Well, I think I have Ich!

[Patrick Cox]

I came home tonight and noticed that my two week old Kole Tang had an odd coloration. Upon closer inspection, I saw many white spots on him. So, I guess he has ich. I obviously made the mistake of not quarantining my fish before adding him to the tank. So, what should I do? Do I need to remove the fish from my tank? I do have a few corals and a tube anemone in the tank. I also have two clowns, a cardinal and an anthias.

Also, will my tank always have ich present unless I perform some treatment of the tank?

Thanks for your advice.

Pat

 

[MCCOOL]

To rid the tank of the parasite, you'll need to leave the tank fishless for 6+ weeks while you treat the fish in a separate tank.

There is a good sticky on the subject at the top of this section, posted by snorvich.

 

[snorvich]

Cryptocaryon Irritans (Marine Ich)

 

[Patrick Cox]

Thanks. How important is it that I comletely eradicate the Ich from my tank?

 

[AuroraDrvr]

Thanks. How important is it that I comletely eradicate the Ich from my tank?

If Ich is not eradicated, your Kole Tang is simply going to keep getting reinfected, and you'll have to keep retreating.




Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein

 

[opie one]

i recently had a ick outbreak in my 125 reef, from a kole tang, i ended up losing 4 fish, tried to catch the fish but you know how that is in a reef tank, i got my ick problem under control after a week. i bought a uv sterilizer and started runing it 24 /7. and feeding with alot of garlic, my unicorn had spots and after they ran thier cylcle, he did not get infected again. from what ive learned ICK is always present in a tank, about 90 % of the tanks. its when the fish gets stressed is when a outbreak happens, i dont quarintne either, even people that quarintine still have ick outbreaks, all you can do is keep the fish healthy and stress free and hope for the best.

 

[snorvich]

Cryptocaryon Irritans (Marine Ich)
opie one, you might benefit from reading the link above.

 

[opie one]

i wll give it a read.

 

[opie one]

the link does not go anywhere?
the ich outbreak i had was two months ago and since then not one spot on any of my fish, there are about 12 fish still in there.

 

[snorvich]

Marine Ich

Sorry, I must be having HTML brain cramps today.

 

[opie one]

i found it. yep makes sense. im not saying that my tank is ich free. its under controll or my fish have devlelped a immunity to it. it could be still in the gills. if i pull out all my fish and put them in a QT for a minimum of six weeks. over half will die just from the stress alone.
they are all happy and show absolutly no signs of it now, i added my first fish sinse the outbreak, ( a klauseswits blenny) two weeks ago and he has shown absolutly no signs of it.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Thanks. How important is it that I comletely eradicate the Ich from my tank?

If you want to continue the hobby with LIVE fish, it is vital. Ich isn't like having a little cold; its a parasite that multiplies to fatal numbers unless eradicated. Please take Steve's advice above, follow the sticky, and don't look for a quick cure. There isn't any. BTW, all your fish now have ich, even if you don't see it right now.

 

[MrTuskfish]

i found it. yep makes sense. im not saying that my tank is ich free. its under controll or my fish have devlelped a immunity to it. it could be still in the gills. if i pull out all my fish and put them in a QT for a minimum of six weeks. over half will die just from the stress alone.
they are all happy and show absolutly no signs of it now, i added my first fish sinse the outbreak, ( a klauseswits blenny) two weeks ago and he has shown absolutly no signs of it.

Wait. Please give us an update in a couple months. If what you have is truly marine ich; your thoughts go against all known science on the subject. BTW, the stress of QT, done properly will not kill your fish. Where did you get such an idea?

 

[Patrick Cox]

i recently had a ick outbreak in my 125 reef, from a kole tang, i ended up losing 4 fish, tried to catch the fish but you know how that is in a reef tank, i got my ick problem under control after a week. i bought a uv sterilizer and started runing it 24 /7. and feeding with alot of garlic, my unicorn had spots and after they ran thier cylcle, he did not get infected again. from what ive learned ICK is always present in a tank, about 90 % of the tanks. its when the fish gets stressed is when a outbreak happens, i dont quarintne either, even people that quarintine still have ick outbreaks, all you can do is keep the fish healthy and stress free and hope for the best.

This is basically what my LFS is telling me. It is stress that caused the outbreak and I need to eliminate the stress. (not stable enough salinity and PH are the variables that he believes caused the outbreak.) He also was worried that removing him would cause more stress that might kill him.

And for me to catch all of the fish I would really have to break down my whole tank which would increase the instability so basically if I want to eradicate my tank of ich, I need to start over. Not sure I am ready to do that so I am going to try to stabilize my tank and see how it goes. If this keeps coming back, then I guess I will break down my tank.

Thanks all for the input.

 

[Medicoles]

I had an ich outbreak from a blue hippo tang that eventually infected my entire tank. I fed heavily and all my food was soaked in garlic. With just those methods I never saw a decrease in the outbreak. I finally went and bought two large cleaner shrimp and literally with in a week all signs of ich was gone. That was over 7 months ago and everything has done terrific since. It was pretty awesome to watch the shrimp going to town picking at the fish. I have three large tangs and several other fish and they were literally lined up across the front of the tank waiting for the shrimp to clean them.

As far as QT I wouldn't recommend you try to catch the fish out just to try and qt it. It is already stressed and more than likely you'll kill it by chasing it all over the tank. All of your fish are already exposed anyways so it probably wouldn't do you any good anyways.

 

[MCCOOL]

I suggest giving the linked thread above, a read. Cleaner shrimp don't help, the parasite is under the skin.

The fish do seemingly enjoy the shrimp, but it has no real effect on the parasite.

 

[Patrick Cox]

I suggest giving the linked thread above, a read. Cleaner shrimp don't help, the parasite is under the skin.

The fish do seemingly enjoy the shrimp, but it has no real effect on the parasite.

Hi,
I certainly don't know the answer but how would one explain Medicoles experience if cleaner shrimp don't help? Thanks.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I suggest giving the linked thread above, a read. Cleaner shrimp don't help, the parasite is under the skin.

The fish do seemingly enjoy the shrimp, but it has no real effect on the parasite.

Yeah, the white spot isn't even the adult ich parasite. I've never seen anything by a recognized, published author even remotely suggest that shrimp cure ich. If you read the thread, as advised, you'll see how this is impossible.Its like expecting a spider to rid a dog of a flea infestation. The worst part is that as long as the only real cures are delayed to watch the shrimp; the less the fish's chance of survival.

 

[snorvich]

Hi,
I certainly don't know the answer but how would one explain Medicoles experience if cleaner shrimp don't help? Thanks.

Cleaner shrimp and cleaner wrasses have no effect on ich. First the ich is below the skin, secondly stomach assays show none ingested.

If you care to read a study where they examined the gut contents of cleaner wrasse or Labroides dimidiatus you can find it in the Marine Ecology Progress Series, volume 197: pages 241-246 that was published in May of 2000, Alexandra S. Grutter. They found that the largest portion of their diet consists of gnathiids which is a parasite, but it is not ich. Parasitic copepods, non-parasitic copepods and scales comprised the remaining portion of the diet. They did not find Cryptocaryon irritans in the stomach contents of any of the fish they examined. Similar studies on cleaner shrimp have been done.

 

[MCCOOL]

Hi,
I certainly don't know the answer but how would one explain Medicoles experience if cleaner shrimp don't help? Thanks.

I wasn't suggesting that the fish don't go to/enjoy the shrimp, just that the shrimp aren't having any real effect on the parasite.

The parasite is visible for a small percentage of it's life, and is most certainly still in Medicoles tank. The fish might have built up an immunity to it, but that doesn't help any future additions. Chances are, the parasite is still hiding in the fishes gills.