OK so heres the situation. I have a 220 gal reef and im sad to report that ive been battling a very minor case of ick since i hadded a flame angel about 2 weeks ago. now by minor case i mean like 5 maybe 6 white spots on each of my flame angel and wrasse. now i only have 2 other fish in the tank and they are firefish and they are the only ones showing signs of rubbing on the sand bed. but no spots at all , all eating very well on garlic soaked food and my angel and wrasse pick at my algae all day long. ok so basically everynight all the ick goes away basically i suspect my 5 cleaner shrimp actually doing their job. then throughout the day another few spots will appear and then dissapear again everyday, maybe 1 spot will make it 2 days maybe 3 but besides that every morning they are clear of spots. so do you think i should catch my angel and wrasse and take them out and hypo them? and second there is absolutely no way that i could catch the firefish so what problems do you see this having? that is if they continue to not show any white spots. I plan on not adding anymore fish untill the firefish dont show any more signs off ick after 50 days now also around the begining of the year i also had a minor ick outbreak in the same tank i didint do anything besides garlic feeding and the ick went away completely and i didnt add any new fish for over 2 months so i think that the flame brought it in with him. I also will be adding a uv eventually to help but being that i cant get the firefish out of the tank im hopeing they can fight it off and the tank will be ick free again just like what happened before. so let me know what you all think
Ich pros help
- Thread starter REEFRHEAD
- Start date
andrewsmart
New member
unless you get all the fish out of there and treat with hypo and leave the main tank empty of fish for 6-8 weeks you will always have ich in this tank.
your fish may well not die but any stress and you will probably get an outbrake.
try and get all the fish out and q/t any further additions after that.
your fish may well not die but any stress and you will probably get an outbrake.
try and get all the fish out and q/t any further additions after that.
ya I personally agree but it is impossible to catch 2 fire fish that live in the center bottom rock of the whole support system of the reef tank, so thats not happeneing. so basically your telling me even if my firefish dont have any ick on them or anything the ick can still live in the tank? how is my question first off? i do understand that if the firefish are infected them it will be in the tank but i figured if i waited till they didint show any signs then i should be ok after months. so unless you could suggest anyway of catching these 2 lightning fast fish then by all means help me out 
andrewsmart
New member
would they fall for a fish trap. check the diy section.
unlikley i know.
from my understanding it is extremely unlikley the tank will ever go ich free with fish in it.
do a search for ich and look at paul b's thread.
he has ich in his tank has had for 30 years and still has a sucessful reef.
good q/t to make sure fish are the picture of health before introduction may help.
this is a hard one but i only know 1 way for you to be sure.
let me know how you go with it.
unlikley i know.
from my understanding it is extremely unlikley the tank will ever go ich free with fish in it.
do a search for ich and look at paul b's thread.
he has ich in his tank has had for 30 years and still has a sucessful reef.
good q/t to make sure fish are the picture of health before introduction may help.
this is a hard one but i only know 1 way for you to be sure.
let me know how you go with it.
No way would my firefish go near a fish trap. i have a crazy qt area that is currently being set up as we speak. its a 55 gal for big fish and lots of fish also when all the fish have ich or something its big enough for even a tang for a little while. plus i have a 20 gal and 2 10 gals that im also setting up the 20 gal for smaller fish for hypo and a 10 gal just for copper incase of bad outbreaks and another 10 gal for small single fish that are healthy and just need inspection. i need multiple qts because im always buying fish before another fish is ready so i need multiple tanks now if the fish develops ick then they just go right into one of the other tanks with fish alrdy in hypo or copper depending.
Paul B
Premium Member
Reefrhead. I would do just what you are doing now, nothing.
I assume you diden't quarantine so ich is in your tank. If you are lucky, you can sometimes run a tank with ich present and as was said, if the fish get stessed for some reason the ich could infect them. For some reason, some tanks (mine included) do not get a full blown infection. I am leaning towards different types of paracites but I am not yet sure. Your cleaner shrimp will not do anything for ich but I also like them and always have them.
Watch your fish closely for signs of head shaking rapidly which means ich is on their gills. If that happens I would catch the fish and treat with copper. If the ich paracites are only a few and disappear at night, they are falling off the fish to multiply and will keep re-infecting the fish. But as I said, for some reason, sometimes the paracite does very little harm.
Of course if it gets worse you will have to catch everything no matter how hard it is and treat either with copper or hypo, then leave the tank with no fish for six weeks but for now I would do as you are. Keep feeding them well and don't let anything stressful happen like a drastic temp change or a change in salinity. I also would not introduce any new fish until you don't see any signs of ich for a few weeks.
You really should quarantine even though you have ich in there as a new strain of ich could easily wipe out your tank.
Good luck.
Paul
I assume you diden't quarantine so ich is in your tank. If you are lucky, you can sometimes run a tank with ich present and as was said, if the fish get stessed for some reason the ich could infect them. For some reason, some tanks (mine included) do not get a full blown infection. I am leaning towards different types of paracites but I am not yet sure. Your cleaner shrimp will not do anything for ich but I also like them and always have them.
Watch your fish closely for signs of head shaking rapidly which means ich is on their gills. If that happens I would catch the fish and treat with copper. If the ich paracites are only a few and disappear at night, they are falling off the fish to multiply and will keep re-infecting the fish. But as I said, for some reason, sometimes the paracite does very little harm.
Of course if it gets worse you will have to catch everything no matter how hard it is and treat either with copper or hypo, then leave the tank with no fish for six weeks but for now I would do as you are. Keep feeding them well and don't let anything stressful happen like a drastic temp change or a change in salinity. I also would not introduce any new fish until you don't see any signs of ich for a few weeks.
You really should quarantine even though you have ich in there as a new strain of ich could easily wipe out your tank.
Good luck.
Paul
ok.. So Im gonna catch the angel and wrasse and cure them then i guess ill try to catch the firefish but this seems impossible to me. the only thing i could think of was to only put the food in the trap not feed other wise then they will eventually have to go in there right??? yes I try to keep things as stable as possible thats why i like the big 55 gallon for a hospital but i have to deal with these multiple smaller ones for new fish addition untill quarentine is done, I should also add i do have a couple other tanks so i have to add fish to them as well so its difficult to have a open qt or hospital tank which i have 2 of both
complexbooger
In Memoriam
i run a IWFAC Tank (Ich With Fish and Coral), for about 3 yrs now. Sailfin tang, clowns, chromis, wrasse, and some others. Unfortunately once i did not QT, and caught Ich, but only with 2 or so fish. my tang has got ich, and now my new velvet wrasse has about 10 spots. i run a 125g with plenty of rock, no way i can come close to catching my fish.
Aslong as they stay fed, no major changes in water param. i wont see a spot of ich for months. i havent lost a fish (due to visible signs of ich) for the past yr. but even not seeing spots for over 3 months at a time the ich still lives.
I used to run a UV but an unfortunate episode btw my Rat and my Cats knocked it over and smashed the quarts. i find a difference in water clearity but nothing much on my ich. maybe it kept it at bay.
i agree with Paul. do nothing.
I wish you luck with your tank.
=JonBlazes
Aslong as they stay fed, no major changes in water param. i wont see a spot of ich for months. i havent lost a fish (due to visible signs of ich) for the past yr. but even not seeing spots for over 3 months at a time the ich still lives.
I used to run a UV but an unfortunate episode btw my Rat and my Cats knocked it over and smashed the quarts. i find a difference in water clearity but nothing much on my ich. maybe it kept it at bay.
i agree with Paul. do nothing.
I wish you luck with your tank.
=JonBlazes
thanks for the advise. i am going to take the angel and wrasse out which will be easy but i am going to have a problem with the firefish but we will see how hard its going to be and how sneaky i have to be .. wish me luck on that one and ill let eveyrone know how it went. oh and by the way the formalin dips worked magic of the brook
.. wish me luck on that one and ill let eveyrone know how it went. oh and by the way the formalin dips worked magic of the brook ya i hear that then you hafta get super paranoid and qt your corals and snails and everything. sounds crazy i know but alot of us do it. ya im goign to catch those fihs one way or another. im goign to try to just feed them in the trap and if they dont go in it then too bad tomorrows another day.
Mac Inger
Member
Which is fine if you started with a tankfull of corals and a full stock of fish. But qt-ing every snail, fish and frag for 6 weeks until you have fully populated your tank as you desire will take forever.
Oh well, right now, the ich has dropped off my fish and they seem to be fine (I have a UV on (maybe it helps a bit) and ) see how it goes. At some point though i would like to have a parasite free tank.
please keep this thread alive with updates
btw: i have two firefish too. Man mine are two scared little buggers. I barely see them at all. Mine would probably starve then go inside a trap. Hehehe sorry for being so pessimistic.
good luck
Oh well, right now, the ich has dropped off my fish and they seem to be fine (I have a UV on (maybe it helps a bit) and ) see how it goes. At some point though i would like to have a parasite free tank.
please keep this thread alive with updates
btw: i have two firefish too. Man mine are two scared little buggers. I barely see them at all. Mine would probably starve then go inside a trap. Hehehe sorry for being so pessimistic.
good luck
ya im also worried that my firefish would drather starve then go into a trap, but we will see what happens. and yes i hear what your saying on the full stock thing it will be soo wierd with my huge tank and no fish for 2 months. but it is totally worth it for me, and im planning on adding all the hermits and snails that i should need atleast for a while so i wont have to worry about introducing new parasites, except on the corals which im still working on my coral qt tank
BTW: i also will have about 12 fish in qt all together so when they are all done my tank will be nice and populated and from then on it will be much easier with only like 1 or 2 fish and 1 or 2 tanks to worrie about in qt
BTW: i also will have about 12 fish in qt all together so when they are all done my tank will be nice and populated and from then on it will be much easier with only like 1 or 2 fish and 1 or 2 tanks to worrie about in qt
Similar threads
