Ich Outbreak Update

M

microlady

New member
Several months ago I had an awful ich outbreak in my 100 gallon that wiped out 6 fish. The 5 survivors went through TTM and were kept in a quarantine tank for 72 days while the display remained fishless. This method quickly cured their symptoms. I did deal with a little bit of ammonia issues due to not having a cycled quarantine (I couldn't seed from the infected display). I tried Dr. Tim's but it didn't help. Frequent water changes and Prime got me through it.

Today I am happy to report that it has been two weeks since the surviving fish have been in the display and I observe no signs of disease. The stupid solon wrasse decided to go hardwood floor surfing the other day, but that is another story. :mad2:

This is a very controversial subject, but when do you think I can safely say I am in the clear? I would like to add a few more fish (after a strict quarantine period, of course).

Thank you for all of your advice and support! I am really hoping my tank is ich free and I want to keep it that way!
 
Hopefully it's gone, but you will likely only know for sure when you add a new fish. Your current fish may just have acquired immunity to the ich that was in your system.
 
ThRoewer said:
Hopefully it's gone, but you will likely only know for sure when you add a new fish. Your current fish may just have acquired immunity to the ich that was in your system.
Click to expand...

Assuming new introductions are properly quarantined.
 
New fish are coming in from Live Aquaria on Friday. After TTM, Prazi, and 30 day quarantine, I will update you. I may try a couple of formalin baths too, but I would like to observe them first. If the ich comes back, I'm converting the tank over to freshwater because this is ridiculous. I raise freshwater angelfish, and even though I adore my reef, lately I have been enjoying that much more. :)
 
I am going to quarantine the new fish with water from the DT. If they get ich, it will show up in quarantine and not my DT again!
 
microlady said:
New fish are coming in from Live Aquaria on Friday. After TTM, Prazi, and 30 day quarantine, I will update you. I may try a couple of formalin baths too, but I would like to observe them first. If the ich comes back, I'm converting the tank over to freshwater because this is ridiculous. I raise freshwater angelfish, and even though I adore my reef, lately I have been enjoying that much more. :)
Click to expand...

The formalin bath should be the very first thing you do on all incoming fish regardless how they look or behave. It should be done right after drip acclimatization, before the fish even go into your quarantine tank.

LA (Quality Marine) had uronema in their system lately and that's something you don't want anywhere near a tank. Amyloodinium and Brooklynella are the other two parasites you want to kill before you see signs of them.

Ich on the other hand is something fish can live with and get under wrap themselves.
 
Thanks for the advice. I do not want any parasites getting into my tank again. Actually, I forgot to mention that I bought a new clownfish at the same time my original fish were in quarantine. I performed TTM and quarantined the new clown separately and added it to the display just a few days after I put my fish back in. It has not come down with anything either, so I am pretty certain I am ich free.

I bought a flame angel from the LA DD, and a potters angel and yellow tang from LA. LA has such a good reputation that I doubt they would offer a 2 week gurantee if they were sending out Uronema infected livestock. Their DD already treats the fish for parasites too.

Could I tank transfer all of them together in a 15 gallon plastic tote? I have Prime and test kits for ammonia emergencies.

Does anyone know the dosage for a malachite green/formalin bath? The med I have on hand is Quickcure and it contains both. I do not like to handle formalin.
 
microlady said:
I bought a flame angel from the LA DD, and a potters angel and yellow tang from LA. LA has such a good reputation that I doubt they would offer a 2 week gurantee if they were sending out Uronema infected livestock. Their DD already treats the fish for parasites too.
Click to expand...

Do not assume LA or DD fish are parasite free!!!!
 
LA/DD have a good reputation due to the 14 day guarantee they offer, but their fish are as sick or healthy as everyone else's.
Just before Christmas several people here reported uronema cases with freshly received Anthias form LA, so the parasite is likely still in "their" system. If the LA website says that the item ships from their "California facility" it in fact just means that it is transshipped from Quality Marine. And the "Florida facility" is ORA. No one at LA even sees those fish, let alone picks them.

Malachite green is to my information not good for reef fish and also not very effective so I stopped using medications containing it.
As for formalin, yes it is nasty stuff, but it is also the only thing that reliably kills uronema, brook and velvet. So you either get used to handle formalin or risk that some seriously nasty organisms find their way into your tank.
 
snorvich said:
Do not assume LA or DD fish are parasite free!!!!
Click to expand...

Agreed. While unintentional on LA/DD's part, many people believe that fish sourced from Diver's Den have been properly quarantined. If anything, I would call their process "selection and extended acclimation." While they do provided some medications (prazi being one), their process is by no means an adequate quarantine. I treat acquisitions from DD no differently than I do fish sourced from other vendors.

My rule is, "trust no one to quarantine but myself." It's worked out pretty well for me in the long run.
 
O.k. Thanks for the input. I will definitely quarantine them, treat with Prazi, and TTM. Should I give them a couple of formalin baths in between transfers just to be safe or just wait and observe? Should quarantine be about 6 weeks, or 4 weeks after TTM. Sorry if I missed this in a sticky.
 
microlady said:
O.k. Thanks for the input. I will definitely quarantine them, treat with Prazi, and TTM. Should I give them a couple of formalin baths in between transfers just to be safe or just wait and observe? Should quarantine be about 6 weeks, or 4 weeks after TTM. Sorry if I missed this in a sticky.
Click to expand...

Formalin baths protect against more serious parasites so definitely a recommended addition to the TTM protocol.
 
microlady said:
I do not like to handle formalin.
Click to expand...

Its really not that big of a deal to handle formalin, i just put a pair of gloves on take the amount i need in a syringe and then just close the bottle, does not take me more than 2 minutes. Just be extra careful not to spill.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Tamara Marshall
Comprehensive Article About Black Ich- Manta Systems Article
Replies
0
Views
84
Tamara Marshall
Tamara Marshall
Tamara Marshall
Comprehensive Article About Black Ich- Manta Systems Article
Replies
0
Views
122
Tamara Marshall
Tamara Marshall
D
Coral beauty Sick - how do i treat
Replies
3
Views
1K
leebca
L
K
Fallow period
Replies
4
Views
714
Kirino
K
Tamara Marshall
๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ก๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐€๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ฅ๐ž ๐€๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐…๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐š๐ฅ ๐ˆ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ- ๐Œ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐š ๐’๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐€๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ฅ๐ž
Replies
0
Views
102
Tamara Marshall
Tamara Marshall
Back
Top