Ick ick ick ick!!!!

[nyfynest22]

Hey everyone ive been fighting ick on my hippo for about 2 weeks now, and he dies yesterday i guess from it so i took him out and this morning my barbounius anthias has ick all over him, i did a water change yesterday but im not sure why he got it out of no where. Am i going to lose all my fish? i dont want to start dosing in my tank due to its a reef tank and i def do not want to disturb my corals huh anyone have any ideas?

parimeters

salinity= 1.28
ph=8.2
nitrites=0
phosphates=0
cal=400
kh=10.6

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

Get a QT tank and get all fish out then, ich will die after 8 weeks in DT if fish are not introduced

 

[nyfynest22]

wow this is going to be fun

 

[Marcellina]

Agree with what Jarrett says. Treat all you fish for the ick. Take them out of your main display and leave it fishless for at least 8 weeks. Put your fish in a QT for those 8 weeks and treat them with Copper - I used Cupramine. I STRONGLY suggest getting a copper test kit as well bc when I used the Cupramine the instructions werent too clear. I had to put a little bit more than what the bottle said until the water in the QT reached the right copper level.

You can try hyposalinity but I think the copper is the best thing and easier than other remedies. Also make sure you mix their foods with garlic oil and some selcon to help their immunity. Keep them as comfortable as possible when in the QT. After 8 weeks they should be fully cured and your main tank should have bid rid of all the ick cysts bc they cant survive without a living host. THey dont attack or breed on the CUCs or corals just fish.

If you have fish that require a big tank you may just get a big plastic container from like Home Depot and use that as a makeshift QT so the bigger fish dont get stressed out, just make sure there is a powerhead and filter (NO LIVE ROCK- the copper will kill it and then you cant use again it bc it will have absorbed copper). A thermometer too is needed to keep temp steady.

 

[Marcellina]

wow this is going to be fun

Im sorry you have to go through this

:tub:Just think of it as giving them a nice long bath!

 

[Briggz]

Sounds like you may save some of your fish act quickly get a QT sized for you fish your going to need to do water changes at lest once a day on the QT cuz its A NEW tank man this is going to suck! and keep them in there for 8 weeks wish u luck!

 

[nyfynest22]

How does kick ick work? Also I have about 500 pounds of rock and I have no idea how I'm going to catch all of these fish


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[Avi]

nyfy...how many fish do you have in your reef?

 

[JonnyJ]

purchase or borrowing some traps would ideally be your best bet. I have even heard people suggest to wait 10 weeks instead of 8 to make absolute sure it didn't somehow survive and wind up making you repeat the process. just my two cents Considering its such a big system.

 

[basiab]

How does kick ick work? Also I have about 500 pounds of rock and I have no idea how I'm going to catch all of these fish

Did I miss something. No one mentioned kick ick before. And that is because it doesn't work. If it did, you wouldn't be getting suggestions to empty your tank.
I can offer you an alternative that did work for me. I left everyting as is and just tried to feed my fish well including garlic. Now in my case only one of my new fish had it (out of 4) and none of the others caught it. It took about 4 weeks for it to totaly go away. It is taking a chance and you may lose some or all fish. But even when you treat with copper (which I did try a few years ago) you can lose some fish. Being that it is such a large tank you maay want to try that. Which means you are hoping the fish will develop immunity to ick. The other down side is that you tank has ick so even though your fish show no symptoms it is there. The problems comes in to play when you try adding new fish. They may or may not be able to resist the ick.

 

[joseney21]

try to catch your fish and quarantine/treat them as others have suggested. sucks to loose your fish to ick. it may look like it goes away at times but this is due to ick's different forms during it's life cycle. good luck

BTW, quarantine any new fish you get in the future to be totally sure you dont introduce it to your tank again after getting rid of it, it's a good idea to dip and/or quarantine all new livestock you introduce to the tank.

 

[nyfynest22]

I have about 10 fish in my tank, I was wondering about kick ick due to the fact that it's almost impossible to remove these fishes due to the amount of rock that's why I said kick ick


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[SevTT]

If you've got ich severe enough that it's killing fish, garlic and other less drastic methods probably won't work very well, and almost certainly not in time to save afflicted fish. Get the worst fish out and into a hyposalinity OR copper OR formalin/malachite green treatment ASAP. (What treatment is best depends on the kind of fish; some are more sensitive than others to any of those treatments. When in doubt hyposalinity's probably the easiest, but I have heard of some strains of ich that're resistant to this treatment.) Copper'll work for sure, but some fish have real problems with it.

As to getting all of the fish in the tank out ... the best thing you could probably do is drain out most of your tank water (slowly, and without scaring the fish so they don't wedge themselves in the LR,) and catch them in the reduced water volume.

In any case, it's really going to suck. However, once you do get all of your fish through this and let the tank lay fallow, you shouldn't ever have any problems with ich again -- so long as you follow strict quarantine and cross-contamination-prevention procedures. When you've got a small tank, you can be kinda slack, 'cause it's relatively 'easy' to break it down and fish things out. But it sounds like you've got a significnatly larger system.

 

[nyfynest22]

thanks for your help, i wil try to get the fish out today as many as i can. only hope for the best now, im just glad it doesnt affect my corals what if i cant get all my fish out? due to the 500 pounds of live rock?

If you've got ich severe enough that it's killing fish, garlic and other less drastic methods probably won't work very well, and almost certainly not in time to save afflicted fish. Get the worst fish out and into a hyposalinity OR copper OR formalin/malachite green treatment ASAP. (What treatment is best depends on the kind of fish; some are more sensitive than others to any of those treatments. When in doubt hyposalinity's probably the easiest, but I have heard of some strains of ich that're resistant to this treatment.) Copper'll work for sure, but some fish have real problems with it.

As to getting all of the fish in the tank out ... the best thing you could probably do is drain out most of your tank water (slowly, and without scaring the fish so they don't wedge themselves in the LR,) and catch them in the reduced water volume.

In any case, it's really going to suck. However, once you do get all of your fish through this and let the tank lay fallow, you shouldn't ever have any problems with ich again -- so long as you follow strict quarantine and cross-contamination-prevention procedures. When you've got a small tank, you can be kinda slack, 'cause it's relatively 'easy' to break it down and fish things out. But it sounds like you've got a significnatly larger system.

 

[KathyC]

thanks for your help, i wil try to get the fish out today as many as i can. only hope for the best now, im just glad it doesnt affect my corals what if i cant get all my fish out? due to the 500 pounds of live rock?

They will either likely die from it or develop an immunity to Ich (which does NOT always/unusally happen, nor does it last forever if it does happen).
You would have to leave the tank empty of fish for at least 8 weeks while you wait for the parasite to die off.

Do not use water from your DT to set up your QT or refill it.

 

[nyfynest22]

thanks kathy

They will either likely die from it or develop an immunity to Ich (which does NOT always/unusally happen, nor does it last forever if it does happen).
You would have to leave the tank empty of fish for at least 8 weeks while you wait for the parasite to die off.

Do not use water from your DT to set up your QT or refill it.

 

[LongIslandAndy]

Honestly, at this point I would leave the tank and fish alone. Instead of stressing them out anymore, try to attack it from a different angle. If they are eating add garlic, selcon or other good vitamin supplement to their food. Trying to catch them and quarantine them at this point will only stress the fish and moving all the rocks will most likely cause an ammonia spike.

Just my opinion but I have been keeping fish for over 40 years and I have never seen any good from chasing fish around and adding them to a new tank that isn't cycled

Good Luck

 

[cisco1717]

ive had this problem and do let me say 1 important thing.... take out all ur rocks no matter how many lbs it is. save yourself the headache & time of trying to catch them. place ur rocks in salt water otherwise ur kill off the bacteria if u use tap h2o. and am not trying to insult ur inteligence if u know this already. now the most importantly to remember that if u dont have a QT TANK BIO READY then u will have to worry about the cycle unless u have filters u can transfer.

 

[qy7400]

Do not use water from your DT to set up your QT or refill it.

On the initial setup DT water is preferred IMO, you'll want seasoned water the fish are acclimated to but from there once treatment starts you'll want all fresh.

A few things to consider before you do anything, first the QT tank is sufficient in size to safe hold all the fish, stress from the move a tight quarters will only make things worse. No mater which you choose hypo or copper do not transfer any of the live rock from the QT back to the display, your best bet is not use any live rock but PVC fittings as these you can sterilize for future use. My choice here would be hypo as it forces you to run both the display and QT for the 6 weeks needed but also fell hypo is easier on the fish, high copper levels will be just as fatal where SG a little higher or lower will have little to no effect on the fish.

 

[SevTT]

Do not use water from your DT to set up your QT or refill it.

You can certainly use water from your DT to start the QT, and I'd recommend doing so. After all, you're gonna be dumping a bunch of fish that're already full of ich into it, and the meds will kill the motile form, so it's no problem.

Definitely right in not using any main-tank water after set-up, though.