Natural ich immunity?

[foshizzle]

I somehow introduced ich to my established SPS system. I understand that removing all fish for treatment and letting the tank go fishless for weeks is the only way to totally irradicate ich from the system, but removing all the fish is NOT an option.

All fish are fat and healthy except for the occasional ich spot. With pristine water quality is it possible to rely on natural immunity to keep fish healthy long term?

(fish list: powder blue tang, half-black mimic tang, copperband butterfly, flame angel, bluethroat trigger, pinstripe wrasse, clown pair)

 

[JHemdal]

I've had that happen, but it's like balancing on a tightrope - it can come and go for a long time (months) and sometimes it hits a certain "point of no return" and you end up losing the fish to an acute outbreak. On the other hand, it can go away eventually and never return (unless you add new fish of course).

I would suggest that you run your skimmer as wet as possible until things clear up. The particulate organic carbon collected by a wet skimmer will include a substantial number of micro-organsims, presumably including the tomite stage of Cryptocaryon....just be sure to replace all that skimmate with seawater not just RO water, to replace all the salt that's being exported at the same time. Also, a wet skimmer is apt to overflow, so make certain it won't drain the sump if that happens.

Jay

 

[foshizzle]

Thanks Jay.

My main concern is the powder blue I'll be moving from QT. He's been happy and healthy in a friend's tank for ~1yr, but I'm worried the stress of a new tank may make him especially vulnerable...

Anyone have thoughts on removing 6 green chromis from a full reeftank?