Powder blue has bad case of ich

[Paaty]

Hi my powder blue has ich and i have not been able to get him out of my dt. Not sure what to do i have been trying for 3 days to catch him with no avail. I am worried i am stressing him even more trying to catch him.

His ich is getting worst and i am worried he is not going to make it if i dont get him out. His ich has progressed from random white dots to what looks like sand all over his body. He is still eating really well all kinds of foods.

Should i just leave him in dt tank with the uv light on and hope for the best? I have 2 cleaner shrimp that clean him every once in a while.

Thanks for the advice.

Pat

 

[Paaty]

I do not have many corals i can remove and maybe try hypo on my dt. I am not sure if this is a good idea as it is full of well established live rock. The tank is fairly new about 12 weeks i had a small cycle because all the rock and some of the water came from a tank that had been running for over 9 years.

 

[Paaty]

My display tank is 350 gallons

 

[corabeauty4]

bump

 

[ca1ore]

Really do need to get it out if the ich is getting bad. Have you tried the nighttime ambush method? Or a fish trap?

 

[snorvich]

Are you sure it is ich? Is it more of a homogeneous film or a sprinkling of salt? Best time to catch a fish is at night. All fish will need to be treated and the display tank left fallow.

 

[Paaty]

I got him out the night attack worked. I waited until it was pitch black for about an hour and then I turned the lights on. He was dazed and confused and I was able to catch him pretty easily.

He is now in my 40g quarantine tank, he looks stressed but is swimming around. I started droping the salt level slowly I have dropped it this morning to 1.023. I will drop again tonight when I get home from work. I was thinking to about 1.019 tonight, then to 1.014 tomorrow morning and then to 1.008 by tomorrow night.

Let me know what you guys think. Also, I have a 36 watt uv on my DT tank now do you think I should move it to the quarantine tank.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Paaty]

I have not come up with a plan yet for the rest of the fish in my display. I have 3 small tangs purple, yellow, and sailfin all about 2-2.5 inchs, 3 cromis and a tomato clown.

I did not want to put them in my quarantine with the powder blue because I think the 40g will be too small. my PB is about 4-5 inches and I want to give him the best possible chance to recover. The other fish are not showing signs except my sailfin had a few random spots one day but are now gone. I have a 90 gallon that I can borrow if I have to but I will not have another established filter to put on it.

 

[ca1ore]

I got him out the night attack worked. I waited until it was pitch black for about an hour and then I turned the lights on. He was dazed and confused and I was able to catch him pretty easily.

Yeah, it works surprisingly well, doesn't it!

I've never done hypo for ich, so others will have to chime in. Generally, though, reductions in salinity are handled better than increases. UV is somewhat controversial. I find it to be a useful tool in reducing parasite 'pressure' but common sense (and anecdotal observation) suggests that it cannot be a cure. Therefore, it doesn't really matter where you run it, so I'd just leave it on the main display. If you were using a chemical medicine like chloroquine phosphate, then UV on the treatment tank would actually be detrimental, but it doesn't matter with hypo.

 

[Paaty]

I am pretty sure it is ich as it started as random sprinkling of salt but has progresses to the point where his whole body is now covered and he has started breathing heavily. I hope I did not wait too long before removing him.

 

[Paaty]

Are you sure it is ich? Is it more of a homogeneous film or a sprinkling of salt? Best time to catch a fish is at night. All fish will need to be treated and the display tank left fallow.

I am pretty sure it is ich as it started as random sprinkling of salt but has progresses to the point where his whole body is now covered and he has started breathing heavily. I hope I did not wait too long before removing him.

 

[ca1ore]

I have not come up with a plan yet for the rest of the fish in my display. I have 3 small tangs purple, yellow, and sailfin all about 2-2.5 inchs, 3 cromis and a tomato clown.

I did not want to put them in my quarantine with the powder blue because I think the 40g will be too small. my PB is about 4-5 inches and I want to give him the best possible chance to recover. The other fish are not showing signs except my sailfin had a few random spots one day but are now gone. I have a 90 gallon that I can borrow if I have to but I will not have another established filter to put on it.

Of your fish population, the one most likely to show ich spots is the powder blue (one of the four dreaded 'ich magnets'). If you don't remove and treat all you fish, even absent overt symptoms, once you put the healed PB back in the tank it will get ich again - guaranteed! I've had tanks where a fish showed a few spots periodically, and things never progressed to a full blown outbreak, so I was able to 'manage' ich; but once things get to full outbreak, there is really nothing to be done short of biting the bullet and treating all the fish in a separate treatment tank.

I think a 40B would be OK for your fish population for the 12 or so weeks required to clear the tank of the ich parasite. Just throw a decent sized power-head in the tank to keep things moving and you should be fine.