Ich in tank

[billsreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9026843#post9026843 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drej424
Well, I quarantined the fish. I have tried other methods to try to get rid of the ich, so now I'll do this. Hopefully, it will work (without killing any more fish). I don't think I have to keep copper in the quarantine tank the entire time, do I? Because if the copper kills the ich on the fish and then I keep the salinity low for the entire 8 weeks in the quarantine tank, that should be enough, shouldn't it?
The corals I have are a purple mushroom, a green mushroom, 3 feather dusters, pearl bubble coral, tongue coral, green star polyps, yellow polyps, hammer coral, daisy coral, and table coral. I've been feeding my fish a mixture of pellets, veggie flakes, mysis, garlic extract and selcon. I add some plankton 2 x's per week.

Copper doesn't kill the parasite while it's on the fish, neither does any other treatment. The way the treatments work, is that after the parasite drops of the fish to reproduce is when it's vulnerable. It's at the free swimming stages that copper kills the parasite. BTW if your going with copper, I highly recomend using Cupramine from Sea Chem and testing daily to adjust the dosage as needed. The daily testing is also required of any other copper, however I find the Cupramine is more fish friendly. If you have a refractometer or lab grade hydrometer, I actually prefer hyposalinity.

For the corals, the ones with obvious feeding tentacles and mouths such as the pearl and tongue, I like to feed small pieces of shrimp and silversides a couple of times a week. Yellow polyps will do well with grated shrimp, fish and brine shrimp nauplii. The green star polyps, feather dusters and shrooms don't need any targeted foods, so don't worry about those

 

[billsreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9026196#post9026196 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DEXTER SOLIS
question: if Ich is a parasite therefore it needs a host, a fish becomes a host in states of weekness & stress. Ich cycles <>8 weeks, if 8 weeks past without a host it can pobably stay in the water columb....how do they survive if you keep your friends nice & healthy for m orethan the said cycle?

As a parasite it is more like fleas and ticks than a disease in many respects. A fish can be perfectly healthy and stress free and will still come down with ich if exposed to the parasite. It is also possible for apparently healthy fish to harbor sub-clinical infections of ich, i.e. it's there, but just not at a point that it's visible to the naked eye. It is ability of the ich to exist as a sub clinical infection that allows ich infestation to blossom in a tank that has otherwise appeared ich free and healthy for months. If there are no fish in a tank, ich can survive for a limited time in a cyst stage. After 3 weeks the ability of that cyst to reproduce has dropped drastically, after 4 it's generally, but not totally impossible. The longest documented time for cyst survival is 72 days, though in practice it seems 6 weeks is more than adequate to get past any cysts remaining viable.

 

[billsreef]

BTW the only time I've failed to cure a fish from ich in the last 20 years has been when I've tested various "reef safe" treatments. The most recent of which was the No Sick Fish stuff that failed horribly. The biggest trick in successfully curing a fish from any disease is catching it fast, before it's become too widespread and done to much damage to the fish. It's always good to keep a good eye on your fish, something like ich, that one spot will turn into 200 in a week, those 200 will turn into 4000 a week later and so on and so forth.

 

[eboonaman]

Bill.
would a uv work in long term treatment, destroying the free swimming stage ? I know it wouldn't kill all of it in one shot but say in 16 weeks theoretically as each week passes there will be less and less free swimming larva and less and less cysts?

 

[billsreef]

A UV can hold down the population, but it will never eliminate it in single tank set up.

 

[drej424]

If hyposalinity is effective and healthier for the fish, I'll go with that. What level have you found best? Also, can you recco a good hydrometer or refractometer? Thanks for all your help, everyone.

When I set the tank up, I tried to do a DSB with live sand. I mixed the crushed coral and fine sand, though, and maybe this is part of the reason the ich has such a stronghold in my tank.

 

[billsreef]

For hypo, drop the salinity down to between 1.009 and 1.010. Any higher and the ich can survive, and any lower isn't good for the fish. So you need to test daily. Any of the commonly available Automatic Temperature Compensating (ATC) refractometers I've seen are adequate, but they do need to be calibrated. Randy has instructions for making your own standards for calibration in the Chemistry Forum. As for Hydrometers, Tropic Marin makes a lab grade hydrometer that is available in some shops.

If your comming to the meeting today, I'll be there and happy to talk to you more about this if you like.