appellativo
New member
Hello. Last year I accidentally introduced ich into my 120 gallon aquarium via a piece of macro algae from another apparently infected tank (didnt realize it at the time). I read your two articles on ich and based on your comments in the first part of the 2nd article which states that its not that hard to go ahead and tear the tank apart (you have to, to catch all the fish) and the moral and ethical responsibilties we have to do for our pets the best thing, I decided I needed to break down the entire tank and quarantine all fish.
I set up a 20 gallon tank along with two ten gallon tanks (I had two pink skunk clownfish, a sailfin tang, a purple tang, lawnmower blenny, sunburst anthias, blue assessor, royal gramma, three green chromis) and distributed the fish amongst the tanks. I set them up with heaters, hang on filters using foam cartridges (no carbon) which had been in my sump, airstones, and plastic plants and pvc for cover. I used hyposalinity as a method using refractometer, keeping it at 1.009. for 1 month. There was so much ammonia and nitrite it worried me so I did 20-30% daily water changes (cleaning the bottom of the tank too) and used amquel to try to combat it. so, this is essentially using three methods to cure the ich. I also, incidentally, fed good quality frozen foods soaked in garlic, 'just in case.' however, the ich remained present, albeit at lesser levels, but it was still there. not wanting to go on forever with this labor intensive (and try doing it while youre five months pregnant), I took a chance raised the the water slowly back up to 1.025 and introduced APPARENTLY uninfected fish (no visible spots) back to the display. I did not SEE any ich since then on these fish. this was last summer. I did lose my purple tang and royal gramma while in qt, I am pretty sure it wasnt the ich, but the stress of being in qt, or bad water quality (despite daily water changes--matching salinity and temp--and me slaving away to try to keep their enviroment as hospitable as I could)
with the two ocellaris, the last two to have ich visible, I ended up using the tank transfer method outlined by terry bartelme and it appeared to be the least labor intensive and most effective method (I only filled the 10g tank half full to save water and didnt use a filter since the water was completely changed the third day).
I have since sold most of the fish and downgraded to a 42g cube, using the same rock and corals and six of the same fish (all under three inches). I have added a canary wrasse and small yellow tang. the latest addition was the canary wrasse about a month ago. I did not qt the wrasse. but guess what; I again absentmindedly added a piece of the same macroalgae from my 10g damsel tank to feed the tang, and now a week later, my firefish is covered with ich. it is the only fish to show it.
I cringe at the thought of going through the process again and wonder if it would go any better than it did the last time. I dont want to use copper or formalin because of the toxicity. also have tried to get straight, non-conflicting answers on brand/strength of copper to use and a compatible copper test kit to no avail despite trying cupramine once before with some clownfish and the red sea test kit. it didnt read the copper at all despite following the directions and adding even more, and taking water sample to the LFS so they could test. after that I gave up. also I doubt I could keep all fish in a 20g qt and maintain water quality and keep stress down, as evidenced by my failure to do it last time.
At this point I am leaning towards just maintaining good water quality and feeding well (not overfeeding), hoping the healthy fish could resist infection. I wanted to pick your brains to see what you thought of my situation.
I should also throw in that I am wanting to upgrade to a larger tank. I was thinking if I did, I could put all the rock into the new tank with water, and do the tank transfer method with all fish back and forth in two 20 gallon tanks. (would do that for three weeks while any ich in the main system would die off with no host). anyways, I will listen to what you have to say, thanks for your time.
--Erin
I set up a 20 gallon tank along with two ten gallon tanks (I had two pink skunk clownfish, a sailfin tang, a purple tang, lawnmower blenny, sunburst anthias, blue assessor, royal gramma, three green chromis) and distributed the fish amongst the tanks. I set them up with heaters, hang on filters using foam cartridges (no carbon) which had been in my sump, airstones, and plastic plants and pvc for cover. I used hyposalinity as a method using refractometer, keeping it at 1.009. for 1 month. There was so much ammonia and nitrite it worried me so I did 20-30% daily water changes (cleaning the bottom of the tank too) and used amquel to try to combat it. so, this is essentially using three methods to cure the ich. I also, incidentally, fed good quality frozen foods soaked in garlic, 'just in case.' however, the ich remained present, albeit at lesser levels, but it was still there. not wanting to go on forever with this labor intensive (and try doing it while youre five months pregnant), I took a chance raised the the water slowly back up to 1.025 and introduced APPARENTLY uninfected fish (no visible spots) back to the display. I did not SEE any ich since then on these fish. this was last summer. I did lose my purple tang and royal gramma while in qt, I am pretty sure it wasnt the ich, but the stress of being in qt, or bad water quality (despite daily water changes--matching salinity and temp--and me slaving away to try to keep their enviroment as hospitable as I could)
with the two ocellaris, the last two to have ich visible, I ended up using the tank transfer method outlined by terry bartelme and it appeared to be the least labor intensive and most effective method (I only filled the 10g tank half full to save water and didnt use a filter since the water was completely changed the third day).
I have since sold most of the fish and downgraded to a 42g cube, using the same rock and corals and six of the same fish (all under three inches). I have added a canary wrasse and small yellow tang. the latest addition was the canary wrasse about a month ago. I did not qt the wrasse. but guess what; I again absentmindedly added a piece of the same macroalgae from my 10g damsel tank to feed the tang, and now a week later, my firefish is covered with ich. it is the only fish to show it.
I cringe at the thought of going through the process again and wonder if it would go any better than it did the last time. I dont want to use copper or formalin because of the toxicity. also have tried to get straight, non-conflicting answers on brand/strength of copper to use and a compatible copper test kit to no avail despite trying cupramine once before with some clownfish and the red sea test kit. it didnt read the copper at all despite following the directions and adding even more, and taking water sample to the LFS so they could test. after that I gave up. also I doubt I could keep all fish in a 20g qt and maintain water quality and keep stress down, as evidenced by my failure to do it last time.
At this point I am leaning towards just maintaining good water quality and feeding well (not overfeeding), hoping the healthy fish could resist infection. I wanted to pick your brains to see what you thought of my situation.
I should also throw in that I am wanting to upgrade to a larger tank. I was thinking if I did, I could put all the rock into the new tank with water, and do the tank transfer method with all fish back and forth in two 20 gallon tanks. (would do that for three weeks while any ich in the main system would die off with no host). anyways, I will listen to what you have to say, thanks for your time.
--Erin
