Very frustrated

Shellyfish

Shellyfish

New member
I pulled all my fish from the DT, left it fallow for 10weeks ( it is 10 weeks today) I slowly increased the copper until it was .4 in the QT, I left it there for 4 weeks, then used carbon to remove it, now, 3 weeks later my Naso tang has spots again. Stupid ich! What did I do wrong?
 
Just so I'm understanding you correctly, all your fish are still in QT and this is where your Naso is showing spots? Have you added any new fish to the QT? Any chance of cross contamination from the DT? Nets, wet hands, etc.? How often did you test you copper level in the QT (I'm assuming you used Cupramine)?
 
All the fish are still in QT, I have not added anyone new, no cross contamination. I used cupramine and tested it I think 3 or 4 times during the treatment.

Oh wait, I did do a water change using some water from the DT on Wednesday night. At this point it has been fallow for 10 weeks with nothing new added so I wouldn't think there would be any ich left in there!

I previously used cupramine according to the instructions on the bottle with great results. I wonder if .4 is just not a high enough dose to kill ich?
 
Shellyfish said:
All the fish are still in QT, I have not added anyone new, no cross contamination. I used cupramine and tested it I think 3 or 4 times during the treatment.

Oh wait, I did do a water change using some water from the DT on Wednesday night. At this point it has been fallow for 10 weeks with nothing new added so I wouldn't think there would be any ich left in there!

I previously used cupramine according to the instructions on the bottle with great results. I wonder if .4 is just not a high enough dose to kill ich?
Click to expand...

Cupramine's effective range is .35 - .5, so you should have been fine at .4. Of course, some say you should test it every single night just before the lights go out. To be sure it isn't fluctuating. Anything like sand/rock in the QT which might have absorbed some of the copper?

I think maybe it's not just a coincidence that you did a WC using water from the DT and BAM! the Ich came back. You might wanna read thru this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2116080&highlight=fallow
 
That is my thought too. I'm concerned it came from the DT, but after 10weeks fallow should it still have enough ich to cause and outbreak that fast? It is only on the naso tang, no one else has spots.

There is pvc pipes and a teracotta pot in the QT, no sand, no rock. I guess I'll have to do another round, I'm going to dose for .5 this time. I hate having to medicate twice!

I read through the thread, it's nice to know I'm not the only one with this issue. I just don't get how some people can just throw fish from the store straight into their tank and not have issues. I'm trying to do things right and I get nothing but trouble!
 
Shellyfish said:
I read through the thread, it's nice to know I'm not the only one with this issue. I just don't get how some people can just throw fish from the store straight into their tank and not have issues. I'm trying to do things right and I get nothing but trouble!
Click to expand...

I hear ya there. I have friends who never QT, never get Ich, think I'm stupid for QT'ing everything for 8-9 weeks. What makes it even worse is I took a vacation for a couple of weeks, my automatic feeders failed and I came home to Ich in my DT. I still have no idea how it happened. Made it look like the "stress" of not eating made them get Ich. I was humiliated.
 
Last edited:
So here's a question, it is advised to leave the tank fallow for 9 weeks to kill ich. I left it for 10, how is there any ich left in there to start another cycle in the QT tank? I was told it would not be a bad idea to use some water from the DT to do a water change on the QT to get the fish used to it. I was actually planning on moving the fish over 2 days after I did that water change. How was there still ich?
 
Unfortunately, there is nothing that seem to be 100% when it comes to ich. As Snorvich's research on his sticky on ich shows; 9 weeks fallow produces a 99.7% success rate. Maybe you are one of the unlucky 3 in a thousand? Who knows. There are so many variables when treating fish from a DT; its impossible to tell what happened. Not rubbing salt in the wound, because I've had to tear apart a big tank due to ich too. But I hope your experience shows a lot of folks what happens when parasites aren't caught in a QT.
 
If it makes you feel better, I battled with my last case of ich for 6 months. It took two rounds of hypo and two rounds of copper to completely eliminate it. Both hypo treatments were done at 1.008 (cross-referenced with two different calibrated refractometers) and with an ATO. Both cupramine treatments lasted four weeks at 0.5ppm.

I believe I had some strange strain of ich that seemed to be resistant to 1.008 salinity, and possibly had a longer life cycle that 4 weeks of copper were not long enough.

This is also the first time that hypo at 1.008 did not work (it has always worked for me in the past), and that makes me suspect there is a special strain that's more resistant to hyposalinity.

Keep it up and don't feel too frustrated! If you are determined to eliminate ich, it will happen.
 
I didn't add anything to the DT, I'm wondering if at some point during my treatment the copper in the QT went to low? Or if .4 was just not high enough to get this strain of ich? I'm not sure if I should be letting the DT go another 10 weeks?
 
Normally, your level of copper is sufficient and Cupramine is relatively stable in solution. It may be that you have a strain of ich that requires a higher dose of copper. I also think you should go another 10 weeks as those who have battled ich over an extended period can attest. Given that you had another incidence, there doesn't seem to be a better choice.
 
I maybe a lucky one but i have added lots of stock and never used a QT tank and never had any problem.

Fish need good water flow for low stress. Many fish may have ick and may never be seen if its not over stressed. Just a thought.
 
hollister said:
I maybe a lucky one but i have added lots of stock and never used a QT tank and never had any problem.

Fish need good water flow for low stress. Many fish may have ick and may never be seen if its not over stressed. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

I think you're describing a real disaster; the only question is when it happens.
 
I just don't have enough tanks to do the transfer method. Everyone is doing fine on round 2 of the copper. I really hope it works this time!
 
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