WaterssretaW
New member
THere are many white spots all over his body and eyes. My question is will the ick spread to my other fish?
My Fish Has Ick...Cant Catch Him
- Thread starter WaterssretaW
- Start date
gavinthefish
In Memoriam
What type of fish is it. If its a tang then it may just stay with him. If you want to catch him get small trout hooks and put on a piece of shrimp, then go fishing.
otrlynn
Active member
Highly unlikely that it will just stay on him. Some ich cysts will fall off the tang and into the sand, where they will later hatch and probably infect other fish. It could be a matter of days or weeks. If all else fails on catching the fish, you can drain the tank down into clean Brute trash cans, leaving only a small area in a front corner of the tank with water in it (remove sand from this corner so that it will be the deepest area of the tank) and the fish should gather in that corner. That said, it does not always work and the fish you want may "beach" himself inside a rock tunnel. In which case you will have to remove rock anyway. Coral can tolerate exposure to air for a few minutes but it helps to have a partner if you you the "drain down" method so that you can move quickly. Good luck!
WaterssretaW
New member
oh man I hope they dont fall off.
abulgin
Premium Member
Oh, they have and they will. Your entire tank is infected, as are the rest of your fish. Time to take action to get those fish out and into hospital tank for 6 weeks with treatment (hypo, copper, etc.) while your tank goes fallow. If you can't catch the fish, drain the tank or hook him.
Don't kid yourself about this going away--it will not. You really have no choice.
Quarantine all fish in the future.
WaterssretaW
New member
what will the low salinity do to the coral?
stingythingy45
New member
Kill it.
You can't do hypo salinity in a reef tank.It needs to be done in a hospital tank and the display left fallow for 6-8 weeks.
Yes - assuming you're able to catch the fish, you can put him in a hospital tank (any tank, bucket, or tub will work) and slowly (over a couple days) bring the salinity down to 1.09. The low salinity is said to cause the parasite to rupture and die.
Corals cannot tolerate the low salinity, but most fish can, as long as they're given a chance to acclimate properly.
Corals cannot tolerate the low salinity, but most fish can, as long as they're given a chance to acclimate properly.
WaterssretaW
New member
Would i have to bring down the salinity in the display tank to 1.09 too? What does fallow mean?
Don't bring the salinity in your display down. That would kill any corals and invertebrates that you have. In fact, don't even worry about bringing the salinity down if you can't catch the fish. Only do this if you're able to catch the fish and put him in a separate hospital/quarantine tank.
Running your tank fallow means running it without fish. The ich parasite needs fish as a host for it to complete its lifecycle. Without fish in the tank, any ich parasites you have will eventually starve and die, but it take 4-6 weeks for that to happen. Hence, the need to run your tank fallow for 4-6 weeks.
WaterssretaW
New member
oh gotcha. Should I leave the lights on or off?
read: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1442281
Gives your alternatives.
A powerful pump draining your tank down to a small well in the sand will get him: fail-proof, generally. Drain it fast, grab fish, rewater it fast by flinging garbage bag atop water surface before pumping water back in at high speed: no damage to sandbed.
Gives your alternatives.
A powerful pump draining your tank down to a small well in the sand will get him: fail-proof, generally. Drain it fast, grab fish, rewater it fast by flinging garbage bag atop water surface before pumping water back in at high speed: no damage to sandbed.
stuccodude
New member
start soaking your food in kents garlic extreme. my tank was infestested about a year and a half ago and been ich free since. good luck
WaterssretaW
New member
what are the minimum requirements for quarintine tank? Is just a bucket okay?
Indymann99
New member
I would setup a 20g Q Tank (vs use a bucket). Here are reasons:
1.
1.
Indymann99
New member
darn Enter key...
1. you need to treat your current ick problem and you will need to be able to observe the fish to verify the ick is gone after 4-6 weeks of (hypo, copper, etc). Observing the fish in a bucket is almost impossible.
2. Future purchases should go into the Q tank where you can observe for problems, train on different food, etc.
3. I think a bucket would induce more stress than a true "tank" and if your fish are going to be in there for 4-6 weeks you want the stress to be as low as possible.
You should be able to find "starter" tanks at your LFS cheap (many also have a $1 per gal sale (how I got mine). The Q tank can be very simple and generally less than the cost of 1 fish.
For fish Q tank, lighting doesnt have to be fancy or powerful (less is actually better in my opinion).
my 0.02 hope it helps
I would do a search on Q tank lots o good reading
1. you need to treat your current ick problem and you will need to be able to observe the fish to verify the ick is gone after 4-6 weeks of (hypo, copper, etc). Observing the fish in a bucket is almost impossible.
2. Future purchases should go into the Q tank where you can observe for problems, train on different food, etc.
3. I think a bucket would induce more stress than a true "tank" and if your fish are going to be in there for 4-6 weeks you want the stress to be as low as possible.
You should be able to find "starter" tanks at your LFS cheap (many also have a $1 per gal sale (how I got mine). The Q tank can be very simple and generally less than the cost of 1 fish.
For fish Q tank, lighting doesnt have to be fancy or powerful (less is actually better in my opinion).
my 0.02 hope it helps
I would do a search on Q tank lots o good reading
WaterssretaW
New member
What kind of filtration should there be? Protein skimming?
