I'm so ****ed

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McLaughlin4

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So after 2 years without having it , my tank has ICH. So now what ? It is fully stocked with LR rock and corals . I have never had to treat this tank for anything and have never done anything except Copper when I had Fish only . I know copper is out if the question. So what else is there to do , am I seriously going to have to go out and buy a whole set up to move all the fish into for hypo? Can I move the fish treat with copper turn the main tank heat up a little and allow the Ick to die off without a host ? What kind of QT setup do I need , tank heater, HOB filter? Any ideas thanks . I'm really bummed . Where would Ich have come from after 2 years . I havnt added anything in over 2 months. Is there any chance it just goes away on its own? I know I know wishful thinking Thanks in advance JAmes
 
I had a wicked outbreak of ich about a year ago. It was nasty. All of my fish were affected by it and my cleaner shrimp and cleaner gobies were being harrassed by all of the other fish. I thought that they were goners. At the advice of others, and against the advice of still others, I did nothing. I toughed it out and eventually it went away and I have never seen any since. However, ich is like herpes, once the tank has it, it is never gone.

My advice is to let it go, unless you have the inclination to take all of the fish out, treat them, and leave the tank free of fish for about a month. .
 
I know of a natural additive that I have been dosing to my tank for a while now. I have a well stocked reef and never had an outbreak of any sort. I can't remember that name and currently I'm at the library but as soon as a get home I will post the name of it and you can check it out. I don't know how effective it is in curing a problem since I never had one but it might do the job. And yes it's copper free.
 
James,

DONT add any of those ICH "cures"... NONE of them clear ICH from a tank. They may not show symptoms but they still have the ich. There are only 3 ways to KILL ich, and they are the following:

hyposalinity
copper
transfer method

Those are the only proven ways to eradicate ich. What did you just recently add, was it a fish or something else ???

When you setup a QT tank all you need is a good sponge filter with a sponge that is full of good bacteria, a heater, and I like to add something to move some water like a powerhead. The display tank needs to remain fallow (fishless) for atleast 6 weeks, although 8 is better.

They have also found a new thing that I think is really interesting, and that is if no new marine ich strain is introduced into an infected aquarium, the marine ich already there continues to cycle through multiple generations until about 10 to 11 months when the marine ich has ‘worn itself out’ and becomes less infective. A tank can be free of an marine ich infestation if it is never exposed to new marine ich parasites for over 11 months.

Basically if you are able to get your fish strong enough to fight off death from it and add NOTHING to the tank that might bring ich into the system, after 11 months or a year you will be ich free.
 
Well... You're where I was a week and a half ago, so I feel compelled to offer my two cents.

In my experience, copper is too difficult for a lot of fish, including tangs and angels.

To rid my display tank of ich, I've removed my three fish (a sailfin tang, a tomato clown, and diamond goby--all relatively small) to a 29 gallon quarantine tank with 3 inches of sand, a few large pieces of plaster coral, and a biowheel. I acclimated the fish to the QT at a regular salinity and then started hypo, eventually dropping the salinity in the tank to 1.012 over a period of three days. To drop the salinity, I removed about five gallons of tank water, or the maximum amount I could to keep the biowheel working, and then I dripped RO/DI water into the tank using a gallon jug plugged with an air-line tubing valve.) I added a teaspoon of calcium carbonate basically every day for the first week to keep the PH normal. The buffer is important--I forgot to add it one day and the fish were visibly upset.

After the first week and a half, I did a five gallon water change, using RO water at a salinity of 1.012.

So far, so good. The fish are all doing fine, eating, not stressed, and no signs of ich whatsoever. My plan is four weeks of hypo, then one week of raising the salinity. In a total of five weeks, I'm hoping that the ich in the display will be dead and the fish will be ready for reacclimation.
 
kick-ich, works, i have seen it done with great results (not a snake oil)
ich will still be in the system no matter what you do but this stuff has worked for others and is reef safe. i think it's kinda pricey like 30.00 a bottle but worth it. good luck :)
why would your tank suddenly have an outbreak after two years?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14762208#post14762208 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badazztealcobra
James,

DONT add any of those ICH "cures"... NONE of them clear ICH from a tank. They may not show symptoms but they still have the ich. There are only 3 ways to KILL ich, and they are the following:

hyposalinity
copper
transfer method

Those are the only proven ways to eradicate ich. What did you just recently add, was it a fish or something else ???

When you setup a QT tank all you need is a good sponge filter with a sponge that is full of good bacteria, a heater, and I like to add something to move some water like a powerhead. The display tank needs to remain fallow (fishless) for atleast 6 weeks, although 8 is better.

They have also found a new thing that I think is really interesting, and that is if no new marine ich strain is introduced into an infected aquarium, the marine ich already there continues to cycle through multiple generations until about 10 to 11 months when the marine ich has ‘worn itself out’ and becomes less infective. A tank can be free of an marine ich infestation if it is never exposed to new marine ich parasites for over 11 months.

Basically if you are able to get your fish strong enough to fight off death from it and add NOTHING to the tank that might bring ich into the system, after 11 months or a year you will be ich free.

I absolutley agree
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14762787#post14762787 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mystery_reef
kick-ich, works, i have seen it done with great results (not a snake oil)
ich will still be in the system no matter what you do but this stuff has worked for others and is reef safe. i think it's kinda pricey like 30.00 a bottle but worth it. good luck :)
why would your tank suddenly have an outbreak after two years?

You just completely disproved your point. Kick-ich works but ich will still be in your system ?!?!?

Definitely sounds like a good spend of $30. :rolleyes:

Marine ich will not be in your system if you leave the display tank fallow for atleast 8 weeks, so no, it wont "be in your system no matter what you do."

While vitamin C MAY help boost your fishes immune system it wont irradicate ich, only those 3 methods listed will. Unless you want to dose the vitamin c and add absolutely nothing to your tank for a year.


Ragby - the first few paragraphs of that page say that FO setups (your QT) should be 1.008, the usual reccomendation is 1.009... I would drop yours some more or you might risk having some of the marine ich live through the QT process.
 
Listen to this guy, he's on the money:


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14762970#post14762970 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badazztealcobra
You just completely disproved your point. Kick-ich works but ich will still be in your system ?!?!?

Definitely sounds like a good spend of $30. :rolleyes:

Marine ich will not be in your system if you leave the display tank fallow for atleast 8 weeks, so no, it wont "be in your system no matter what you do."

While vitamin C MAY help boost your fishes immune system it wont irradicate ich, only those 3 methods listed will. Unless you want to dose the vitamin c and add absolutely nothing to your tank for a year.


Ragby - the first few paragraphs of that page say that FO setups (your QT) should be 1.008, the usual reccomendation is 1.009... I would drop yours some more or you might risk having some of the marine ich live through the QT process.

Some more good reading here [ich]
 
Thanks for the advice , I will weigh my options today and let you know what I do , Being that the corals in my tank and not the fish are the expensive part I am leaning toward the tough love approach and trying to wait it out . Thanks James
 
I have had ick in my reef tank at least 5 times. Feeding garlic soaked food, and/or removing agressors that were causing stress has always ended the outbreak. Sure ick is still in the tank in some small quantity, but it is still in the ocean too, and what do you know, there are lots of live healthy happy fish there. I have never lost a fish to ick.
 
<a
href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14763518#post14763518 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed

Those that do, often times, end up fishing out the corpses.

Really? How many people do you personally know that have lost fish to ich? This is the exact same stuff I heard when I had my outbreak. I did my research and talked to experts. The universal response from the experts was that ich doesn't kill fish. Stress and other issues kill fish. Ich was likely in his tank, and my tank. Long before this outbreak. A stressor triggered the visible signs eliminate the stressor and the fish will recover.

Ich is *not* deadly to fish.
 
I've battled outbreaks of ich on and off for years. I've tried many of the so called "reef safe" remedies with varying levels of success but can't say they've really helped. Certainly not enough to encourage anyone else to spend (waste) their money on any specific one. These days my philosophy is that if the fish are healthy (well fed with a balanced diet) they will most often shake it on their own. I agree that soaking the food in garlic and adding vitamin C (both of which I do) probably help. Of course, if I can trap and remove the fish to QT I'll do that first. So the moral of my rambling story is that I treat ich like I do my kids' colds. I try to isolate them first (not always successful), boost their immune system with vitamins and let nature do the rest. Good luck!
 
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