Ich - Where to go from here

[btkrausen]

Just got my new tank up, but hadn't gotten my Q tank setup yet, and I got ich.

Tank is a 220, and now has no fish in it. I only had a few fish in it to start, and a few died from ich. The only fish I have left right now is in the Q tank with all my crabs and snails.

I was starting down the road of hypo until I was down until one fish and easily scooped him out. Where should I go from here?

Keep the tank empty for 8-9 weeks with normal salinity and put my snails/crabs back in? Or run hypo on the display...all rock was dead and started with new sand, so I won't have die off really.

I sort of want to run the tank normal, put and crabs/snails back in, and work on getting some life into the tank (not fish) for natural filtration. Planned on trying to seed with live sand or get some pods and stuff online. If I go this route, I can also culpramine my single clown while he's in the Q tank as well.

Thoughts?

 

[Sk8r]

Snails and crabs could be in the tank now: they don't get ich or contribute to its life cycle. Do not run hypo on the display. The parasite will cycle within the 8-12 weeks and, with no fish, will die out. I would suggest you use this fallow time to build up your invert population and create an interesting environment. Avoid large hermits, coral banded shrimp and green serpent stars, which are not appropriate for fish tanks, but outside that, corals, crustaceans, etc, are all ich-less.

 

[btkrausen]

Snails and crabs could be in the tank now: they don't get ich or contribute to its life cycle. Do not run hypo on the display. The parasite will cycle within the 8-12 weeks and, with no fish, will die out. I would suggest you use this fallow time to build up your invert population and create an interesting environment. Avoid large hermits, coral banded shrimp and green serpent stars, which are not appropriate for fish tanks, but outside that, corals, crustaceans, etc, are all ich-less.

Thanks for the quick response. That's exactly what I was thinking, use the 8-12 weeks to build up my population of inverts and crustaceans, like coepods, etc while letting the ich die off. I was thinking of hypo to reduce the time frame, but I can deal with either way.

Do you suggest I still "feed" the tank while its in the 8-12 week period to feed the little stuff? Should I run my lights as I don't imagine that's necessary.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Thanks for the quick response. That's exactly what I was thinking, use the 8-12 weeks to build up my population of inverts and crustaceans, like coepods, etc while letting the ich die off. I was thinking of hypo to reduce the time frame, but I can deal with either way.

Do you suggest I still "feed" the tank while its in the 8-12 week period to feed the little stuff? Should I run my lights as I don't imagine that's necessary.

Hypo won't speed up the process. The newly released parasites will die when they don't find a fish host. I assume you're going to treat the remaining fish in QT? This fish (and the QT) have ich, whether you see it or not. Hypo (or copper) will kill any inverts in your QT. Yes, feed the tank small amounts and occasionally check parameters. Inverts can't "get" ich; but they can act as a transport (as can LR, substrate, anything wet) for ich to go from one tank to another. So, start your "fallow period' timing after the last invert is introduced to the DT.

 

[snorvich]

Snails and crabs could be in the tank now: they don't get ich or contribute to its life cycle. Do not run hypo on the display. The parasite will cycle within the 8-12 weeks and, with no fish, will die out. I would suggest you use this fallow time to build up your invert population and create an interesting environment. Avoid large hermits, coral banded shrimp and green serpent stars, which are not appropriate for fish tanks, but outside that, corals, crustaceans, etc, are all ich-less.

Excellent advice except I do not support using hermit crabs as they kill snails.

 

[snorvich]

Hypo won't speed up the process. The newly released parasites will die when they don't find a fish host. I assume you're going to treat the remaining fish in QT? This fish (and the QT) have ich, whether you see it or not. Hypo (or copper) will kill any inverts in your QT. Yes, feed the tank small amounts and occasionally check parameters. Inverts can't "get" ich; but they can act as a transport (as can LR, substrate, anything wet) for ich to go from one tank to another. So, start your "fallow period' timing after the last invert is introduced to the DT.

Exactly.

 

[btkrausen]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try to get some live rock and stuff in this week to get some life into the tank after I bring the salinity back up to normal, as I had planned to hypo the display.

My last fish died today, so both my Q tank and Display are fishless. I'll run copper through my Q tank to kill anything in there that way I can possibly starting quarantining a couple fish a few weeks before the display is ready and then they can go in when DT is done with the 9 week cycle.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try to get some live rock and stuff in this week to get some life into the tank after I bring the salinity back up to normal, as I had planned to hypo the display.

My last fish died today, so both my Q tank and Display are fishless. I'll run copper through my Q tank to kill anything in there that way I can possibly starting quarantining a couple fish a few weeks before the display is ready and then they can go in when DT is done with the 9 week cycle.

A "few weeks" of copper won't do it. Ich cysts can hold on to their free-swimming offspring longer than that. You can leave the QT fishless for 8+ weeks, or empty the QT, sterilize & dry everything, and start the QT over. I'd read the stickys at the top of this forum section; a good understanding of the ich life-cycle is vital info.