Rookie need help it appears to be ICH

[yarddart95]

Well this 2 days ago I noticed my Yellow Tang had little white spots ( Yeah I know ICH ). Rookie Mistake on introducing new fish into your system with out a treated quarantine tank for a few weeks before introduction into the main tank. I now have a 40 gallon quarantine tank!!!!!! I have been reading tons of information on ICH and some say drop the salt ppm to around 1.015 and 82 degrees. It makes me worry about my anemones, sps and lps. I have also been seeing alot of recommendations for utilizing copper to kill of the ICH but it will also kill off my reef. Does reef life also carry the ICH? Is there any other product that wont kill the reef? All the reef appear to be good and healthy and now my tank is contaminated with these little freaks that multiply by the thousands. Any recommendations or suggestions are greatly appreciated!!


Thanks Jes

[PeregrinTook]

From what I've read its best to QT a lot longer than a couple days.Some people recommend QT for up thirty days. Also I've never had ICH but I have read about all those ways to try and cure the fish. Have you read anywhere about dipping the fish in a medicine to fight it off maybe that's an option.

Also I've read that ICH will be in the whole tank and it will cycles just like when you start a new tank, it has to cycle out.

Hope I could help somehow.

And Chris's idea sounds very good I would try that.

[yarddart95]

It has already migrated to my other fish! They drop of the fish about every 2 days and re-hatch and keep the cycle going!! Kinda frustrating!! other reefers I have talked to say as soon as the fish showed signs the whole 150 gallon tank needs treated. I thought the same thing, pull all the fish out and Quarantine in the treated tank , but I cannot confirm that my anemones and such will not also carry the little parasites ( ICH ) scientific name Cryptocaryon or Oodinium. Thus I am in a pickle. Where do i go from here? I do not want them attacking my reef!!

[yarddart95]

I have also read that you can put the contaminated fish in freshwater for 1 minute and the ICH parasites will fall off. Then reintroduce them into the treated quarantine tank for a 5 to 6 weeks. Has anyone ever tried this?

[redemer123]

Some would argue that once the parasite is in the main tank it is there indefinitely. I know after my rookie mistake of not quarantining in my old 55 gallon I would quarantine all my fish a minimum of five to six weeks. Copper and hypo salinity for ich, aantibiotics for infections, and praziquental for worms. I bet after this ordeal you'll have learned your lesson

[ReefTech]

I've faced ich before, but I've never heard or read it anywhere that it will mess with any type of coral or anemones. Unless something has been discovered recently about it. The best thing to do is, like Chris said, catch the fish and quarintine them for a long period of time. That way the ich in the display tank won't be able to cycle cause they need a host to attach to and with the fish gone they'll either die off but some with lie dormant in the sand bed. There are medications out there that are reef friendly but they never worked for me and others that have used them have reported the same thing.so quarintine fish, the longer the better, your corals will be fine. I wouldn't mess with the temp or salinity in the display tank. And when you finally do return the fish to the display tank do everything you can to reduce the amount of stress there under. If any of the ich is dormant in the sand a stressed out fish will be like a magnet for the ich. Plus make sure your feeding your fish a variety of healthy choices an soaking it in garlic will help there immune systems.

[yarddart95]

Definitely learned it the hard way. Please if anyone has any other recommendations, I am all ears and eyes!! Redemer123 you nailed on the head with your quote @ the bottom!! Thank you It takes a long long time to build a coral reef. Step by step the reefs survive on partnerships. And the most important partners are you and I.

[TanksEveryWhere]

If you have proper lighting and a easily movable coral collection, you can use the 40B to House the coral and than treat the tank w/ hypo to rid the main s\system of the ich. DO NOT PUT COPPER IN YOU REEF, or even in the DT

[jduck]

First it sounds like we need a little education.

Ich or Cryptocaryon Irritans have 4 stages of life. We are most familiar with the parasitic stage (Trophonts) when we see the little white dots on our fish. Once they mature they drop off the fish and sink/swim to the substrate where they encyst and begin to reproduce. Once they are done reproducing, the cyst ruptures releasing the free swimming stage, which then infects the fish. Here is a good illustration of the life cycle.



There are only a few proven methods of treating Marine Ich.
1. Copper - Copper specifically targets the infectious, free-swimming theront stage of Ich. Once the trophonts are buried in the skin of the host, they have protection from the medication. The cyst walls of the tomonts also provide a layer of protection against copper medications. You must also medicate with copper for 14 days to ensure the tomonts and buried trophonts have had exposure to the medication. Keep in mind copper has a narrow range of effectiveness and levels must be monitored at least daily. It is one of the more popular choices due to it being easy to use, but it also has its drawbacks. Like with any medication, too low of a dose is ineffective. The correct concentration of copper has to be maintained in order for medication to work. Too high a dose can be lethal to fish. Although SeaChem Cupramine can be safely dosed up to 8 ppm.

2. Hyposalinity - First invertebrates including coral won't tolerate hyposalinity also any life in live rock or sand such as worms or crustaceans won't tolerate the treatment. So Hyposalinity should not be done on in a display tank.
Using a refractometer, hold salinity at 11ppt to 12ppt until 4 weeks after the last spot was seen. (Best to use salinity, but if you use specific gravity, that equates to roughly 1.008 to 1.009 sp. gr. units). Raise salinity slowly and observe fish for 4 more weeks. Hard to control pH and water quality during treatment. This is the least stressful treatment for the fish. Tomonts need a higher osmotic pressure to help them create the cyst at a specific gravity of 1.009 they cannot complete their part of the cycle.

3. Tank Transfer method - The theory behind the tank transfer method for treating Ich is to move a fish from one tank to the other when the parasites fall off the fish. This happens during dark times in the aquarium so moving the animal first thing in the morning is preferred. The parasites that fall off do not have the ability to complete the life cycle and re-attach. Since the originating tank is a QT tank, simply drain it, clean it, and reestablish it for the next tank transfer. The filter floss used as a seeded biological filter is tossed as is all water. Any PVC is sterilized and any transfer equipment as well. This depletes and eventually eliminates the parasites available to reattach and as a consequence will create a parasite free fish. This is not without stress to the fish but it is in some ways better than copper and just as effective as either copper or hyposalinity. The transfer to the new tank happens on the morning of the 3 day, for a total of 12 days.

Research about Hyposalinity and tank transfer from 1985


4. Chloroquine Phosphate/Sulphate - standard dosage is 40mg/gallon for 10 days. Leave all fish in QT tank. Dose as recommended, re dose if water change is necessary to remove high Ammonia levels.


Which ever method that you decide to treat your fish with. Remember that the display tank needs to be without fish (Fallow) for a minimum of 6 weeks, although some recommend up to 11 weeks, to allow the ich to die off. Otherwise the painstaking process you just went through to treat them was for nothing.

I had an out break in my 240. I was able to catch the majority of the fish. They all went through 10 days of Chloroquine Phosphate treatment. There were 2 wrasses that I had to partition off the display tank and move around some rock to finally catch them 14 days later. They are going through the 10 day treatment now. All the other fish are being housed in a 150g stock tank. Until the display has been fallow for 12 weeks, at which time they will be returned to the display tank. If I did not have corals mounted in my tank yet, I would of considered removing all corals to a separate tank and treating the main system for 10 days. That way it would be less time and I would know it would be Ich free.

[jimsflies]

Just throwing this out for consideration....

Depending on how bad the infection is, you might just leave him in there and feed good food that is soaked in garlic. Tangs are easily stressed and are susceptible to ick. But if the fish is strong enough, it may be able to recover on its own. A temporary UV on the tank wouldn't hurt anything either.