Ich

C

Cheeselady

New member
So I have Ich.

I recently added a Royal Gramma I acquired along with some live rock from another reefer. Everything seemed to be going well until ~1 week ago when the Gramma began hiding more and avoiding food. Eventually a saw him rubbing up against rocks and concluded it was ich (also can see white spots). I'm pretty sure over feeding kicked this off. I have started using frozen food and got my parameters out of whack.

I set up an emergency quarantine tank last night - its 10 gallons. I added a dose of nitrifiying bacteria and a dose of copper medication and added the Gramma. He was a beast to catch. I had to remove most of my rock in the main tank to get him, I'm hoping I didn't damage my corals and inverts too much.....

There are still fish in the main tank - two clowns, one blue goby and one scooter blenny. None are showing clear symptoms. The goby might have spots but I can't quite tell. I'm working to get the parameters back in line.

Should I move ALL the fish to quarantine? Max tank size I have on hand is a 20 and I only have parts enough to run either the 10 or the 20. How long should I wait before moving fish back to main tank?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, ALL fish need to be moved out of the DT. You need your DT to go fallow for 72-75 days depending on some people's beliefs. Be careful with certain fish and using copper. I know some kinds of fish do not handle it well.
Good luck
 
75 days??!?!?!?!? Yikes!

IDK if I can cram that many fish in a 20 gallon for 2+ months.... And I'd be worried about the blenny - my refugium is well stocked with pods but I'm not sure what I'll feed him in QT....
 
Eh, IDK WatDatThing I'm going to chalk it up to my own inexperience. Around the same time I got the gramma I got rock from another reefer and a blue goby for yet another. All things bought on the cheap for various reasons.

It think it is quite likely ich was in at least one of those tanks but controlled. I let my parameters get bad and - bam - it cropped up.

I'll take a look at the petco sale but it's been my experience that the $ a gallon thing only applies to the smaller tanks. I'm also not sure I've got a place to set up a tank >20 gallons.....
 
You have to bite the bullet and rid the DT of the Ick parasite and that can only be done by removing the hosts (your fish) and letting it go throught the rest of the life cycles. There will be parasites at various stages of the life cycle and thus the 72 day NO fish in the tank period. I would set up a QT tank and have two tanks for TTM (12 days)after which they would go into the QT for 60 days. This eliminates the need to treat them with a poison (cooper).

It's a big project and a big commitment, I know.

A nother alternative is to leave them in the DT and do the Hypo method for treating Ick in the DT, but all inverts need to be removed.

Do some research on TTM and Hypo. There are various stickies scattered about regarding dealing with Ick.
 
I also learnt my lesson to TTM all new fish from LFS or from experienced reefers.
I am also considering quarantining new coral for 72 days to ensure no ich parasites enter my DT.
 
Ok now I'm second guessing my self how can I tell the difference between velvet and ich?
The fish is not covered in spots like some of the web pic but not really dusty either???

He's clearly rubbing up against rocks trying to get clean.

The medication I have says it treats velvet too - is there any difference in the course of treatment?
 
The only "medication" known to cure ich is copper. Anything else is snake oil and will not work.

There are other ways to "control" the outbreak if QTing your fish is not a viable option. Although I would strongly suggest not going this route, it is an option.

Ich of all the marine diseases is one your fish can live with quite happily.
 
Well he looking spottier - and weaker too maybe. I'm not sure he's going to make it. He's been on QT with Cu for 24 hours so far
 
I make have messed up - we'll see what happens. I just found out that the water conditioner I used in the QT tank (because I didn't have any RO/DI on hand) contains a reducing agent. This apparently changes the copper from Cu2+ to Cu which is much more toxic - I'm glad I haven't moved the asymptomatic fish to QT yet.

On the other hand my API Cu test kit registers 0ppm Cu in the QT tank. Not sure of this is due to the copper reduction.

Fishy still alive as of 10AM I'll bring home DI water today and replace the QT water and redose. finger crossed.
 
A couple thoughts on the copper.

The copper dosage needs to be ramped up slowly to the therapeutic level and maintained. If the therapeutic level is not maintained then there is a good chance the treatment will fail.

Multiple testings a day is advisable.

If your top off water is not medicated then it could lower the copper level in the tank.

Do Not use prime to control ammonia with copper in the tank, it will cause a toxic soup to form.

While using copper it is not uncommon for fish to become lethargic or lose their appetite.

just a few things off the top of my head. Good luck
 
Well Fishy is still alive, he's quite the trooper! I went a head and changed 100% of the water in QT tank - this time NO conditioner.

He's still not eating and hides up in a castle I put in there 100% of the time. Still vigorous enough to try to avoid being netted but he hasn't eaten anything for several days now.

Cu concentration still measures 0ppm on my API kit - debating what to do about that. I've followed the instructions exactly so I'm wary about adding more....
 
I'm a bit surprised but Fishy is starting to look a bit.... perky.... He's not great but he's moving around a but more and doing his Fishy best to glare at me from inside his castle. Maybe if I'm lucky I can get him to take some food today.

I went ahead and got a cheap 29 gal for the whole crew - I wasn't going to if the gramma died. Once I get this thing up and running I'll move all the fish over for treatment and let the DT go fallow. For 75 days. Sigh.

On the plus side now I have a spare tank to set up a cichlid tank at work....
 
homer1475 said:
The only "medication" known to cure ich is copper. Anything else is snake oil and will not work.

There are other ways to "control" the outbreak if QTing your fish is not a viable option. Although I would strongly suggest not going this route, it is an option.

Ich of all the marine diseases is one your fish can live with quite happily.
Click to expand...

Chloroquine phosphate works well on ich, so do formalin, and methelyn blue. However only CP will kill the ich in the fish. Copper and none of the others will. They work by killing the parasite in the water column.

Oh, and there are studies being done using peroxide to kill ich, velvet, and other parasites as well since the above chemicals can't be used in farmed fish meant for human consumption.
 
Well I had my first fatality yesterday :-(

Smaller orange clownfish had started to show symptoms but the big QT wasn't quite set up. So he remained in the DT for a few days after symptoms appeared. I got him moved over the big QT 2 days ago and all seemed fine with his and the larger clown. Sadly however, yesterday evening he started swimming frantically then floating upside down then swimming again. With in an hour he was gone.

All other fish moved to QT at this point though and DT is set for going fallow. Fingers crossed.
 
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