white worms and ich...related??

[jmccown]

I have a young 150g tank, bout 2 mos. old. Within the first month of starting the tank up I notice very tiny white worms on the side glass of the tank, they are more apparent when the lights first come on in the morning. There are hundreds of them. As the day goes on they seem to disappear. At first I didn't think much about them, thought they were just hitchhikers from the LR. Two weeks ago I bought a Powder Blue Tang, he got ich right off the bat, cleared up for about 3 days and was in perfect looking health. I come home yesterday to find him absolutely covered up with ich, not only him but my yellow tang now has ich and a couple of my other fish have a few spots on them. I need to treat this quickly if I don't I am going to have a big loss in fish. I have a few corals, live rock, a PBT, YT, Foxface, Blue Throat Trigger, two clowns and 50 Nassarius snails, 10 crabs.

Any help is appreciated.

Jason

 

[SAT]

No, the white worms are not related.

Here's an article that may help you:
[ich]

I suggest using that 75G as a treatment tank.

And here's one on how to avoid the problem next time:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

 

[TerryB]

The worms are not related to ich. This is exactly what you should expect to happen if you do not quarantine all new fish for a minimum of 30 days BEFORE you put them into your display tank. I suggest that you get a quarantine tank running yesterday. With a cycled quarantine you don't have to battle ammonia and large daily water changes to maintain the water quality of the Qtank. I suggest that you use a proven treatment such as hyposalinity and resist the urge to use a 'Reef safe" treatment because they simply do NOT work. Do a search here and read up on hyposalinity. Use only a refractometer to measure the salinity. Check the salinity not the specific gravity and go for 14ppt. Check the pH DAILY during treatment. Treat for 30 days at the correct salinity. Treat ALL the fish because they have all been exposed. Do not use hypo in your reef tank.

Terry B

 

[jmccown]

How do I rid the worms after I remove the fish? Will all fish need to be removed? Also, is copper the best cure of ich?

 

[SAT]

Why remove the worms? They are almost certainly harmless and probably beneficial.

To use the method TerryB recommended (and I concur), you need to remove all the fish to the treatment tank and leave the display tank completely empty of fish for at least six weeks. That's about how long it takes to be sure the parasites have died out.

Here's another reference that might be helpful:
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html