So I come to you all with an interesting post on this cold, snowy night.
Disclaimer, this will likely be the longest post I have ever made and will ever make here on Reef Central, you've been warned. This is a story along with a point and goal that I want to accomplish.
I have owned a freshwater cichlid tank for two years now and I have battled ich in that tank. It came on rather sudden and I was incredibly frustrated with the situation as neither of the fish (the only two inhabitants to come to the tank for over a year) presented with it prior to purchasing them or after bringing them home. 24 hours later, I notice a lot of flaring and scraping, head jittering and so forth, my JD has ich. Long story short, I took immediate action and started a very aggressive salinity/heat increase treatment. Less than a week later and daily water changes, all signs of ich are gone and it has never been seen again even through additions of new fish and through an entire house move which lead to a 100% water change.
So here I am, 2 years later and the proud owner of my first reef tank. I am one of those despised, hated, dumb and very noob reef owners who doesn't own a permanent QT tank (I say the heavy words because that's the general consensus that is taken from reading comments people have left over the years on posts related to the subject).
So where am I going with this? I'm sure you've gotten a step ahead here and figured it out. I introduced my goby a few weeks ago. He's a beautiful fish full of life, a pig of an eater and has made himself right at home. Same with the cleaner shrimp that lets him clean him up every so often. My parameters have held very steady since the cycle finished and other than the goby, shrimp and one kenya tree coral that came from a clean frag tank, there is nothing else to be seen. So I start trying to make a decision of which came first, the fish or the coral? Kinda like the chicken and the egg metaphor, lol. But what I mean is, if you can introduce the fish you want and everything is clean cut, then the chances of running into issues when introducing a coral should theoretically be much lower in terms of hurting your fish inhabitants with a disease or parasite. As well, if you did have an issue with a fish, extraction should be much less painful due to not having to mess with your prized corals and so forth.
With that said, I set my eyes on the final two fish I would have for the life of the tank (or as long as the fish lived). Two beautiful clownfish, a black ocellaris clown and a black ice clown. I saw this pair at my LFS, expressing zero signs of issues and the one that would have been easier to see ich on (the black one) showed no spots. The black ice under the LFS's lighting also didn't appear to have any signs of issue. Both of them swimming very well in the power head stream, reacted to food like wild animals and so forth. It seemed like the perfect catch, so I went for it.
The plan was:
Buy 2 clowns
Let tank settle for a full month after the bio load addition to ensure stability
Resume research into further coral investments
Clean cut plan, or so I thought. After 2 hours of the clowns being in the tank, I sit myself down right in front of the tank to admire my two new fish in the tank and watch them swimming healthily in the current of the strong power head. In my lights, I noticed in the clear edges of the fins of the BI clown (as most if not all clowns seem to exhibit, this clear look)seem to have a couple of little specs. The constant rapid swimming and fluttering makes it nearly impossible to gain a solid look at the fins much less obtain a clean picture. There are maybe 2-3 on the right fin, 1-2 on the left fin and a couple on the rear fin. None on the body or elsewhere. Without being able to gain a solid look at my fish to see if these are defined specs resembling the bump-like defined surfaces of ich or if it is perhaps battle wounds from pairing the two clowns together at the LFS and now my home tank.
So now this is the next day of having the clowns in the tank and I figured after a few hours of them being in the tank before observing it, the damage had been done. I have decided to take the stressful route of waiting to see if this is isolated or if it is truly ich. Even if it is and it fades, I may never know unfortunately.
Hit with disappointment of an impending doom scenario, I am now exploring my options after having spent hours last night reading on cleansing methods and reading for hours today. If I notice even a slight hint of increase by tomorrow, the emergency QT tank will be purchased and made live. There seems to be a general consensus on the two most preferred ways to cure not only a fish but the tank of ich as well. I say two because from the sounds of multi-tank exchange it is a very high stress environment to the fish and leaves a lot of room for fatal error to the fish. Followed by the 8-10 week fallow period of the DT.
But, now to the point of my post. I come to you all with a serious question as quite frankly I am sick of dealing with ich. When I was reading about reef tanks before purchasing and saw that ich was alive and well in this arena too, I just sighed and shook my head. Obviously I am not a biologist, I am not a chemist, and I don't have 50 thousand dollar pieces of equipment to get microscopic views of ich and so forth (if it even requires such high power equipment).
But, I am interested after I cure this potential bout of junk, to start researching on my own time and personal finances on possible ways to kill ich. Methods both reef safe and non reef safe. One may ask, who cares if there are proven methods? Fact of the matter is, strains are getting more resistant, some of these methods are extremely harmful to reef environments (hence the need for a QT to treat) and are incredibly risky in terms of potential risk and room for error during the treatment to allow a fresh outbreak of ich.
I figure my plan of action will consist of a few different aspects.
First, read and then read some more. Second, speak to individuals in the field that have observed/worked on ich and ways to combat it. Third, find a way to observe ich in a controlled environment and finally begin controlled testing.
My questions to you all would be:
If you have every tried working on this topic yourself, I would welcome a PM to discuss the types of tests and what the results were
Names of various proven and trusted documents from experts in the aquatics field in regards to ich.
Ways to study this pest
Finally, the most important question. Is studying it even ethical? And if it is or isn't, why?
I have been dealt an interesting hand of cards since starting my tank. Ranging from aiptasia, colonial hydroids and now possibly marine ich. I have beat both of the first mentioned pests, I will beat ich. But I want to take it a step further. I have taken every step possible, tested parameters vigorously and treated this tank as if it were a child. It's been a disappointing discovery, but I'll make it through it like always.
Thanks as always
Disclaimer, this will likely be the longest post I have ever made and will ever make here on Reef Central, you've been warned. This is a story along with a point and goal that I want to accomplish.
I have owned a freshwater cichlid tank for two years now and I have battled ich in that tank. It came on rather sudden and I was incredibly frustrated with the situation as neither of the fish (the only two inhabitants to come to the tank for over a year) presented with it prior to purchasing them or after bringing them home. 24 hours later, I notice a lot of flaring and scraping, head jittering and so forth, my JD has ich. Long story short, I took immediate action and started a very aggressive salinity/heat increase treatment. Less than a week later and daily water changes, all signs of ich are gone and it has never been seen again even through additions of new fish and through an entire house move which lead to a 100% water change.
So here I am, 2 years later and the proud owner of my first reef tank. I am one of those despised, hated, dumb and very noob reef owners who doesn't own a permanent QT tank (I say the heavy words because that's the general consensus that is taken from reading comments people have left over the years on posts related to the subject).
So where am I going with this? I'm sure you've gotten a step ahead here and figured it out. I introduced my goby a few weeks ago. He's a beautiful fish full of life, a pig of an eater and has made himself right at home. Same with the cleaner shrimp that lets him clean him up every so often. My parameters have held very steady since the cycle finished and other than the goby, shrimp and one kenya tree coral that came from a clean frag tank, there is nothing else to be seen. So I start trying to make a decision of which came first, the fish or the coral? Kinda like the chicken and the egg metaphor, lol. But what I mean is, if you can introduce the fish you want and everything is clean cut, then the chances of running into issues when introducing a coral should theoretically be much lower in terms of hurting your fish inhabitants with a disease or parasite. As well, if you did have an issue with a fish, extraction should be much less painful due to not having to mess with your prized corals and so forth.
With that said, I set my eyes on the final two fish I would have for the life of the tank (or as long as the fish lived). Two beautiful clownfish, a black ocellaris clown and a black ice clown. I saw this pair at my LFS, expressing zero signs of issues and the one that would have been easier to see ich on (the black one) showed no spots. The black ice under the LFS's lighting also didn't appear to have any signs of issue. Both of them swimming very well in the power head stream, reacted to food like wild animals and so forth. It seemed like the perfect catch, so I went for it.
The plan was:
Buy 2 clowns
Let tank settle for a full month after the bio load addition to ensure stability
Resume research into further coral investments
Clean cut plan, or so I thought. After 2 hours of the clowns being in the tank, I sit myself down right in front of the tank to admire my two new fish in the tank and watch them swimming healthily in the current of the strong power head. In my lights, I noticed in the clear edges of the fins of the BI clown (as most if not all clowns seem to exhibit, this clear look)seem to have a couple of little specs. The constant rapid swimming and fluttering makes it nearly impossible to gain a solid look at the fins much less obtain a clean picture. There are maybe 2-3 on the right fin, 1-2 on the left fin and a couple on the rear fin. None on the body or elsewhere. Without being able to gain a solid look at my fish to see if these are defined specs resembling the bump-like defined surfaces of ich or if it is perhaps battle wounds from pairing the two clowns together at the LFS and now my home tank.
So now this is the next day of having the clowns in the tank and I figured after a few hours of them being in the tank before observing it, the damage had been done. I have decided to take the stressful route of waiting to see if this is isolated or if it is truly ich. Even if it is and it fades, I may never know unfortunately.
Hit with disappointment of an impending doom scenario, I am now exploring my options after having spent hours last night reading on cleansing methods and reading for hours today. If I notice even a slight hint of increase by tomorrow, the emergency QT tank will be purchased and made live. There seems to be a general consensus on the two most preferred ways to cure not only a fish but the tank of ich as well. I say two because from the sounds of multi-tank exchange it is a very high stress environment to the fish and leaves a lot of room for fatal error to the fish. Followed by the 8-10 week fallow period of the DT.
But, now to the point of my post. I come to you all with a serious question as quite frankly I am sick of dealing with ich. When I was reading about reef tanks before purchasing and saw that ich was alive and well in this arena too, I just sighed and shook my head. Obviously I am not a biologist, I am not a chemist, and I don't have 50 thousand dollar pieces of equipment to get microscopic views of ich and so forth (if it even requires such high power equipment).
But, I am interested after I cure this potential bout of junk, to start researching on my own time and personal finances on possible ways to kill ich. Methods both reef safe and non reef safe. One may ask, who cares if there are proven methods? Fact of the matter is, strains are getting more resistant, some of these methods are extremely harmful to reef environments (hence the need for a QT to treat) and are incredibly risky in terms of potential risk and room for error during the treatment to allow a fresh outbreak of ich.
I figure my plan of action will consist of a few different aspects.
First, read and then read some more. Second, speak to individuals in the field that have observed/worked on ich and ways to combat it. Third, find a way to observe ich in a controlled environment and finally begin controlled testing.
My questions to you all would be:
If you have every tried working on this topic yourself, I would welcome a PM to discuss the types of tests and what the results were
Names of various proven and trusted documents from experts in the aquatics field in regards to ich.
Ways to study this pest
Finally, the most important question. Is studying it even ethical? And if it is or isn't, why?
I have been dealt an interesting hand of cards since starting my tank. Ranging from aiptasia, colonial hydroids and now possibly marine ich. I have beat both of the first mentioned pests, I will beat ich. But I want to take it a step further. I have taken every step possible, tested parameters vigorously and treated this tank as if it were a child. It's been a disappointing discovery, but I'll make it through it like always.
Thanks as always
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and yes the way to eradicate ich exists, undeniable. But the way to travel too was successful with horses. Where would we be without further research and ingenuity?
