Mandarin in hospital tank.

[vette68]

About 2 years ago, I treated my 180 reef for ich. Completely eradicated the tank by removing all the fish, treating them with copper and leaving them out of the reef for 6 weeks in a hospital tank. So, I never had a single spot until I introduced a unicorn tang about 3 weeks ago. I gave him a formalin dip for about 45 minutes, but apparenlty that wasn't enough. Within a week, my purple and morph had ich, as well as the new unicorn. So, I tore the reef apart, pulled out all of the rock (about 300 pounds worth), caught all the fish and put them into a 45 gallon hospital tank to treat with Cupramine. I intentionally caught all but one. I left a mandarin in the 180 to fend for itself while I treat the rest of the fish. I know I've read that the mandarin's are pretty resistent to ich because of some mucous they have on their skin, but I was wondering if that also means their gills don't get infected as well. I've gone through quite a bit of effort to move all of my fish to a hospital tank, but obviously the mandarin would have a hard time surviving in a bare bottom rock-less tank for 6 weeks, not to mention their sensitivity to copper and that the copper will kill any pods. Which is why he (and yes it's a he) is still up in the 180. The mandarin has been around for about a year and a half (after the last great quarrantine) and is very fat and happy.

So, long story short, I was just wondering if anyone had any experience leaving a mandarin in the main tank while treating the rest of the fish with copper, or am I wasting my time while leaving a potential ich source up in my main display tank. I'd hate to go through all this effort only to have the parasites reappear. I'm used to having a completely ich free reef.

I guess the moral of the story is to quarrantine before introducing new fish. I knew better, but thought the formalin would work, and it obviously didn't...

Thanks....
Bill.

 

[Zaita]

Although I have nowhere near as much experience as you, I find having Ich to not be a huge problem.

If you keep your fish well fed, and reduce stress as much as possible the Ich should clear itself off. Happy and Healthy fish have sufficient immune systems to fight Ich off.

My Blue Tang (Ich magnets!) will get Ich everytime something in the tank changes. I just ensure he is getting fed well and Nori is always available on a clip. The fish is happy and the Ich will subside.

A friend of mine has a 1500L (350-400G) tank (10yr old Reef) and takes the same approach as me (where I picked it up from).

 

[vette68]

I would tend to agree. My fish had a continual ich problem for the first 6 or 7 years I had the tank set up. Nothing major, I would just see a few spots here and there, but it never really went away. I don't believe ich is a lethal problem in my tank, it rarely has been, with only a couple exceptions. But I do think that continually fighting a parasite will both increase the general stress level of the fish as well as shorten it's lifespan. That's just a suspicion on my part. But after having a completely ich free tank for nearly 2 years, I don't want to go back. I have no doubt that well fed happy fish will have no problem keeping ich at bay.

I was just wondering if anyone else has quarrantined all but a mandarin with any level of success. In another 5 weeks, I guess I'll find out if my gamble has paid off...