"ICH FREE TANK" Quest Begins

that takes us back to the theory that ich is always present. if you took all vertibrates out of the tank for 8 weeks which in all info I have read should be more than long enough.. and treated all fish for 5 weeks with hypo.. AND ERADICATED the ick. that shouldnt have happened. Im getting ready to totally break down reef to remove fish and rid the reef of ich so I can add another fish to my system. ich is now in my system although all fish look fine, I did lose my regal ich magnet. I hope for my sake you did something wrong
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7131699#post7131699 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by guyguerra
Triggerfish, are your fish dying from Ich? .

no man..haven't lost one yet due to the parasite... still haven't seen anything in 2.5 weeks..so still holding hope that the drastic main tank hypo did the job.

the parasite can be resilient and at times difficult to observe. there are many strains that can be introduced into the closed system. i believe whatever i have/had, was pretty aggressive and as such,,has been difficult to deal with. i was trying to let the fish deal with it on their own,,however as the parasite progressed it began to feast on the eyes and within the gill areas..this bothered the fish enough that i had to intervene.

yes,,the population can be very low, however it still exists.. there are so many factors that are involved and no 2 tanks are alike.
bottom line..... if the fish are clean and the tank is brand spanking new..it shouldn't be there.. unless it just appears from nowhere or it can just grow from within the fishes body..although neither of those scenarios are at all likely.

good luck man,,,see what works for you and take it from there...in regards to adding other fish..well..judgement call on your part.. in theory,,adding any additional livestock to a suspected infected tank is probably not recommended. i did it and it was stupid of me.
i will wait now untill i have not seen anything for at least 3 months.
 
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I think I introduced it on some macro algae that I got from my LFS, or from a helfrich's fire fish that I didn't want to subject to QT. I will never know. When I mentioned this to one of my buddies at the LFS he replied by telling me he had noticed a couple of spots on my Kole Tank and my copperband, but didn't mention it, thinking I knew about it. If he's right, I've had it for several months. Before he told me that, I assumed it was my lack of diligence, yet I was as cautious as I could be. I will continue to say that I don't believe it is possible to QT everything. What happens when you buy pods, macro, snails, corals, clams, etc.. It's easy to say QT everything, but for just about all of us it's impractical. We all know to QT fish, but we add a lot more than fish to our tanks.
Poknsnok, I see you have a 200 gallon tank, is this the one you are going to tear down? Thats a huge amount of effort, and it seems like fish losses will be inevitable. I would consider it impossible to tear down my 230. Theres 250 lbs of rock for my fish to get into, so netting isn't an option. The thought of pulling out my LR that has so much life on it, moving my corals, anemones, and everything else so that I could get the fish out is daunting. I looked at your gallery and it seems like your setup might make it possible, but after all that, you will probably end up with it in another year anyway. I am not a pessimist, but I really believe in what I said earlier about being truly Ich free. I used to think I was Ich free, after a year of hard work to kill it, yet I've got it again.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7131874#post7131874 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by guyguerra
I will continue to say that I don't believe it is possible to QT everything. What happens when you buy pods, macro, snails, corals, clams, etc.. It's easy to say QT everything, but for just about all of us it's impractical.

well,,,here's the bottom line and you can take it for what you thinks it's worth or not worth..

ANYTHING that you get from a location that has/had fish can harbor fish related parasites.

now with that said,,it is probably very unlikely that they would come in on softies. but anything else is a large risk..i got mine from 40lbs used LR. SPS,LPS, snail/hermit shells can all harbor the freakin thing. yes, you can scrub the base of the LPS and snail shells...but why take the chance...
so your best option is to ONLY buy inverts from systems that do not or have not contained fish.

macro algae is a tough one to imagine..but i suppose if those damn things are making their way all around the tank..a few could potentialy settle into a large cluster of cheato or something. not worth the risk for me..no way.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7131878#post7131878 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by poknsnok
main tank hypo?? you are basically going to start from scratch with your inverts?

not only am i starting from scratch for inverts,,but basically everything. however, my hermits survived.. i lost just about all my corals in my qt when i had some die off in there that spiked the NH3. it really sucked. and i think i sort of regret doing that with the main tank... actually, i do regret it.. there was just too much to lose..
 
Guy.. I am going to set up a 65 gal qt this weekend, get it cycled, then tear down the tank. going to remove the rock and corals to tubs, buckets, whatever.. put the fish in qt for 8 10 weeks in hypo. leave the tank empty(also treat for red bugs preventatively). Its a lot of work but my corals are an investment and if I need to sacrifice the fish I will.. its all about the corals
 
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I am in the same boat. I have a lot more money and time invested in my corals. Last night I noticed another spot on one of the clowns! My heart sank, and for the second time, considered stopping the hobby. I was at a point where I thouht my tank was just about as good as the ocean for my fish. The size, diversity and safety of this tank seemed excellent. Now I question it all. I would not be surprised if Ich is the number one cause of why people leave the hobby. I still have no viable options, and intend to post a question in the large tank forum to see what others have done. Large tanks do not seem possible to tear down. My only bright spot is that if my fish die from this (which will break my heart, I swear my CBB knows exactly who I am and eats out of my hand daily, he was the first fish I bought), I can fallow the tank for three months or longer, then the only additions taht will have to be added is fish, which will be easy to QT. If all this plays out like I wont add macro or pods, and will have everything else. That would make my third and final attempt. I am really upset this time. The first battle with Ich was due to my inexperiance. We'll see...
 
Guy, I know the feeling, it's pretty gut wrenching. Sorry man, I don't know what to say. Ich is definitely the number one negative of this hobby. Can you imagine how much easier things would be without it???

How many fish are in your 230 right now?
 
hang in there guy...very very low weak strain may indeed become extinct on its own...maybe toss a UV on the system to give just a bit of assistance of water column cleansing.. i may put mine back online...

see what transpires over the next couple months....
 
That's what I'm hoping for. I've got a 50 watt UV running fulltime, I also just added ozone a month ago, so I hoping these will help. I've also been lucky because I bought a cleaner wrasse that eats food like any other fish, yet also cleans my fish ALL the time. I've got three cleaner shrimp too, but I've never felt that they did much. The cleaner wrasse is always eating stuff off my fish. It's comical to watch. Even the small dartfish will sit still to let him clean them. I've always felt fortunate to have him since very few of these survive due to their diet. This one eats most of the stuff I feed. theres one or two foods I use that he wont eat, so when I see that I make sure to throw in something he likes. He could be the reason things haven't gotten worse. Daves right, imagine how nice it would be if Ich wasn't a problem. This hobby would then be perfect! Whoever figures out how to make a reefsafe Ich Treatment would make a fortune.
 
I started a thread to discuss the outcome of tanks that have shown signs of Ich, but have gone untreated. Here is the link: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=7154164#post7154164 . I know it's important to discuss various treatments of Ich, but I also feel that it would be helpful to know what happens in tanks that can't be treated. It's been an interesting dialogue. The thread doesn't discuss treatments (it does mention things that improve a fish's immune system though) and it doesn't discuss QT, those topics have been covered very well on this thread and others like it. This thread focus's on tanks that have had Ich, have not been treated for various reasons, then have it disappear. Their are so many of us dealing with this that I can't help but believe that collectively, we can learn better ways to live with it as well as avoid it. I hope you'll check it out. Guy
 
Ive yet to truly treat mine. i havent seen anything on any of my fish for 2 weeks. i lost my regal tang to ich 4 weeks ago. all other fish are fine. I fed medicated food. and Idea i get from a respected LFS owner. it doesnt cure but it helps fish repel the parasite, in his opinion.
 
Post Hypo Update
week 3

Hypo was done for 5 weeks.

3/21 - began raising the sg
3/24 - sg at 1.020
4/3 - nothing conclusive yet
4/11- possibly a couple spots noticed

it's tough to tell yet..but there may possibly be a couple spots that have been seen, 1-2 on my lrg maroon and couple very small ones on my angel... i can't be 100% certain. yet...but the fact that i think i see something can't be good..
discouraging... i'm losing a bit of interest in this hobby..between massive coral loss, incompatible fish species and the never ending ich battle... oh and not to mention the cost of the damn thing....
 
hey all,

Just an update on my exp. (I cut and pasted but updated)

It's been 142 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. (4/14 update, no fish added, no fish lost and not a spot seen.)

jk
 
Way to go Jimmy !!! Now to celebrate, I think you should go out and buy a new fish and THROW 'EM RIGHT IN THE DISPLAY.

:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I'm too scared to even consider any more fish :)

If I do, I'll probabally QT for 6 months at least.

(I did a full treatment beginning a year ago January, first fish I added after the treatment got a QT period and went in, I saw a couple of spots once it was under the bright light, hence the second treatment. I can't help but be a bit paranoid now.)

Anyway, the only other fish I would like to add would be a mandarin, and that wouldn't do well with sterile QT or hypo, I think I'm fully stocked.....

Anyway, it can work

jk
 
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