water). You have to remove the fish to QT. Sorry - we all wish it wasn't so! But it is worth it in the end.
Hi Guy! Beautiful fish, I hope all is well! My QT for new arrivals is similar to what you are talking about. I have a 20 gallon with some live rock and a refugium to keep them comfy while I watch them to be sure of their health. It really reduces the stress. Of course, if anything shows up, the lr and refugium has to be removed for treatment (and fallowed before reuse).
Hi Guy! Beautiful fish, I hope all is well! My QT for new arrivals is similar to what you are talking about. I have a 20 gallon with some live rock and a refugium to keep them comfy while I watch them to be sure of their health. It really reduces the stress. Of course, if anything shows up, the lr and refugium has to be removed for treatment (and fallowed before reuse).
Triggerfish
Active member
Hypo Update Week 3
still no ich sightings after 3 weeks. fish still appear fine, with exception of royal gramma..been acting weird,,just when i think he is gone the fish reappears..but somethings not right.
gonna give it another couple of weeks. if it comes back after this i really don't know what the hell i will do here.
i've also managed to stress this tank out 3x over the past 2 weeks..catching 2 fish and moving rocks around to syphon out the debris underneath. still no ich sightings.
still no ich sightings after 3 weeks. fish still appear fine, with exception of royal gramma..been acting weird,,just when i think he is gone the fish reappears..but somethings not right.
gonna give it another couple of weeks. if it comes back after this i really don't know what the hell i will do here.
i've also managed to stress this tank out 3x over the past 2 weeks..catching 2 fish and moving rocks around to syphon out the debris underneath. still no ich sightings.
Mish
New member
I'm joining the hypo club
I'm joining the hypo club
I'm with you triggerfish, I am also on my third week of hypo. I have been stressing my fish out daily with water changes. I have to say this is awful, I have learned my lesson QT,QT,QT.
I was hoping to last 8 weeks in hypo, but after seeing the stress it's causing, I'm shooting for 6 and then 2 weeks still in QT to watch for signs of Ich. The tank will go the full 8 weeks fishless.
quote from my fish, "make the bad woman go away."
Good luck!
I'm joining the hypo club
I'm with you triggerfish, I am also on my third week of hypo. I have been stressing my fish out daily with water changes. I have to say this is awful, I have learned my lesson QT,QT,QT.
I was hoping to last 8 weeks in hypo, but after seeing the stress it's causing, I'm shooting for 6 and then 2 weeks still in QT to watch for signs of Ich. The tank will go the full 8 weeks fishless.
quote from my fish, "make the bad woman go away."
Good luck!
guyguerra
Premium Member
Jimmy, sounds like hypo did good for you, that's encouraging to hear. I am not such a "copper guy" any more, and will probably use hypo if I encounter Ich again. Congrats! Plaz, I do like my Qt looking like a regular tank a lot better than the way I had it before. I think theres a few good lessons I've learned from our thread that have changed my approach to new fish acquisitions. By keeping the Qt as just another aquarium my mind set is different. It looks nice, so there is no "count down" to when they go to the big tank. That's a good stress reliever. Secondly, since I'm not on a time line I stopped checking them every time I walked by the tank. I was becoming an Ich hypochondriac! I figure it will be obvious if they really have Ich. I wonder if I jumped the gun in the past, which, once you do, your fish WILL become stressed and then they will die, maybe not from Ich, but from my treatment of what I thought was ich. The group that are in there now are doing good. I have a Sailfin tang, Longnose butterfly, clown wrasse and 3 gobies. The butterfly has a little bit of tail rot that I'm treating. So from this thread and a lot of study and more experience I've realized a couple of things about myself and staying Ich free. One, I was probably over reacting to any "symptom" I saw, and to quit "inspecting" them every few hours. To wait a while before starting treatment, which could have caused undue stress. Second, make the Qt a stressless environment. In this approach, I probably shouldn't call it a Qt, but an acclimation tank. But really, isn't that what Qt means? Third, for me to avoid the time line approach. If the QT looks nice, I'm not in such a hurry to move them, and they are happy in it, which gets them to acclimate better.
This is off topic buy, I have probably one of the saddest things to report about my new acquisitions. If you remember, I bought a Helfrich's firefish. I decided to forego the QT because he was so expensive, looked healthy and my belief that firefish are less prone to Ich. I drip acclimated him, and put him in the tank. He did fantastic. In a few days he was out with all the other fish. He was gorgeous! I have three glass lid sections on my 7 foot tank. On each section is the typical plastic hinge that the two pieces of glass slide into. The hinges stop about 3/4" from each side of the glass. So I have six gaps in my glass top that are 3/8"x3/4". Somehow he must have jumped out of the water, and thru one of those cracks. They are the only openings. Or he jumped out when I had the lids open while feeding the tank, which is hard for me to believe I didn't see him. I open all three lids so that food gets to all spots of the tank, since some of my fish stay close to their spots, and this way they all get a fair shot at the food. That fish was really special to me. Not to mention the big risk I took of putting him directly in my display. I never thought I'd feel so sad about loosing a fish! I swear I need a support group! Now I have to go back to the bank so I can buy another one. What a hobby!
This is off topic buy, I have probably one of the saddest things to report about my new acquisitions. If you remember, I bought a Helfrich's firefish. I decided to forego the QT because he was so expensive, looked healthy and my belief that firefish are less prone to Ich. I drip acclimated him, and put him in the tank. He did fantastic. In a few days he was out with all the other fish. He was gorgeous! I have three glass lid sections on my 7 foot tank. On each section is the typical plastic hinge that the two pieces of glass slide into. The hinges stop about 3/4" from each side of the glass. So I have six gaps in my glass top that are 3/8"x3/4". Somehow he must have jumped out of the water, and thru one of those cracks. They are the only openings. Or he jumped out when I had the lids open while feeding the tank, which is hard for me to believe I didn't see him. I open all three lids so that food gets to all spots of the tank, since some of my fish stay close to their spots, and this way they all get a fair shot at the food. That fish was really special to me. Not to mention the big risk I took of putting him directly in my display. I never thought I'd feel so sad about loosing a fish! I swear I need a support group! Now I have to go back to the bank so I can buy another one. What a hobby!
pecan2phat
Active member
Wondering if there are any downside effects on the fish from prolonged low salinity.
As Trigger had asked why I didn't just keep the tank at 1.009 for a couple of more weeks, I noticed that some fish seem aggitated when hitting the 5th week or so and another (blue angel) started to loose coloration and appetite a bit.
As Trigger had asked why I didn't just keep the tank at 1.009 for a couple of more weeks, I noticed that some fish seem aggitated when hitting the 5th week or so and another (blue angel) started to loose coloration and appetite a bit.
poknsnok
New member
hey trigger. ive just been hit with a terrible outbreak of ich after more than 3 yrs of not qt-ing and I guess, being lucky. well the luch has run out. in reading your initial post back in May 2005 you moved your fish to a 55 gal. was this newly set up? or was it cycled and ready to accept fish. I have 12 fish in a 200 gal. some messy ones and I dont see the water being stable with that kind of load unless you had established bio filtration..I have a disaster
guitarfish
Premium Member
Guy....I'm speechless. Sorry about the firefish man. Owwww!!
hospitalinity
hospitalinity
I had a bad experience with ich a few months ago. I only have one porcupine puffer in the tank with CC and some live rock. I bought every type of medicine I could find to start out with and nothing would work. I also heard that copper was bad for puffer fish so that was out.
Finally I moved all of the live rock out of the tank into a tub with a power filter and bought a refractometer and started lowering the specific gravity slowly. While this was going on my puffer looked worse with ich but continued to eat. I had got the specific gravity all the way down to 1.011 and my puffer was looking worse. I finally brought it down below 1.009-1.008 and within three days the ich had completely fell off of my puffer. I had a little trouble at first with ammonia spikes and did water changes almost daily to control it. I believe it was die off even though the rock had been taken out there were still a lot of bristtle worms and amphiopods in the tank.
I finally got the ammonia under control and everything went fine. I continued to keep the specific gravity under 1.009 for almost 6 weeks and the live rock was kept in the tub for 8 weeks. I have had the salt level back up to 1.023 for 2 to 3 months now and my puffer is doing better than he has done in a long time. He seems healthier and is eating better.
Actually a lot of people think the lowered salt level will hurt the fish but in actuality it helps the fish from becoming as stressed out. I read it some where and also a fish Vet at Virginia Tech told me this also, and I believe that its true, because my puffer at no time seemed to be under in distress at any time after the ich had fallen off of him. And he was absolutely covered up with it. I have heard that hypo has not taken care of the problem, but it is real rare. They say that there is certain strans of crypto that can survive very low salt levels as low as 1.005 but I didn't have a case of this and is unlikely that many will not if any at all.
I really believe this is the best method or at least it was for me. I am at no means an expert on the subject but I read a lot about ich when my puffer broke out with it and I know what I saw and that was hypo curing my puffer. Hope this helps any one that has problems with ich.
hospitalinity
I had a bad experience with ich a few months ago. I only have one porcupine puffer in the tank with CC and some live rock. I bought every type of medicine I could find to start out with and nothing would work. I also heard that copper was bad for puffer fish so that was out.
Finally I moved all of the live rock out of the tank into a tub with a power filter and bought a refractometer and started lowering the specific gravity slowly. While this was going on my puffer looked worse with ich but continued to eat. I had got the specific gravity all the way down to 1.011 and my puffer was looking worse. I finally brought it down below 1.009-1.008 and within three days the ich had completely fell off of my puffer. I had a little trouble at first with ammonia spikes and did water changes almost daily to control it. I believe it was die off even though the rock had been taken out there were still a lot of bristtle worms and amphiopods in the tank.
I finally got the ammonia under control and everything went fine. I continued to keep the specific gravity under 1.009 for almost 6 weeks and the live rock was kept in the tub for 8 weeks. I have had the salt level back up to 1.023 for 2 to 3 months now and my puffer is doing better than he has done in a long time. He seems healthier and is eating better.
Actually a lot of people think the lowered salt level will hurt the fish but in actuality it helps the fish from becoming as stressed out. I read it some where and also a fish Vet at Virginia Tech told me this also, and I believe that its true, because my puffer at no time seemed to be under in distress at any time after the ich had fallen off of him. And he was absolutely covered up with it. I have heard that hypo has not taken care of the problem, but it is real rare. They say that there is certain strans of crypto that can survive very low salt levels as low as 1.005 but I didn't have a case of this and is unlikely that many will not if any at all.
I really believe this is the best method or at least it was for me. I am at no means an expert on the subject but I read a lot about ich when my puffer broke out with it and I know what I saw and that was hypo curing my puffer. Hope this helps any one that has problems with ich.
Triggerfish
Active member
mish..sounds like you're on the right track.
guy- that truly blows bro.. amazingly neither of my firefish had leaped as of yet..basically back of tank is open.
pecan- not sure when any downsides may be noticed. this surely would be species dependent probably. like i said, my gramma has been effected by something..and it could be the hypo..and that's only 3 weeks. i would think on a general basis anything more than 3 months may be pushing the limit.
snok - had to go back and read what the heck i did then. i didnt report any NH3 issues. i used the cycled tank water and cycled filter media from the sump.
the hypo certainly does something that's for sure..it basically kills everything in the tank, except fish and hermits..sort of a weird thing knowing that b/f you had a tank full of life of all kinds and now nothing... as i think about it,,i probably would not ever again hypo a main reef tank that's been accumulating life for 8 months.
it's like a barren desert of just fish and rock. it sucks.
guy- that truly blows bro.. amazingly neither of my firefish had leaped as of yet..basically back of tank is open.
pecan- not sure when any downsides may be noticed. this surely would be species dependent probably. like i said, my gramma has been effected by something..and it could be the hypo..and that's only 3 weeks. i would think on a general basis anything more than 3 months may be pushing the limit.
snok - had to go back and read what the heck i did then. i didnt report any NH3 issues. i used the cycled tank water and cycled filter media from the sump.
the hypo certainly does something that's for sure..it basically kills everything in the tank, except fish and hermits..sort of a weird thing knowing that b/f you had a tank full of life of all kinds and now nothing... as i think about it,,i probably would not ever again hypo a main reef tank that's been accumulating life for 8 months.
it's like a barren desert of just fish and rock. it sucks.
guyguerra
Premium Member
snok, can you tell us more detail. what your describing is our worst nightmare. I couldn't imagine my 230 having a major Ich breakout. Do you know how it was introduced into the display? I have always figured that if Ich got into my reef I'd have to let it run it's course. I've got thousands of dollars in corals, and there is no way you'll get any fish out of my tank. Do you have a tank to move them too? What help can we offer?
poknsnok
New member
on the 5th I got 4 lyretail anthias for my 260 gal total vol reef tank. the tank has been running for 18 mos and some of the inhabitants came from a 90 gal that I had for 18 mos before I got the 200. on the 11th I noticed my regal tang with a lot of difficult to see blemishes, some of them becoming raised. on the 12th she had more and my kole started to break out. I have a Naso that shows no signs of anything to this day. the regal is now covered from head to tail and the kole is fairly heavily infested. one of the Anthias shows some signs but all the other fish look ok. all fish are eating well and NOT scratching. the Infested tangs are making frequent trips to the cleaner shrimp. I did not QT the Anthias and know all this I brought upon myself. I purchased from one of the most reputable stores in the country that I am lucky enough to be near. but i guess my luck ran out. cant even say for sure the ick wasnt present in the system from the get go. I know its in the system now. I have NEVER had any signs of any fish diseases previously
hypo
hypo
Yes I did hypo to the main tank and the only things alive in the tank were the amphiopods and bristtle worms. Also that is why I moved the live rock out to keep it alive. Since introducing the live rock back to the tank there has been more life in the tank than what there was before. There's amphiopods everywhere much more so than before the hypo treatment. So I don't think it hurt anything. It only helped. I believe by taking the rock out and keeping it in a tub without much light except for a flourescent the rock cleaned itself out of the detrius that had accumalated in it. Kind of like the rock cooking but not to as much of a degree as actual rock cooking. It was amazing all the stuff that came out of the rock in the tub and also I rinsed the rock in clean saltwater before introducing it back in the tank. Before the hypo I had a bad algae problem and now since the rock has been back in the tank there has been no signs of the algae on the rock what so ever. Just a small amount on the glass. I deffinately don't like the fact of killing any type of life in the tank but in this case it done the tank more good than harm.
hypo
Yes I did hypo to the main tank and the only things alive in the tank were the amphiopods and bristtle worms. Also that is why I moved the live rock out to keep it alive. Since introducing the live rock back to the tank there has been more life in the tank than what there was before. There's amphiopods everywhere much more so than before the hypo treatment. So I don't think it hurt anything. It only helped. I believe by taking the rock out and keeping it in a tub without much light except for a flourescent the rock cleaned itself out of the detrius that had accumalated in it. Kind of like the rock cooking but not to as much of a degree as actual rock cooking. It was amazing all the stuff that came out of the rock in the tub and also I rinsed the rock in clean saltwater before introducing it back in the tank. Before the hypo I had a bad algae problem and now since the rock has been back in the tank there has been no signs of the algae on the rock what so ever. Just a small amount on the glass. I deffinately don't like the fact of killing any type of life in the tank but in this case it done the tank more good than harm.
jeffbrig
Premium Member
Hi guys, didn't realize this thread had split....I was wondering why it wasn't popping up with new activity when I did a search.
Good news is: my original batch of fish - achilles tang and 2 clownfish - are doing great in the display (went in on 1/29). No recurrence of ich, and they've been at normal salinity for a few months now.
I have started a 2nd batch in QT. Purchased 6 fish between 2/20 and 2/23, got them down to 1.009sg on 2/27. Fish in this batch were a purple tang, yellow tang, and a powder blue tang in the 55g, then a pseudochromis fridmani, flame hawkfish, and a mandarin in the 10g.
In the 55g QT - The yellow tang appeared to have black ich, which completely disappeared after a 5 minute freshwater dip on 2/24 and never returned. The purple tang came down with ich in just a few days. The powder blue showed just a coupe of spots a few days after that, but very minor. Both were eating, acting normal, seemed to be improving. Then, the PBT inexplicably dropped dead overnight on 3/7. Literally eating and acting normal (no rapid breathing, lethargy, etc.) at 11pm lights out, dead and laying on the bottom at 9am. Water parameters normal, no measurable ammonia, we haven't been able to explain it.
10g QT - the mandarin simply wouldn't eat. I tried all kinds of food, including pods from the main tank, as well as newly hatched baby brine shrimp (which the other fish loved). The mandarin just refused all of it and steadily declined. He got to the point where he wouldn't move and his swim bladder wasn't functioning. He was rolling around in the current on the bottom of the tank, only breathing occasionally. We dediced to put an end to his suffering. The others seem to be doing just fine. The hawkfish had a few ich spots for a few days, but they went away quickly.
Tonight, I moved the hawkfish and fridmani over to the 55g QT (after re-acclimating, of course). I also added a remora skimmer to the 55g, in the helps of improving overall water quality, and reducing the frequency of water changes. As of right now, only the purple tang has any lingering signs of ich. A few spots have yet to disappear, although I would have expected them to drop off in the 2 weeks since we reached 1.009sg. I should pobably start counting days soon, but I'm hesitant just like last time.
We'll see how this plays out, I'll keep you posted.
Good news is: my original batch of fish - achilles tang and 2 clownfish - are doing great in the display (went in on 1/29). No recurrence of ich, and they've been at normal salinity for a few months now.
I have started a 2nd batch in QT. Purchased 6 fish between 2/20 and 2/23, got them down to 1.009sg on 2/27. Fish in this batch were a purple tang, yellow tang, and a powder blue tang in the 55g, then a pseudochromis fridmani, flame hawkfish, and a mandarin in the 10g.
In the 55g QT - The yellow tang appeared to have black ich, which completely disappeared after a 5 minute freshwater dip on 2/24 and never returned. The purple tang came down with ich in just a few days. The powder blue showed just a coupe of spots a few days after that, but very minor. Both were eating, acting normal, seemed to be improving. Then, the PBT inexplicably dropped dead overnight on 3/7. Literally eating and acting normal (no rapid breathing, lethargy, etc.) at 11pm lights out, dead and laying on the bottom at 9am. Water parameters normal, no measurable ammonia, we haven't been able to explain it.
10g QT - the mandarin simply wouldn't eat. I tried all kinds of food, including pods from the main tank, as well as newly hatched baby brine shrimp (which the other fish loved). The mandarin just refused all of it and steadily declined. He got to the point where he wouldn't move and his swim bladder wasn't functioning. He was rolling around in the current on the bottom of the tank, only breathing occasionally. We dediced to put an end to his suffering. The others seem to be doing just fine. The hawkfish had a few ich spots for a few days, but they went away quickly.
Tonight, I moved the hawkfish and fridmani over to the 55g QT (after re-acclimating, of course). I also added a remora skimmer to the 55g, in the helps of improving overall water quality, and reducing the frequency of water changes. As of right now, only the purple tang has any lingering signs of ich. A few spots have yet to disappear, although I would have expected them to drop off in the 2 weeks since we reached 1.009sg. I should pobably start counting days soon, but I'm hesitant just like last time.
We'll see how this plays out, I'll keep you posted.
Last edited:
Similar threads
