NEW TO HOBBY ICH - ICH - ICH "PLEASE ADVISE"

[skeeter1]

Go ahead and giggle

,I'm new to this hobby and pulled a really dumb%$# stunt. My 4 month old 150 gal, several happy fish

, several happy soft corals

, several sps that show considerable growth

, and I wake up Friday morning thinking I need to buy a couple of really cool (expensive) fish. Called a local DFW area online retailer and ordered a blue regal tang and a powder blue tang. Met them later that afternoon to pick-up the fish. Got home and slowly dripped tank water for over an hour before introducing the tangs into my tank. The blue tang went right to eating,(great) , the powder blue would not take food(maybe in a couple of days). Yesterday I got home from work and immediately went to check the new residents

, both tangs looked like they just came in from a Texas Panhandle blizzard. I know, I know, everything I read before I mortgaged the house to get into this HOBBY said to quarantine any new fish for two weeks, DOES ANYONE REALLY DO THIS???? I removed the fish last night and put them in a bucket with an airstone, HERE'S MY QUESTION

- IS MY TANK NOW INFECTED FOREVER WITH ICH AND ARE MY OTHER FISH IN DANGER?? WHAT DO I DO NOW?? One thing for sure - I'm going out today and purchase a 10 gal tank for quarantine procedures. Please advise. Message to other newcomers to the hobby - after several $K what's another $50 for a quarantine tank is worth a good nights sleep

 

[Al Z]

Skeeter1
I would think that there are people who do quarantine.
It hasn't been neccessary for me because
1) I dip the fish for an hour in aquarium water treated with Seachem's Paraguard, and
2) the fish I have are all small, territorial types, pseudochromids, blennys, gobies, dragonets - fish which adapt far more easily to aquarium life than big, fast moving types like tangs.
As to your questions.
Of course your other fish are in danger.
And no, your tank is not forever infested with ich, not if you are willing to remove all your fish from the main tank for a month and let the parasite die out there. Your fish will have to be treated elsewhere, and you won't have to be told that ten gallons will be insufficient room.

 

[FMarini]

Hi:
Sorry for the problems, unfortunately
you just discovered why people quarentine fish.
yes i do quarentine fish, and i always recommend it for people w/ really expensive fish, and reef tanks(since its so hard to remove a sick fish, and nearly impossible to treat a reef tank)-I'm in the really expensive fish category.

W/ that said...your best solution now is to capture these fish and treat them. A cheap/easy quarentine tank is nothing more than a rubbermaid tub(20-30gal=$7-10) used tank water, and a sponge filter w/ airpump. This is more than sufficent. You have two choice how to treat these fish. Copper is the mostr effective and the quickest(cupramine is great stuff), hyposalinity is also effective. Using copper treat for a minimum of 10 days using hypo treat no less than 30.
As an aside you could try these 'reef-safe" treatments. Its a mixed bag whether they work for you.
Your call
frank

[ July 31, 2001: Message edited by: FMarini ]

 

[danmhippo]

You mentioned you have several other happy fish. What are they and how big are they? Which one seems to be the king of the tank?

Basically, ick parasite exist in most aquarium. I am sure I could have some still lurking in my sand bed. But what triggers it is weakened immune system of the fish. As long as the fish are happy, not stressed, no fights, eats readily, and overall healthy, even if there is another fish covered with ick, the healthy one will not get a bit of ick on it. Fishes' natural immune system is adequate enough to fight off ick on its own.

I could only guess there are other stress factor in your tank. But can't help you if we don't have more details.

 

[McReef1]

Skeeter-

I have had lots of luck treating Ich in my reef without removing any fish and using a UV sterilizer for short periods (2 weeks or so at a time). I would be interested to see what others have to say about this.

One cannot use UV in a reef tank for very long because it kills off certain bacteria and may cause your tank to cycle. I hope someone who has more of a biological background would comment on the exact effects of this.

Fact is, my LFS (as experienced a group as I have ever experienced) recommended this to me and it worked great without any noticeable effect on corals, LR, etc. The first time I had the UV running about 2 weeks which was about 3-4 days after the Ich was "gone" off the fish (purple tang). About 9 days later the ICH was back (but just a little bit). I ran the unit for another 12 days and the ICH has never returned.

That was about 3 months ago. All my corals and fish are happy as ever.

I have heard that powder blue tangs are notorious for getting Ich when they are transported and/or stressed in the slightest way. My LFS will not even sell them because they always seem to end up on their mortality list. Maybe we could all learn a lesson and not try to keep captive those species whose odds of survival are historically low. I don't mean to preach, but I greatly respect my LFS for this approach. They and their customers have a very successful reefkeeping experience due in large part to this approach.

Good luck, and if you would like for me to check my journal for exact dates/times, water quality paramaters, etc., please email me.

McReef

 

[skeeter1]

The other fish in my tank are(1) purple firefish-no signs of ich YET, (2) true perculas - look ok (1) purple pseudo - noticed a small spot today at lunch, he seems to be the dominant fish in the tank too (1) bar goby - no signs. I ordered KICK ICH this morning, hope it's not snake oil. If so I'll move all fish to teatment tank. Nothing more fun than unloading 180 lbs of live rock. Dam*it

 

[danmhippo]

Your current inhabitants, none of them seemed like king of the hills when compared to the 2 tang you just added. Have you seen the 2 tangs showing any aggression?

 

[skeeter1]

danmhippo,
no signs of agression from any fish, the purple pseudo is the only one exhibiting and territorial acts and its only when another comes close to HIS ROCK

 

[Cruiser]

Skeeter

I always quarantine any new fish, invert, or snail before it goes into the main tank, period!. I have gotten a little lazy in my older years and the quarantine period is shortened for certain critters.

I also like to try and fight the parasite from the inside out with the use of medicated foods: Tetra med flake/pellets, food items soaked in garlic extract - fresher the better

, at the same time using external treatments - copper, hyposalintiy, etc.

McReef

"One cannot use UV in a reef tank for very long because it kills off certain bacteria and may cause your tank to cycle."

The UV can only sterilize the micro-organisums suspended in the water that passes through the unit. It cannot sterilize-kill the zillions of bacteria on every surface within your tank. The main reason most aquarists don't use UV in coral dominant-dispaly tanks is they are utilizing all the micro-organisums in the water column to benefit their coral populations.

Remember to maintain the treatment, even after the external signs disappear to make sure you got the entire life cycle of "Ich"

 

[Terry B]

Hi Frank,
I am curious about your statement that copper works better than hyposalinity and that the treatment period for hyposalinity is longer. What do you base these ideas on?
Terry B