Ick Issues

[andrewatch]

I am having major ick issues, I have a reef tank with a blue tang, oscellaris clown, 2 damsels and a magenta dottyback. I got the tang about 4 weeks ago and he got ich after a week in the tank.

Since then I have raised the water temp to 80 F, lowered salinity to 1.021, and have been dosing RXP parasite treatment.

The tang seems to be getting better then worse again until this week when the ich spread to all fish except one damsel and then my dottyback died.:sad2:

What can I do??? I may try and set up a hospital tank this weekend and catch the fish, any reccomendations.

Also tested water last night

nitrates- 10 ppm
nitrites- o ppm
Ph- 7.5 (low but I boosted it with kent dkh boost)
Ammonia- 0.25

 

[andrewatch]

Sorry also forgot to mention all fish are eating well, tang gets seaweed in a veggie clip and i feed the whole tank flake once a day with mysis once a week. They all eat lots of food

 

[iceman79]

No choice you have to isolate your fish or there all gonna die

 

[steelersfan]

IMO, you should move the fish to a hospital tank and start the copper treatment. You can either do a copper treatment or hyposalinity treatment. The copper treatment is easier, IMO.
As far as the display tank, it needs to remain fallow (without fish) for a minimum of 8 weeks, but I would recommend 10 weeks to be safe.

 

[wooden_reefer]

In a situation like this the issue is always ammonia in QT during treatment.

To eradicate ich requires eight weeks of treatment for ALL the fish. So is water change and/or Amquel for eight weeks in QT quite necessary?

It will be truly a great ordeal, but perhaps this is what you should do.

If such schedule is really too burdensome, you can do the follows:

Treat all fish for about a week so that they are no longer at imminent risk of death and return them to the ich infested tank. Just to prevent them from dying.

Now, early as possible , use the seed and waste method to cycle, in a separate container, a medium intended for QT now. Better yet use the wet-dry setup. Such a cycle will take only about three weeks.

Before the end of the cycle, your fish may not may not be dangerously infested again. You may have to treat again, likely just one more time, and return them to the same ich infested water.

After three weeks, your cycle will have completed and you can then use the cycled medium to start treating ALL fish continuosly for eight weeks to eradicate ich, and allow the DT to be fishless for the same duration.

 

[downhillbiker]

wooden reefer: does copper kill the bacteria in QT tank? i was always afraid that it wouldn't matter if it had biological, because copper would kill bacteria and you would still have to do water changes.

 

[wooden_reefer]

wooden reefer: does copper kill the bacteria in QT tank? i was always afraid that it wouldn't matter if it had biological, because copper would kill bacteria and you would still have to do water changes.

Literature (old?) from Coppersafe states that initial application decreases nitrification by 20%, until copper resistant strain of nitrification bacteria develops.

I use straight copper. At 0.3 ppm metallic Cu, I have never detected any problem.

A 20% initial reduction can often be handled with just restrictive feeding.

BTW, this is a key factor. The whole idea that eight weeks of QT against ich does not drive an aquarist mad with water change rests on this fact, at least before the advent of hypo treatment.

 

[1geo]

Are you sure your fish have Ich or do they have Brooklynella? To tell them apart you have to take a tissue sample and examine it under a microscope. The treatment of choice for Ich is copper but copper will not cure Brook. For Brook you have to use 37% Formalin. Formalin will also cure Ich. So if you are treating for Ich and your fish are not getting better they may have Brook. To treat with Formalin you give your fish Formalin baths. Where you put 1 cc of 37% Formalin (Formaldehyde) in 1 gal of water and dip your fish for a minimum of 45 minutes up to 60 minutes. You do this five times once every other day after 5 dips your fish are rid of Ich and Brook. I also put Formalin in the QT tank. I put 1 cc to 10 gals of water every day during the period I give the baths. Formaldehyde evaporates out of the water within two hours and is not accumulative. It does deplete the oxygen in the water so you need vigorous aeration with air stones in the bath water. Do not use Formalin on fish that have open wounds, it will kill them. After 10 days of Formalin dips, once every other day they are cured of Brook and Ich. The tank the fish came out of has to be fallow, fishless, for at least 8 weeks. The eggs of Ich are in the bottom of your tank and can lay dormant for up to 8 weeks. When they hatch they have to find a host within hours or they will die. Brook's parasite divides and the new cell becomes a free swimmer looking for a host. The swimmer can persist up to four weeks without finding a host before it dies. So a eight week fishless tank can say it is free of Ich and Brook. IF ONE FISH IN YOUR TANK HAS A PARASITE ALL HAVE THE PARASITE EVEN IF THEY SHOW NO SYMPTOMS AND MUST BE TREATED. Don't go through this in the future, QT all new arrives for at least 4 weeks. One more thing, Formalin has a short shelf life so use fresh product and ONLY use 37% Formalin, 15% will do you no good.

 

[iceman79]

5 dips a day is way to much stress for a fish that will kill it for sure IMO

 

[1geo]

I certainly do NOT advocate 5 dips a day. My posted stated the following, "You do this five times once every other day after 5 dips your fish are rid of Ich and Brook." Once every other day is the operative phase.

 

[Matt850]

Since then I have raised the water temp to 80 F, lowered salinity to 1.021, and have been dosing RXP parasite treatment.

Wanted to point out that many sources say that this is 100% ineffective. The ich parasite can live at temps higher and lower than a fish can, and the same goes for salinity.

I am in a battle with Ich's bigger meaner cousin velvet and have been doing quite a bit of research on these guys lately. What the others have said is very true, get the fish into QT and use copper. Check copper levels twice daily for the first week and then once a day there after for up to 8 weeks. Ich doesn't have quite as long a lifespan as velvet so a month in QT may be suitable although you should always go above and beyond to make sure it is out of the system before returning the fish to your display.

 

[1geo]

If the parasite is Ich then copper is very effective. On the other hand, if its Brook then copper will do nothing for you; only Formalin will cure Brook and it will also cure Ich so why take the chance? It is estimated that 80% of wild Clownfish stock have Brooklynella. In the open ocean, this is not a problem but in a closed aquarium its lethal.