Ich Thread!!

[Reeftanks6]

Hello everybody my name is Tyler. I have been in the hobby for almost 5 years. But i seem to always have problems with ich. I dont know why. I have an uncle who also has a saltwater tank. Never had ich show up in his tank. I dont know what i am doing wrong and why the ich is popping up in my tank. All of my parameters are fine everything reads zero. That needs to be zero. My question's are.

How can i prevent ich from happening?

How does ich develop in a tank?

What should i do as soon as i see ich?


This ich problem has gone on and of for a year in my hobby experience and i just dont know how to stop the ich from coming into my tank. Like i said my uncle's tank has never shown any ich. Please help i will take all your advice and will take it in so i can pass it on to other's that have this problem. Once again i will really appreciate your responses. Thank you, Tyler

 

[Jerry W]

There are so many threads on ich. It is an obligate parasite that is introduced via an infected fish (or some other material from an infected tank, depending on which stage of the life cycle it is in.) It does not simply develop in a closed system. It needs a fish host to survive, and without said host, will die off. It is treatable and preventable. Reliable treatments include copper and hyposalinity. Prevention is best accomplished through quarantine of each new fish you purchase for a minimum of three weeks to observe for symptoms. The life cycle is approximately 28 days (give or take). Your uncle has likely been lucky not to have had a problem. Somewhere along the lione, you introduced the parasite to your system and now it's there until you take steps to treat it. It is weakening your fishes immune function and at some point may start taking a toll. Some fish seem to be able to stave off a full blown outbreak. Set up a good quarantine tank to treat your current fish, and then use it for any newcomers. This is simply my working knowledge of the problem and I've dealt with this a couple of times in my 10+ years. Don't waste your money on the so called reef safe cures. Most are garbage and won't work. I've used both copper and hypo (my preference) with outstanding results, and quarantine religiously.
hth.

 

[deadcpu]

sorry that I hijack your post.
What is the recommend copper product you use to treat your fish? and what is your suggest procedure of hyposalanity and copper treatment. I have 20 fishes in my tank. Should I put all of them in the same QT tank? How long should I wait before I put all the fish back into DT? Should 1 month of wait with temperature raise to 90 degree is enough for the ich to complete its cycle?
Thanks,
Olivier

 

[deadcpu]

sorry that I hijack your post.
What is the recommend copper product you use to treat your fish? and what is your suggest procedure of hyposalanity and copper treatment. I have 20 fishes in my tank. Should I put all of them in the same QT tank? How long should I wait before I put all the fish back into DT? Should 1 month of wait with temperature raise to 90 degree is enough for the ich to complete its cycle?
Thanks,
Olivier

 

[Reeftanks6]

Thank you Jerry W. I mean this is what i am thinking of doing. BUy a small tank like 20g and have a heater some flow and a little hang-on filter for the qt. One question i have is what will happen when the fish has ich in the qt and when its not on him anymore because i treated it. Cant the ich come back and go into the main display? Also what should i use when i have ich in my qt? Or whenever

 

[Reeftanks6]

dadcpu it is totally ok. I am fine with that. I am sure there is someone out there that can help with this. I like my threads that i start to have a lot of questions.

 

[Jerry W]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12536082#post12536082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reeftanks6
Thank you Jerry W. I mean this is what i am thinking of doing. BUy a small tank like 20g and have a heater some flow and a little hang-on filter for the qt. One question i have is what will happen when the fish has ich in the qt and when its not on him anymore because i treated it. Cant the ich come back and go into the main display? Also what should i use when i have ich in my qt? Or whenever

A 20 gallon is a good size. A small powerhead for flow, heater and hang on filter are good. You can also use a simple sponge filter. The purpose of the QT is to treat fish that might already be ill, and to observe new fish for illness before placing them in the main tank. With ich, any fish exposed, whether or not they show symptoms, must be treated. If you have a tank full of sick fish, they either all must be removed to a QT, or, if using hyposalinity, be treated in the main tank, after removing any inverts and live rock. Copper treatment must be done only in a QT. Never use copper in a display tank. Once the illness is effectively cured, the fish can then be place back in the DT. If the treatment was done properly, there should not be a recurrence. To be safe, the DT should remain fallow (w/o any fish) for 6 weeks. This allows ample time for the parasite to die off completely. Rush the process, and you risk reinfecting the fish. Any new fish should then be properly quarantined to ensure they are healthy before adding them to the DT.

 

[Jerry W]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12530570#post12530570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by deadcpu
sorry that I hijack your post.
What is the recommend copper product you use to treat your fish? and what is your suggest procedure of hyposalanity and copper treatment. I have 20 fishes in my tank. Should I put all of them in the same QT tank? How long should I wait before I put all the fish back into DT? Should 1 month of wait with temperature raise to 90 degree is enough for the ich to complete its cycle?
Thanks,
Olivier

With 20 fish, you might be better to treat the display tank with hyposalinity. Cramming them all into a smaller system might be counterproductive. I like hyposalinity over copper. It's safer. Most teleost fish tolerate it very well. Drop the salinity over 24-48 hours by doing a series of small water changes. You should hit a target of 14 ppt salinity or 1.009 sg. Fish should be kept in hyposaline conditions for three weeks AFTER all symptoms disappear. If there is no recurrence of any symptom, slowly raise the salinity back to nsw levels over the course of a week. Fish tolerate rapid reductions in salinity but not a rapid rise. You need to monitor your pH carefully as this can drop in lower salinity. You also need to remove any inverts as they won't tolerate the procedure. Live rock should also be removed. The drop in salinity will kill off a good deal of the microfauna in LR. This can cause your parameters to fluctuate, and further compromise the fish. Raising the temp to 90 would be bad. Low 80's maybe. This only accelerates the life cycle but doesn't kill off the parasite.

 

[RumLad]

Re: Ich Thread!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12527032#post12527032 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reeftanks6
Hello everybody my name is Tyler. I have been in the hobby for almost 5 years. But i seem to always have problems with ich. I dont know why. I have an uncle who also has a saltwater tank. Never had ich show up in his tank. I dont know what i am doing wrong and why the ich is popping up in my tank. All of my parameters are fine everything reads zero. That needs to be zero. My question's are.

How can i prevent ich from happening?

How does ich develop in a tank?

What should i do as soon as i see ich?


This ich problem has gone on and of for a year in my hobby experience and i just dont know how to stop the ich from coming into my tank. Like i said my uncle's tank has never shown any ich. Please help i will take all your advice and will take it in so i can pass it on to other's that have this problem. Once again i will really appreciate your responses. Thank you, Tyler

Tyler,
I cannot believe you have started yet another thread asking for help with this ich problem. Are you looking for some magic piece of advice that will make your DT ich free once and for all? It is not going to happen.

Take the advice that has been given to you numerous times over the past 4 months and ACT on it. Just get it done, do it, get to work, geterdone blah, blah, blah.

You say that you are going to take the advice, but yet so far you have done nothing but watch fish die. Please, please, strip down the 37 and start the hypo process this weekend for all of your fish's health.

 

[RumLad]

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

You MUST read both of those links and follow the advice given. Start tonight. You know it's the right thing to do.

 

[ToxicPoison]

Just to further hammer the point home, I agree 110% with Rumlad. I seem to keep stumbling upon your threads, and they're always repetitive.

Don't say you don't know why you keep getting ich. You KNOW why you keep getting ich. You need to take the proper steps to completely rid your system of ich. That means treating fish that don't "look like they have ich". If it was in your tank, it probably has ich.

Also, another point you should be aware of: I've found RC is a fairly small community. Yes, it has thousands and thousands of members. However, theres a small subset of regulars who do an excellent job of helping people out and are fairly knowledgeable and chime in on most threads. You've had quite a few of these regulars on your threads, and I'm afraid you're getting a reputation as "that guy". If you don't start following people's advice, I'm afraid you're gonna start getting less and less responses from people who know what you're talking about.

 

[Reeftanks6]

Thank you jerry w. This is what i am going to do. I already have a filter, heater, and a pump for my 20 i just need the tank. I will take 20g from my old tank and let it sit for 6 weeks because i am sure there is ich in there still. Then i will start to add fish again.

 

[RumLad]

Tyler,
How is the QT coming along?