Power failure and Ich

[codemonkey812]

I was out of town last week, and had someone watching my tank and feeding them. On Wednesday the power went out was out for about 24 hours. When the power came back on I was told everything looked ok. When I got back every thing did look ok, but last night while feeding my fish I noticed that several of them has ich. I will use the standard format to help the process.

1. How old is this aquarium? 1 year

2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level? 0

3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured? 1.026

4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium? 1 month ago (foxface) but all my fish came from the same LFS

5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How? No QT tank

6. If you are using a copper based medication, which one? How often do you measure level? When? No Copper as I have a reef tank

7. If you are using hyposalinity, how did you calibrate your refractometer?

8. Please describe in detail, the appearance of the fish? If there is one or more pimples, are they lumpy? What color? White raised spots on fish

9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish? Fish are actin normal, and eating normal

10. Is the fish eating? What? Rods frozen food and prime reef flake


What can I do? I have read adding a UV filter can help is this true?

 

[h2so4hurts]

UV won't help at all in a DT. The only way UV MIGHT work is if you have a giant UV filter on a small tank and you religiously keep all of the surfaces in that tank clean. You can consider your entire DT infected and to get rid of the parasite you need to remove all of your fish and leave the DT empty for at least 8 weeks. You need to setup a QT and treat all of your fish with your favorite method of ich control. There are 4 or 5 stickies on the topic in the main disease forum.

 

[MrTuskfish]

^^^^^Agree^^^^

The power outage didn't cause the ich, its been there. If you use a QT on all new fish after you've treated this tank, then you won't go through it again. Ich is a major problem; not using a QT can allow even deadlier parasites in.

 

[Rapide]

UV kills everything that flows by it, but it won't kill the ich from your tank. It does help, but won't solve the problem.

I had a similar situation just recently. Some got ich, some didn't...

 

[b0bab0ey]

Any parameter (O2/SG/pH/temp) that deviates too far away from the conditions your fish have become accustomed to stresses them and compromises their immune system. Any disease will take full advantage of such an opening. Just like with humans.

 

[enjetek]

Your best bet is to treat all the fish and let the tank run fallow if you want to get rid of ich. Some people have reported that their fish can live with it but remember that with every new addition to the tank an outbreak can occur and if it gets really bad things can die

 

[snorvich]

^^^^^Agree^^^^

The power outage didn't cause the ich, its been there. If you use a QT on all new fish after you've treated this tank, then you won't go through it again. Ich is a major problem; not using a QT can allow even deadlier parasites in.

Exactly. Read the stickies for more information.

 

[Chris27]

Let me shorten this one up a bit.....

I will use the standard format to help the process.

5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How? No QT tank

That's your answer right there. Too many people seem to think that you can live with the parasite if you feed the fish well, and maintain a stable environment. Any while it may be true for a period of time, there is always the chance for something to go wrong...which you experienced.

Salinity, Ammonia, Nitrate, flake food and brine shrimp diets, etc.. doesn't cause the fish to get the parasite in the display....it's there because the livestock wasn't QT'd.

 

[h2so4hurts]

+1, That's the answer to 95% of the questions in this forum category. When people buy tanks at an LFS, the owner should really be selling them two. A QT tank is an absolute requirement for reef tanks. Too many people say that ich is in every tank and that fish can live with it. Well, that's your decision, but I'd bet you'd treat your dog with frontline if you saw him itching. The same should be true for fish too.