"ICH FREE TANK" Quest Begins

[markcasto]

The seachem badge took about 4 days to adjust to the water and you have to get used to how it looks when you looking for ammonia if it is yellow with a tinge of green to start off thats normal but still test with the kits twice a day.On the 4th day after I used seachems prime it was just yellow and the test kit indicated there was 0mg ammonia.You will find that seachems prime is very effective and your plan for the weekend sounds a good one.Doing a water change and dosing with prime before you go should be fine.

My fish have been back in the main tank now for 7 days and so far I have no sign of the ich coming back.Looks like the 6 weeks with out fish did the trick.fingers crossed..

 

[markcasto]

Triggerfish- The parasite is very hard to detect at times which makes all this so difficult to pin down but if you have it in your main tank again are you going to remove all the fish and fallow your main tank for 6 weeks or try other things?If the ich is back in your tank again wont it be better to leave it empty for 6 weeks again I dont blame you for not wanting to mind.

 

[Triggerfish]

if you have it in your main tank again are you going to remove all the fish and fallow your main tank for 6 weeks or try other things?

hey mark,,,the ich is in the main tank. i am thinking of trying a couple of things first as i listed. basically a last resort to try and keep the fish in there and keep the population low. however, if it gets bad like it did before, i will remove everything for minimum of 8 weeks. there will be no other approach taken.
i will treat fish with copper treatment first and then put them through hypo..
believe it or not, the parasite is still surviving in my QT with hypo for over a month now.


that's great news you are not seeing any signs of ich so far.. preventive measures are very important for you now. you must do your best to ensure it doesn't make it's way back in there.
good luck...and great job so far!!!!!

 

[plaz]

I agree with everything you said, except doing Hypo after copper (cupramine). From everything I have read, Hypo usually destroys ich... but properly dosed for the right length of time, Cupramine always does. Both treatments are very stressful to the fish. I would not do both (I'd just do the Cupramine and watch them for 6 weeks in good tank conditions).

 

[markcasto]

So from what I have been following Tjay is the only one who did hypo salinity treatment for the full 6 weeks and it worked.Is that correct or did he have some ich in the end?Seems like most of us got it back in the QT tanks in the end.

 

[tjay]

well the fish have been back in the main tank closed to two weeks now. No ich.
There was some concern that the BNT had a spot on her fin but I really dont think it was ich. I think she got an abrasion or secondary bacteria infection maybe. The spot is all but gone now and all our fish are eating great and their color is improving..
While I feel pretty sure we were successful in our quest I do not want to claim victory until the main has had the time to allow for a full ich lifecycle.
I chose hypo salinity because I understood it to be better for the fish than copper. I hate chemicals. The hypo took the color out of the fish but most of them ate good with the hypo right up until the last week when the yellow tang started looking real bad and loosing color.

In hind sight I agree with most everything I read with one exception. Given the perilous task of putting up a QT tank in reaction to an emergency I think a QT should stay up and ready to go at all times.
I washed out our emergency QT yesterday and took the 15 gallon water change from our main and refilled the QT with fresh water. I will cycle, light and equip the thing to better handle the rest of our purchases.

I will keep yall updated but yes, it appears hypo worked for me.

 

[markcasto]

In hind sight I agree with most everything I read with one exception. Given the perilous task of putting up a QT tank in reaction to an emergency I think a QT should stay up and ready to go at all times.

I totally agree with you on that score tjay if my QT was up and ready I am sure most of my fish would be alive today, and I would not have had to panic about ammonia levels and water changes.

SO if any one out there is following this thread and thinking it wont happen to me... I wish you luck your gonna need it!

 

[AquAsylum]

Back from our weekend (Dave Matthews puts on a great show, BTW) and the alert badge is still greenish, but everyone made it without me for 2 days and just had a huge lunch!

Ich spots are gone so I guess TODAY starts our long hypo haul. Strange, seems like I've already been doing this forever...

 

[plaz]

Glad everyone is doing well! Yes, I too remember thinking... it can't have been only a week, and then it can't have been only two...!!!

Hang in there, sounds like you are on track and it will be worth it in the end!

 

[water`bug]

I agree with everything you said, except doing Hypo after copper (cupramine). From everything I have read, Hypo usually destroys ich... but properly dosed for the right length of time, Cupramine always does. Both treatments are very stressful to the fish. I would not do both...

I know how hard 6 weeks of hyposalinity was on our Yellow Tang. I couldn't fathom doing both treatments. In fact, I don't think the YT could have survived even 3 days past the 6 week mark of hypo. Poor lil thing was eating but turning pale, tummy sucked in and all knotty-like.

As TJay said, it's been two weeks that they have been out of hypo and back in the main tank... the fish have been eating very well, seem healthy no visible signs of the dreaded ick and they all seem to be quite happy. For the first time (seems like MONTHS) they were being very playful today!

Quite the transformation from the QT to the Main display!

Hang in there, it DOES get better!

Took these pictures a couple of hours ago:

Again, 6 weeks seemed like "eternity." But if the 6 week hyposalinity process equates to survival of the QT fish and an "ick free" enviroment in the main tank, it was worth it's weight in corals... I mean GOLD! lol

donna in New Orleans

 

[tjay]

Now I am ready

Now I am ready

We sort of rushed into our QT tank. It had been left behind on the upgrade to the 90 and was sitting empty
so the quick set up left it looking nasty but functional. With all the fish back in the main I took time to clean and recycle the QT tank for our next purchases
Its a bit bare for now, Going to add some PVC and egg crate shelves for corals. I have new lights coming for the 90 and will move the T5's over to the QT when done

 

[markcasto]

Nice looking QT tank.I decided to move my fish in to the 20 gallon tank and clean out the 52 gallon tank in case of emergencys.The horrible brown blotches on the chromis are looking more like a fungal infection mybe from the ich dying off.I am going to treat them with some melafix this afternoon now they are in a copper free tank.
On the bright side my main tank has shown no more signs of ich so it looks like the 6 weeks being empty paid off in the end.

 

[water`bug]

On the bright side my main tank has shown no more signs of ich so it looks like the 6 weeks being empty paid off in the end.

That's awesome news! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[Triggerfish]

UPDATE

after seeing more spots on my angel and niger, i have decided to not even bother with any of the "snake oil" approaches and waste more time and money. everything has got to get out!!

Updated Plan
1. Remove ALL fish- yup even the LMB has got to go.
2. Treat in 55QT with copper sulfate(Seacure) for 3 weeks measured with Red Sea copper kit that tests for non-chelated copper.
3. After copper treatment - carbon out copper then hypo for 3 weeks.
4. Leave main tank fallow for 8 weeks - yup,,and i thought 5 weeks was tough...
5. Quarantine any inverts for min of 4 weeks.


catching the blenny & gramma is going to be difficult. i may drain 1/2 the water into plastic garbage containers to possibly make it easier.
so basically after 9 weeks of dealing with this infection,,i am just now going to begin with a full eradication attempt..there are no other options at this point..i tried to cut a few corners and the result as been as expected.
So by about the start of football season, perhaps i will be able to see some fish swim in the tank again. :rolleye1:
updates to follow.
continued luck to others...

damn,,this is going to seem like an eternity....

 

[markcasto]

Triggerfish- Sorry to hear that your going to have to get them all out again and start over thats such a downer.Well I will be watching your progress and wishing you all the best on your second attempt to get your tank ich free.I am very grateful to you for starting this thread we have all learned a great deal from this.
Good luck and best wishes.

 

[Triggerfish]

yes,,i think this thread has seen most of what "to" and "not to" do aspects of dealing with the parasite,,just filtering through it would be tough..i can summarize some of the pertinent info at some point in time.
i think besides the QT situation, i myself have covered most of the what "not to" do in trying to eradicate the problem. oh well,,it was a good "cutting corners will not work" awakening.

well,,at least i have my 3 month reef pic coming soon..still void of fish that is.

thx for the wishes..my patience will need them....

 

[Triggerfish]

ok,,that totally sucked..i am going to say right now, that is something i am not going to be able to go through again.
all fish are finally removed, had to completing take the whole tank down,,just a freakin mess.. took about 4 hours.

here is pic of tank wiped out..some of the rock was removed and placed in 32g trash bin..one had my niger wedged inside.

had to somehow put tank back together. i think i like it..what a major hassle..just had rock everywhere.
this better be it..fallow for 8 weeks and then the bastards better die off..die you ****ers die....

horrible pic,,water still cloudy but here it is..lost my large colt coral recently,,not sure what happened, just started melting away..nice one too.

off to shower the salt off...good nite...

 

[markcasto]

Well thats the hard bit done trigger now we can look forward to the parasite being wiped out for good.

8 weeks of waiting sure does suck big time but it will be worth it to have an ich free tank at last.The new arrangement looks good,like all the caves and holes.

I dont know how much difference it made in my tank but I had a small UV sterilizer running on it as well as it being fallow for those 6 weeks.

 

[water`bug]

Trigger,

The new aquascaping looks awesome! We all know just how much it sucks during the whole QT and treatment phase. The poor fish suffer probably more than we'll ever know. Good news, sounds like your plan will rid these dreaded parasites once and for all!

It kills me to read all the threads on here where people NEVER once QT their tank mates and dump anything and everything into their tanks and never have a problem. They get into their little comfort zone and think it won't happen to them. I thought it wouldn't happen to us, either. But when it does strike, so help them!

During hypo for 6 weeks, we had NO rock, NO sand just a 50g QT. I felt so sorry for the poor fishies BUT now that they are back in the 90g with new aquascaping and more of a natural habitat, the wait was well worth it. I'm not a fool to think we are totally out of danger as every time I look into the tank, I'm observing them close to see if the parasites have returned.

As mentioned previously, it's only been two weeks out of hyposalinity and I PRAY we don't have to ever put them through the process again.

We feel for you!

They are gonna be some happy little campers to come back to what you've created for them!

Very, very nice!

donna in New Orleans

 

[markcasto]

Happy to report no ich in my main tank and my chromis are getting better in the QT tank not sure how good melafix is but they seem to be improving now on the last 12ml dose they have there colour back and are feeding better at last.Hows everyone else doing?