ICH treatment options for my situtation

cambo123

cambo123

New member
Okay, this is not going to be another miracle fix it for me thread. I understand and have read much of the information regarding the parasite and would like to take the steps necessary to eradicate it. I have done the wait and see thing with AEFW, and that drove me nuts!

Here is my situation, I broke down my tank two months ago from a 34 gallon cube into two 40 breeders. I did this in principle to rid myself of everything you can imagine pest wise on the coral and rock side of the hobby before I move in July. I also was hoping to have a solid QT/FRAG setup for corals as a result. Well it worked, I am now (knock on wood) AEFW, monti eating nudibranch, redbug, byropsis, bubble algae, pest anemone, free!!! While these pest were completely in control, the extra labor associated with keeping that state was extremely annoying and time consuming.

Fast forward to my current situation. I (stupidly) got a dwarf angle locally for a great deal that after 10 days seems (I think but I can't get a picture) to have ich on its fins. I at the moment do not have a QT setup for fish. I wish I could, but the reality is I have more invested in coral then in fish and I don't want to push the number of tanks with the landlord. I am trying to do this in a way that I don't have to setup a 3rd tank.

Which of the two options do you feel would be best?!

#1. Corals are 100% movable from the display to the coral QT tank which doing very well! All snails could likewise be moved. My rocks were started as a dry rock cycled from bottle bacteria. I have added additional live rock to seed Coraline. As a result, there is not an abundance of life to die off on them. Given that all coral and snails are out of the tank, is it practical to do hyposalinity in my display tank leading up to my late July move? Additional benefits of this are, there is currently no substrate and I could use my ALK dosing pump to keep the PH high.

#2. Wait until I move, catch all the fish, and set the frag tank up as a quarantine tank with hyposalinity. The only downside of this is I would be feasibly significantly stressing the fish by moving and then placing them in hypo where is with option #1 I could bring the salinity back up a few weeks post move?

Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks
 
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TTM using 5 gal buckets? I wouldn't but your angel in any of your other tanks. The bad part is you will need to keep the present tank it's in fallow for minimum 72 days and I'd venture to say better off with 90 days.
 
Hyposalinity could work, but I would be hesitant to endorse doing it in a display tank.

You could get a couple of 1 to 2 gallon plastic tanks (or "pet carrying containers") and hang them into one of your 40 breeders for doing TTM.
 
Thanks for the quick response everyone. This is something I might consider, although, would be a huge pain with the other fish. Sorry if I wasn't clear but I have 5 fish from the old system.

I have now read several threads of people in similar situations that have quarantined corals/inversts and hypo'd the tank. Usually I would be extremely hesitant but given that my live rock has limited life, I anticipate little die off and a filtrations system that could absolutely handle it if there was any.

I have some thinking to do.

Thanks all
 
So at the moment, I am going to take a cautious observation approach. While I feel this is probably ich, there are a few spots that have been there for over a week and have grown in size! I don't want to do anything drastic unless I am 100% sure I know what I am dealing with.
 
Yes, this is something I discovered in research today. In some cases they can be really hard to tell a difference. I figure if everything is gone one day, it's ich, but if it takes an additional week or so to subside then it may be lympho.
 
If it's lymphocystis, it will resolve with good water quality and diet. It's viral, so FW dips or medications will have no effect.
 
Deinonych said:
If it's lymphocystis, it will resolve with good water quality and diet. It's viral, so FW dips or medications will have no effect.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that the will drop off with a fw dip. I'll have to do some further reading I guess. Don't want to share wrong information.
 
Lymphocystis is like a cold - it goes away after certain period, whether you do something or nothing. Good water or not doesn't really matter. What matters is that the fish's immune system is strengthened (good water quality surely helps with that) to avoid new nodules to pop up.
Lymphocystis often pops up after copper treatment since copper is an immune suppressant.

More detailed info can be found here: Lymphocystis Disease in Fish
 
Update, the white spots from the original thread continue to persist. The white spot on his left pectoral fin tip disappeared the other day. It had been present approximatley 10+ days. There are also 5+ spots that IMO have grown since my original post on his left pectoral fin. His caudal fin has one larger white spot on the very tip hanging off and a few more around areas that look like very mild fin damage. The fish looks healthy and does not exhibit labored breathing or scratching against the surface. He is likewise very active, eating sparula brines, mysis, sponge based angel food, and picks at the rocks all day. To me, it is still a toss up, I could make the argument that it is ich or lympho, or even a combo of both looking at pictures. One thing that I discovered nearly the same day as this. I had an ALK overdose, causing my alk to climb from around 8 to 13.5. This may have played a part.
 
Ich cysts do not stay on a fish for 10 days and do not grow. I guess it's possible your fish has both, but what you're describing sounds more and more like lympho. As Roewer said, it's viral, so it's not "caused" by environmental factors but could be encouraged by things that weaken an immune system.

Just continue to observe. Or if you're really worried, you can do TTM and remove all doubt..
 
Update: Upon closer inspection, I am becoming more convinced this is ich looking at pictures. I am seeing several white spots that are closer to salt/sand particles on his dorsal fins and caudal fin. I am not 100% sure how I will approach this, but I think setting up my standalone frag tank as a QT tank after I move is the best option. I also have a RR 33 gallon tank that might work as well. Since my move is less then a month away, I feel ripping them out and QTing now would stress them to much.

Additionally, this will give me a chance to get the reef system in gear without fish to mess with nutrients. I have never quarantined fish and its entirely possible it was in my systems previously. I have already gone through a lot to rid my self of the coral pests. Knowing I am 100% pest free on both fronts will just make the entire experience so much easier!
 
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The TTM method seems like a great approach as I have read more about it! I was going to be putting the fish in large rubbermaids for a day or two anyway as the frag tank and reef get setup, this very naturally fits in!
 
Another update, this is almost certainly ich. Almost all spots on his pectoral fin dropped last night. I am somewhat baffled by the lifespan of this. All spots are disappearing after 10days or more. How is this possible? I also have notice what might be a spot here or there on some of the other fish. Nothing seems stressed. I will be attempting TTM after moving for piece of mind. I may also be purchasing new rock so I don't have to deal with this in my tank. I really don't want multiple tanks setup if I can avoid it.
 
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