Living With Ich... any advice?

J

jamesbaur13

Apsiring Alhcohlolic
Hello,

I recently discovered some of my fish have Ich.

Some of my fish have very minor cases with it, while others I'd consider moderate.

I'm new and I'm not finished stocking my tank with corals at this point.

I don't have the ability nor the resources to QT new corals, so I've decided to try and ride it out and not go fallow until I am stocked.

At this point I only plan on removing a fish if it is a life or death situation.

I've been feeding the fish garlic and selcon along with quality foods like Rod's, PE Mysis NLS pellets... etc.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips to help.

I realize secondary infection is one of the biggest threats I have. I have ethromycin... any other antibiotics that would be advised to keep on hand?

Thanks.
 
If you plan on riding it out, keeping your fishes immune systems in tip top condition is your only hope. Keep your water quality impeccable by doing frequent WCs. Feeding garlic/selcon/other vitamin-enriched nutritious foods might help as well. If you have access to a UV, add that, it can't hurt.

Understand at best you're only buying yourself more time here. How much time? Who knows. You may win some battles, but ultimately Ich is going to win the war and wipe out your tank. I strongly urge you to QT and treat all your fish for Ich ASAP. Leave the DT fallow for 9 weeks to starve out the remaining Ich parasites.

Btw, antibiotics (such as erythromycin) are not reef safe.
 
I know antibiotics are not reef safe. I'm looking for anti-biotics to use in a QT when I have to rescue a fish from the DT.

I understand and value the advice b0b.

I am not finding it worthwhile to move the fish at this time... I'm sure if I lose fish after fish my tune will change.

So far there's been no losses and everyone looks pretty healthy.
 
Please read this. Ich is always increasing density in the tank due to the way the life cycle works. In the long run, you will lose so it is best to get ready for a treatment protocol.
 
I have found riding out ich is the best method and using a UV to help minimize free floating baby ichs

water quality - compatible tank mates - hiding places...play a huge part in it
 
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My best tip is not to add any new fish for 6 to 8 months, and even then stick to blennies and gobies, which do not have the susceptibility of tangs, angels, damsels, and rabbits.
 
I had the same thing happen to my 180g and decided to ride it out. Got the biggest UV and was feeding them all sorts of different foods soaked with different vitamins and at the end I ended up losing all my fish.
If you chose to do the same i would recommend to just have a qt running just in case things get worst. this way you would be able to save some of them if things get worst like it did with my system.
Its so much easier to trap a fish thats eating then a fish that has stopped.
good luck.
 
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Actnatural said:
I have found riding out ich is the best method and using a UV to help minimize free floating baby ichs

water quality - compatible tank mates - hiding places...play a huge part in it
Click to expand...

Maybe it does postpone the inevitable by a day or two.
BTW, How to you train all the "free floating baby ichs" to avoid fish hosts until the UV intake finally gets them?
 
I am at what I hope is the turning point of a battle with ich in my 90. I tried some BS herbal remedy out of pure desperation called Herbtana. I think it probably bought me some time and stopped the ich from killing as fast, but after wasting 2 bottles I stopped. At that point the ich exploded on my Kole tang and spread to my black clowns and chromis. I moved the smaller fish into QT with copper but lost the tang before I could get a tank big enough for him up.

So far I've lost a black clown and the tang, some of my favorite and most expensive fish.

The ich is like a time bomb as long as it is present in your tank. It will eventually blow up and cause havoc. I feel much better knowing my DT is now empty and fallow while my fish are being treated with real medicine.
 
souperman said:
I am at what I hope is the turning point of a battle with ich in my 90. I tried some BS herbal remedy out of pure desperation called Herbtana. I think it probably bought me some time and stopped the ich from killing as fast, but after wasting 2 bottles I stopped. At that point the ich exploded on my Kole tang and spread to my black clowns and chromis. I moved the smaller fish into QT with copper but lost the tang before I could get a tank big enough for him up.

So far I've lost a black clown and the tang, some of my favorite and most expensive fish.

The ich is like a time bomb as long as it is present in your tank. It will eventually blow up and cause havoc. I feel much better knowing my DT is now empty and fallow while my fish are being treated with real medicine.
Click to expand...

Well, you are on the right road now. It will feel very good once you have an ich free tank.
 
souperman said:
I am at what I hope is the turning point of a battle with ich in my 90. I tried some BS herbal remedy out of pure desperation called Herbtana. I think it probably bought me some time and stopped the ich from killing as fast, but after wasting 2 bottles I stopped. At that point the ich exploded on my Kole tang and spread to my black clowns and chromis. I moved the smaller fish into QT with copper but lost the tang before I could get a tank big enough for him up.

So far I've lost a black clown and the tang, some of my favorite and most expensive fish.

The ich is like a time bomb as long as it is present in your tank. It will eventually blow up and cause havoc. I feel much better knowing my DT is now empty and fallow while my fish are being treated with real medicine.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you'r on the right track. Believe me, you aren't the only one to learn this the hard way.....I'm in that group too, never again.
 
The funny (or sad?) thing is I read tons of ich threads like this and still skipped a qt. It had to happen to me before saw the light so to speak. The only good thing is it happened early on so my tank didn't have a lot of fish in it.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
 
snorvich said:
Please read this. Ich is always increasing density in the tank due to the way the life cycle works. In the long run, you will lose so it is best to get ready for a treatment protocol.
Click to expand...

Simply not true, ick is not always increasing in density. If the parasite is unable to enter the fish then its life cycle will not be able to progress to reproduction.
 
Gill_bucket said:
Simply not true, ick is not always increasing in density. If the parasite is unable to enter the fish then its life cycle will not be able to progress to reproduction.
Click to expand...

Other than a tank being fishless; what prevents them from entering a fish? Some healthy fish can offer more resistance than others, but no fish is immune.
 
snorvich said:
And just to be clear, we know that the packers are not playing today.
Click to expand...

Makes for a blah Sunday. but we have 5 more season games to attend at Lambeau; then we'll have home field for two playoff games, then the Super Bowl. We'll be gone a lot between now and Feb. And please capitalize "Packers".:bounce3:
 
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