Wish me luck....

vette68

vette68

Member
Well, I've had my 180 reef set up now for almost 5 years and it has been doing very well. About a year ago, I successfully introduced a powder blue tang to the tank. Ever since then, he's had an on-and-off case of ick. It never got too bad, a few spots here and there, but he was always able to fight it off with no intervention from me. Well, something has changed in my tank and now my other fish are showing signs. The morpho, and purple now have spots on them as well. So, it's time to eradicate this once and for all. Needless to say, I have to remove every fish from the tank and get them into a hospital tank. Not so easy when you have about 300 pounds of live rock in the tank... Since I have my sump and skimmer in my basement, along with my old 75 gallon tank that now serves as a fuge, I am going to move all of the rock into the 75 and out of the 180 so I can catch the fish. I then plan on putting all the fish into the hospital tank and treating them with copper and waiting at least 4 weeks until I re-introduce them back into the display tank. I think that should eradicate the ick once and for all. I'll just have to make sure any fish that gets introduced from here on out is treated for at least a couple weeks to make sure I don't re-introduce the infestation.

Anyhow, I just wanted to grumble... I just started moving some of the rock this evening, and I'm going to do this slowly, to try to minimize shock. Then tomorrow, I'll take some more rock, until I have it mostly out. I'm not looking forward to a month with no fish in my tank, but it should be worth the effort in the end...
 
A month is not long enough. Most people with knowledge on the subject suggest 6 weeks min. And 8 weeks being the best.

Good Luck

Mar:rollface:
 
Knowing the life cycle of ich, I doubt that's what your dealing with. No amount of good food or garlic will kill or even slow down the reproduction of this parasite. Could be Flukes, which often takes over when conditions become unfavorable..Could be Parasitic Copepods as well..Make sure you have the right diagnosis before treating.

BTW...I would never prophylactically treat a new fish..Copper does not cure everything and it weakens the immune system..You need a proper diagnosis before treating
 
First of all,Ich,in the sea are a natural thing BTTRFLYGRL.. :) And no matter what you do,you cant get rid of them unless you change the water.. I had some fishes with lots of ich.. I fed it with nori and garlic soaked food.. After a week,it went away.. My point is,to keep your fishes healthy thru nutritous food.. Because fish can fight ich thru being healthy..
 
Yes...ich comes from the sea:) It rarely kills fish in the ocean due to the fact that it may never infect the same fish twice. We are talking about our closed aquariums where the fish will be infested over and over and will eventually die..No matter how healthy a fish is, ich can kill it if the fish is left to fight it off.
Ich is NOT always present, that is a myth. If its in your system it can be eradicated by removing the fish, placing them in a qt tank for treatment and leaving the tank fallow for at least 6 weeks..Ich HAS to have a host to survive..No fish, no host, no ich..The ich will die without a host.
It is always best to qt all new fish for at least 4 weeks before placing them in the main..If they have ich or another parasite or illness, it can be eradicated BEFORE the fish are placed in the main tank..
I have dealt with ich...I have also dealt with Flukes..I can tell you, ich is the easier of the two to treat

If your fishes problem was cured by garlic and vitamens, then I can assure you it wasn't ich
 
Lendz,

To base all of your thoughts of Ich on your one experiance with it is faulty science. Being a student you should know that.

I have had many experiances with ich and all of them differant.
If I do anything right, it's that I feed nutrition foods to my fish. However, an Ich breakout that gets establised in a close system can and will in time overwhelm and kill the fish.

in the oceans there are a few more gallons of water than in our tanks and the fishes being constantly on the move are able to be out of effective and constant range of the swimming stage of the parasite. So they are very seldom ever attacked to the point of death by the ich.

Removing all the water in water changes only removes the swimming stage of the parasite. other stages of its life cycle include a cyst stage being attaced to substrates and hard surfaces while it develops. no amount of water changes will remove it in that stage of life.

That said a good diet is important for many reasons. But it in itself will not keep fish from being attacked by ich.

Mar:rollface:
 
All of the above reasons is why I am treating this way. I quarrantined the PBT for 4 weeks before putting it into my display tank. It was ick free and healthy until about a week after putting it in the 180 about a year ago. Since then, it's been an on again-off again battle. Apparently I've had a small background population of ich that flourished once I introduced PBT. I've tried the natural remedies, and have even gone as far as to treat the display tank with malachite green. This seemed to help, but didn't eradicate the parasites, which returned a few weeks later. As has been stated, the only way to rid the tank of this is to QT the fish for 4 to 6 weeks and leave the main display tank completely fishless for the duration. The ick never got bad enough that it completely covered the fish, but it can't be good for the long term health of the fish to be in a constant battle with this parasite. And that is my motivation for completely tearing down my display tank, to hopefully get rid of this once and for all. I know it's possible to have an ick free tank, and that is my goal.

My main motivation in starting this thread was just to vent about what I had to do, not to start a battle about the merits of what I'm doing. The fact is that no amount of proper nutrition will kill this parasite, belive me I've tried. That will just allow the fish to tolerate the parasite and not get overwhelmed by it. And the 40W UV doesn't do enough either. I wish I didn't have to completely remove all of the rock from my display tank, but I can't think of any other way to get the fish out of the tank, except to remove all possible hiding places. Even then, I have a couple blennies that I know are going to be next to impossible to find, but my 6 weeks doesn't start until all fish are in the hospital tank. I'm in the process of filling my hospital tank with RO water so I can mix the salt, swap some water with my main tank and get it ready for the fish.

Anyhow, I probably won't even be able to start catching fish until Thursday or Friday by the time everything is set up and ready to go. And then the REAL fun begins...

Oh, and BTTRFLYGRL, I see you also have a majestic in your reef. I love the shocked looks I get when I tell people I have a full size angel in my reef tank. But it couldn't be a more model reef fish. Very docile, and never picks on any inverts. And I have everything in my reef: LPS's, SPS's, leathers and all the fun chew toys that angels normally like. Have you had good luck with yours? Now the PBT, on the other hand, that's an aggressive fish, but only towards the other fish....
 
Last edited:
Ok.. Thanx BTTRFLYGRL and Mar.. Then what do you call those white little things in my fish? I asked people here in my country and told me it was ich.. And 1st of all,it was my OWN OPINION.. Coz I've based it in my own experience.. Thank You
 
vette68,
Hehe! I had originally wanted a Powder Blue! I think the PB is the most BEAUTIFUL fish! BUT this Majestic was dying at work, so I brought him home to treat him. The poor thing eyes were so bad, he couldn't see to eat:( Anyway, I wasn't sure he was going to make it..But with lots of TLC [and some antibiotics] he is doing well [aside from some scars on his head that are still healing]
He has picked at my Brain some but my Clowns keep him at bay..He sometimes nips at my polyps too:eek: I was originally going to sell him, but got too attached;)

Good luck with your ich treatment. I have a Powder Brown [Whiteface Tang] that gave me trouble and was in qt for 6 months..He had Flukes and possibly parasitic copepods :rolleyes: What a pain he has been, almost died at one point..But he's been doing well for the last 6 months..I am taking down my qt..NO MORE FISH FOR ME!!:lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
110 Catalina Aquarium Build
Replies
4
Views
163
griss
griss
ben8569
help ! angelfish ingested air
Replies
4
Views
163
OrionN
OrionN
D
Coral beauty Sick - how do i treat
Replies
3
Views
1K
leebca
L
T
New 55g setup. Advice for fish appreciated
Replies
6
Views
219
Uncle99
Uncle99
BigEZ77
Urgent Help Requested - Wrasses Won't Come Out - CB Blue Tang Arriving Today (NO QT)
Replies
8
Views
553
rrrrob
rrrrob
Back
Top