Ich wiping out my tank, what now? HELP!

[ultimate125]

over the past few days I've been slowly losing my livestock due to Ich...I'm down to 3 fish now. I dont know what to do...?
should I do a large water change, start over, wait?

how long will Ich live in a system?

any help or suggestions are appreciated!

 

[dones20]

if the system is fish only i would medicate with copper safe but before this i would do a 50% water change and then wait a few days and see what happens. the most important thing when diagnosing a disease is getting to the main form of it wheather it be stress from fish harassment or water quality amonias, nitrites, nitrates ect ect... if it keeps progressing and you have nothing to loose i would dose with copper if its a FOWLR. i have ran my qt tank wich is a 60 gallon oceanic with live rock and a 2 inch sand bed with copper running continuisly with no problems i even have blue leg hermits red leg hermits and a pair of cleaner shrimps with no ill affect and all my fish that go in and come out or have an out break go in and are perfictely fine to this day just MO

 

[kevin2000]

The only sure method of having an ich free tank is to QT the fish and treat with either hyposalinity or copper - you then must leave the ST without fish for 5-6 weeks (ich needs a fish to perpetuate its life cycle and w/o fish its naturally dies off).

Placing copper in your show tank is not something I would recommend.

 

[dones20]

even then there is still a chance that ick is still in the system it can be living of of something else in the tank

 

[dones20]

even then there is still a chance that ick is still in the system it can be living of of something else in the tank.. im just curiouse as to why you would not treat a fish only system with copper???

 

[kevin2000]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13626254#post13626254 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dones20
even then there is still a chance that ick is still in the system it can be living of of something else in the tank

Ich require a fish to perpetuate their life cycle - if you keep fish out of your system for about 6 weeks ich should naturally die off.

Ich naturally falls off of the fish within a week and falls to the bottom of the tank where it produces more ich within about 28 days ... if the hatched ich do not quickly find a fish they die off.

 

[kevin2000]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13626260#post13626260 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dones20
im just curiouse as to why you would not treat a fish only system with copper???

Copper is generally avoided by people who have reef tanks as well as fowl tanks. Most of the critters/infauna that inhabit your live rock and live sand including your CUC won't tolerate copper. Further - certain coppers are known to bind themselves to calcium carbonate where they can subsequently leach back into the water column. As such you may never be able to use that live rock or live sand again if you are considering adding inverts (corals, anemones etc.)

 

[Stuart60611]

Another reason not to use copper in the display is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain propper copper levels. The rock and substrate absorb and then leach out the copper making the copper levels fluctuate substantially either creating a too toxic level of copper and killing your fish or not a high enough level of copper to be effective for treatment.

 

[dones20]

ive never had a problem im my 60 qt, copper always gets em and like i said the tank has around 50 lbs of live rock and about a 2 inch sand bed no problems curing and maintaing a healthy fish i have had a conspic angel a regal angel achilles and black tang that have all been in this system before i entroduced to dp and they were all fine as of right now i have a moorish idol and chrysurus angel in there and the idol broke out with ick so i redosed the copper and in 2 days the ick was gone it has been 2 weeks with no ick and all is well for both.... you do have a point about making it harder to control or keep the copper levels stable though but as stated above i have never had a problem.....

 

[kevin2000]

You should note that copper does not kill ich while its on the fish .. as such your redosing copper had nothing to do with the ich detaching from the fish. Ich naturally drop off the fish within a week .. often 2-3 days.

 

[dones20]

ok.... and your telling me this because....... i never once said that ^ anyways... and yes i know that the only way to kill the ick is when its in its free swiming stage AKA(TOMITES). when the ick is on the fish or its in the (trophont) stage there are no meds you can administer that will kill it once the ick falls off the fish it will incapsulate itself and reproduce into dauughter cells or (tomonts), but even in this stage it is still not treatable its not untill if hatches that it will be killed by the copper. and yes it naturally take about 48 hrs to detach from its host..