Something going on here?

[kmbyrnes]

Congrats to the OP for listening to sound advice and removing your fish. I hope some survived.
I've done both copper and TTM. Copper required a lot of testing and dosing to stay at therapeutic levels. TTM is much easier and IMO is less stress on the fish. Sure they can survive copper, but why poison them in the first place?

 

[dlondono]

You have fallen into the trap we all fall into in one way or another.

Solution, buy a 40 or 50w uv filter and install on your return line.

As for the fish now, does not matter what ypu try, some are going to die

Dont go with copper, that test kit ia not reliable. Foods will not kill it either.

Tank transfer works but deaths will still happen

#1 accept the loss $$$
#2 get a uv and put it on the return line

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Hmm...
Maybe not if you are doing it all the time tho?
Also, I had to catch a fish for the first time the other day, what a nightmare! If proper qt means that never has to happen again I'm all in.

I'm pretty sure they're talking about treating freshwater fish.

 

[SammieT]

Congrats to the OP for listening to sound advice and removing your fish. I hope some survived.
I've done both copper and TTM. Copper required a lot of testing and dosing to stay at therapeutic levels. TTM is much easier and IMO is less stress on the fish. Sure they can survive copper, but why poison them in the first place?

I don't mind dosing them with copper to cure it. If they die, I'll let my 125 gallon sit for a few months and buy a shark [emoji13]

Copper from research seems to work well from what I've read. All I can do now is wait

 

[SammieT]

You have fallen into the trap we all fall into in one way or another.

Solution, buy a 40 or 50w uv filter and install on your return line.

As for the fish now, does not matter what ypu try, some are going to die

Dont go with copper, that test kit ia not reliable. Foods will not kill it either.

Tank transfer works but deaths will still happen

#1 accept the loss $$$
#2 get a uv and put it on the return line

I have a UV light I bought a while back ago but never had time to set up or see how it's set up. I can post picture if helps to get me started?

 

[FoxyFace]

UV works on the water, not the fish. It helps reduce disease but by no means is it a preventative or treatment. Remember crypt has three stages. One is free swimming in the water. That's when UV may help a bit.

You're following the most scientifically proven method. In every hobby, people disagree.

 

[FoxyFace]

Congrats to the OP for listening to sound advice and removing your fish. I hope some survived.

I've done both copper and TTM. Copper required a lot of testing and dosing to stay at therapeutic levels. TTM is much easier and IMO is less stress on the fish. Sure they can survive copper, but why poison them in the first place?

Why don't you quarantine your fish? Isn't that the easiest method?

 

[mokrytzki]

I did a hyposalination treatment in a qt tank on my fish when they had ich. Took a while but worked great. Definitely worth doing. If done right it is easy and safe for fish and you display tank.

 

[SammieT]

UV works on the water, not the fish. It helps reduce disease but by no means is it a preventative or treatment. Remember crypt has three stages. One is free swimming in the water. That's when UV may help a bit.

You're following the most scientifically proven method. In every hobby, people disagree.

I understand UV works on the water. My issue is setting it up.. I've never had m one nor set one up

 

[Four drachma]

Set your uv up in your sump or tank and run a small slow pump through it. Make sure you order a new uv light for it if you don't know how old the one you have is. At least your DT will be clear of ich by the time you put fish in it again. If you don't keep the uv on it, the ich will cycle again and enter the water column and infest your fish again. The ich can lay dormant in your sand and when you stir it up it will re infest your fish. The uv if run at a lower flow will kill the water born ich. If you don't have an extra pump you can also set up a siphon from your DT to your sump with a valve in the line so you can regulate the flow. Just be sure and set it up in a way that it doesn't overflow during power outages.

 

[CStrickland]

At least your DT will be clear of ich by the time you put fish in it again. If you don't keep the uv on it, the ich will cycle again and enter the water column and infest your fish again. The ich can lay dormant in your sand and when you stir it up it will re infest your fish.

Where are you getting this info from?
I'd like to read the source if you could link to it, especially the stirring up the sand part.
Thanks in advance

 

[Four drachma]

CStrick, I have read so many different things about ICH, some is very factual and other is a total guess or personal opinion. The ich parasite as you probably know, has several life cycles. The one that attaches to the gills or anywhere it can on a fish is floating around in the water column. These microscopic parasites can't swim against the turbulent water of most aquarium circulation pumps and are being blown around and go through the sump and then back to the DT via the return pump. The reason you usually only see ten or twenty white spots on a fish is that the majority of these parasites wind up lodged and trapped in and under the substrate. When someone has an outbreak of ich an its in the floating / infecting fish stage and the substrate is stirred, it frees up the trapped majority and now the tank has a significantly higher level of ich concentration and you see it manifested in the fish being completely covered with the reaction to the parasite.

SammieT, if you do set up the UV sterilizer, then while your fish are removed I would also recommend warming the water to around 84 degrees and stirring the substrate occasionally. This will help get a lot of the ich in the water column and they are more likely to go through the UV. It's important to run the water at a slow rate through the UV or it won't kill them. The raised temp will speed up the life cycle of the ich.

Hope things are well with your fish. I've rarely seen any that bad survive, but usually they stop eating and hide for a few days before they die, and you said yours are still eating well, so who knows?

 

[SammieT]

Update: blue tang didn't make it So far and the fox face looks like it is about to give up also...

 

[droog]

Sorry to hear that. You took the best steps after the outbreak - it looked like a very serious one. Perhaps it was wave #2 or something and you didn't notice the first one.

This thread is pretty much definitive on the issue. There are a lot of "miracle cures" for itch - a lot of people claim they "work" because the spots fall of the fish. Well, doh! They fall off after a couple of days anyway. The free swimming part of the lifecycle I think is 2-8 hrs in a lifecycle that lasts weeks.

UV may help but I suspect only to a minor degree. Perhaps some fish develop immunity naturally if the outbreak is not bad. In your case it was horrific. Copper or TTM were your only hope.

-droog

 

[mokrytzki]

It is my understanding the uv lights available for hobby use are not strong enough to affect ich. Hyposalination treatment is in my opinion the safest and best way to deal with ich. If the display tank is left fish less for six weeks the ich dies and cannot be "stirred up" the hyposalin water in the qt tank will kill any ich attached to the fish.

 

[mokrytzki]

Hoping for the best of luck dealing with this.

 

[droog]

It is my understanding the uv lights available for hobby use are not strong enough to affect ich. Hyposalination treatment is in my opinion the safest and best way to deal with ich. If the display tank is left fish less for six weeks the ich dies and cannot be "stirred up" the hyposalin water in the qt tank will kill any ich attached to the fish.

There have been studies that show ich can survive hypo. It may only be a certain strains or a small %age that survive. Hypo works in many cases but is not guaranteed. Its a reasonable approach and may also helps the fish overcome with their own immune system.

Copper kills the parasite (100% if dosed accurately).
TTM breaks the lifecycle (100% if done on schedule and tanks dried correctly).

Personally I think copper/TTM are superior to hypo, but its just an opinion. Copper is hard to dose correctly. Both methods stress the fish. Lots of other hobbyists swear by hypo - maybe they are right (or more right). Lots of ways to be successful...

-droog

 

[SammieT]

Alright. Managed to get a photo of my in-laws fish I was speaking about. Anyone know why the skin looks strange?

 

[reefbroao]

That could be a bacterial infection

 

[Dkuhlmann]

That clown looks beat up, what are the other inhabitants in the tank with it.