look like an ich outbreak.. not good

[mos90]

im fairly positive that i have an ich outbreak in my tank. i just noticed it today. i know i will get drilled for this but ive never used a quarantine tank for new arivals and was lucky i guess to never have an issue until now. shame on me.

my main display is 125g but i have some large fish that would require at least a 55g-75g to do a hospital tank.

i started up my uv but ive read a uv is only somewhat effective.

are there any other options besides pulling all my fish out to a qt tank?

i will watch the fish for the next few days to make sure it is ich. ill snap a ferw pictures.

 

[snorvich]

Your tank has ich. All fish must be treated and the tank left without fish for 10 weeks.

 

[mos90]

What method do u prefer to cure ich?

 

[snorvich]

What method do u prefer to cure ich?

I strongly prefer tank transfer as it is by far the easiest. My second choice would be cupramine, but the critical success factor is testing daily to insure a therapeutic dosage is maintained. My last choice is hyposalinity which is very, very difficult for the average aquarist to do correctly. It depends on an accurately calibrated refractometer, and total control of SG. If SG exceeds the 1.008/1.009 threshold, it restarts the clock.

 

[mos90]

what about Chloroquine phosphate or Quinine Sulfate in a q/t tank?

ive been reading about dr. g's medicated food. it claims to be reef safe but because its using Chloroquine phosphate it will most likely do more harm then good.

 

[mos90]

after reading up on the tank transfer method i looks fairly easy. could just use 2 rubbermaid containers. the problems arises for the remaining 8 weeks. i can get my hands on a 55g which should get the job done. what would u use for filtration? i have a good hob skimmer, crushed coral, powerhead and hob powerfilter. but with the amount of fish in a 55 i would be worried about a huge ammo spike.

 

[snorvich]

what about Chloroquine phosphate or Quinine Sulfate in a q/t tank?

ive been reading about dr. g's medicated food. it claims to be reef safe but because its using Chloroquine phosphate it will most likely do more harm then good.

I only support tank transfer, cupramine, and hypo (in that order) as the only proven methods for beating ich. For other methods, I am sure that there are folks around to answer questions.

 

[mos90]

i am going to monitor for a week to verify that is actually ich.

i will setup longterm qt in the mean time just in case.

hopefully 2 rubbermaid containers will get the job done for t-t. i have some failry large fish. they wont be happy.

 

[MrTuskfish]

i am going to monitor for a week to verify that is actually ich.

i will setup longterm qt in the mean time just in case.

hopefully 2 rubbermaid containers will get the job done for t-t. i have some failry large fish. they wont be happy.

If fish can actually be 'happy"; I'm sure they'll be happier in a HT/whatever, than anywhere else and infected with ich. Dead from ich probably wouldn't make for happy fish , either.

 

[mos90]

Dead from ich probably wouldn't make for happy fish , either.

very true.

im really good friends with my local lfs. he is going to give me a used 75 for my ht/qt tank. im just not sure where im going to put it. id like to put it in the garage but i worry about warm temps in the summer.

some of my fish are going to tough to catch. not looking forward to it.

 

[snorvich]

Best way to catch fish is to drain the tank (saving the water) until it is very shallow. Remove gravel/sand to create a "low place" where all fish will aggregate. Easy to catch them then.

 

[mos90]

should i use water from my tank in the tank to tank transfers? or fresh salt water. i also need to slow the flow on my 25w uv down to around 100 gph instead of 300. really a 40w at 100gph would be better. an effective uv dose of 280,000 (to kill marine ich) requires very slow water flow or a super sized uv. but my 25 at 80-100gph should be close.

 

[snorvich]

Using UV to eradicate marine ich will not be effective since not all water passes by the UV.

 

[snorvich]

Best to use newly made up salt water for tank transfer. I suggest never sharing water between tanks.

 

[mos90]

Uv won't help at all?

 

[Ryan2013]

I know this may sound juvenile but i had the same problem with an ich outbreak in my 125 and i dosed with kick-ich and it was completely gone in about a week. Same scenario with just adding the fish without quarentine.

 

[mos90]

Did u have coral and inverts in your tank?

 

[snorvich]

Kick Ich is worthless. There is no proven reef safe solution cryptocaryon irritans.

 

[snorvich]

Uv won't help at all?

If you have more than one tank that shares water, isolation of each tank from the others via UV will help. However for a single tank, it will not solve your problem. There is no easy answer as much as we all wish there were.

 

[mos90]

I'm trying to make a Plan to do the tank to tank treatment. I'm just not sure how I'm going to do it yet. Maybe 2 30g tanks with heaters and aquaclear 30's will do the trick. I have everything I need here to do that. I could add a powerhead if needed.

I'm still trying to figure out how to remove me fish. I dont want to expose corals to air for to long or at all really.