ich treatment options

[SaltandPepper]

I've had my 14 gallon biocube running for 3 months, and I've started to lose my fish one-by-one. I noticed they would get the white spots one day and disspear the next. My last of 3 fish is on the decline and I wanted to find out what would be the best way to eliminate the parasites without destroying the established life. Do I drop the salinity and will this harm the corals? I'm pretty lost bc none of my previous tanks experienced ich.

About the tank:
14 gallon biocube
Weekly water changes, feed the tank everyother day
Fish:
One lonely clown
Inverts:
Various snails + crabs
Cleaner shrimp
Corals:
Few cloves
Hammer
Frogspawn
Gsp
Kenya trees

 

[TriggerDude]

IMO QT your clown and use hypo as the treatment, copper if you know what your doing(not a big fan of copper!!)..If im not mistaken, ICH cannot live without a host (host being fish only) QT your clown for 4-6 weeks and hope for the best..leave your BC fishless for the same time period and the ICH will die out as it does not have a host to live on... feed your coral/inverts as you normally do and everything should be OK...

 

[SaltandPepper]

Thanks for the input. As I type, my nassarius snails are swarming the clown as it didn't make it thru the night.
So 4-6 weeks without a fish host, should kill off the parasite? Should I continue to do regular water changes or just slow down the water changes to every two weeks or less?

 

[TriggerDude]

Yes continue everything as you normally would. Make sure the tank is fallow ( fishless) for a minimum of 4 week, 6 to be safe and you will be ok. Another thing, I have the biocube uv sterilizer on my biocube, if you have one run it!!!..

 

[TriggerDude]

Also what's your parameters like?

 

[bucky1168]

I second what TriggerDude said. The only difference I would suggest is leave the DT fishless for 8 weeks to be sure to give the "Ich" cycle to end. I have heard of much more success with this given the extra time even though a typical ich cycle is 4 weeks. This is incase you have some stubborn ich in your system. Just my opinion.

Jim

 

[Orcrone]

I have to agree with Bucky. 8 weeks should be enough time for all ich parasites to die. Four weeks would probably not be enough, maybe six, but there's nothing wrong with being somewhat conservative with ich.

 

[davidwillis]

I was pointed to this quote, which lets you know the odds of all the parasites dieing in a fish only tank.

"I found that 6 weeks would give you the odds of about 99% success. That is, 1 in a 100 would still have a living Marine Ich parasite in the fishless tank.

At about 8 weeks, the odds are above 99.9% or less than 1 in a 1000 that there would be any living parasite in the fishless tank.

As far as research has found, the odds are about 100% or very close to that number, that there would be no living parasite in the fishless tank, when the tank is fishless for no less than 12 weeks.

I have heard of tanks still having parasites at or below 6 weeks, but so far have not heard of anyone having identified and confirmed living parasites in fishless tanks at 8 weeks, though there is a very small chance.

The assumptions with all this 'data' is that the tank remains active -- normal tropical temperatures, being fed, biological filter running, lighting as usual, etc." -- (Lee Birch)

 

[TriggerDude]

after reading up alittle, i agree with the above, 8 weeks would be a much safer road to take..

 

[SaltandPepper]

Thanks for all the responses. I finally have had time to test my water.
Ph 8.4
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitirite 0ppm
nitrate 0ppm