first case of ich

[SDW]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#ok, my fish has ich, and this is my first time dealing with it. I asked a friend who also has sw fish and she said to just feed the fish good and it would eventually clear up. The question for you is, does this sound like "BS" or is she right? I have a QT but filter blew and I think it is still cycling with the new filter. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Whoyah]

A few more detail would help. What kind of fish? How old to tank? Water parameters?

[SDW]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#oops sorry. I have a 55 gal tank that was established for about 3 years before I bought it. I have had it for about 6 months now and the fish that is infected is a recent buy, a coral beauty. She is3 weeks in this tank and I started noticing the ich about 4 days ago. The water is at 1.025 sg, ph 8.0, temp 76.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Whoyah]

What out fish/critter do you have in the tank?

[SDW]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I have a yellow tang, which was introduced with the cb angel, two yellow tail damsels, 1 chromis, some coral. Some turbo snails, some crabs, 2 choc chip stars. Had a black long spine urchin-died a few weeks ago, don't know why. Pretty much it.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Whoyah]

hmm. tough call. Basically you now have ich in your main tank. The only way to cure this would be move the ALL the fish over to a QT tank for 45 days. The main tank needs to be fish free for 45 days to insure the life cycle of ich is broken. Treat the fish for ich in the QT. I know this sounds extreme but that is best option in the long run. FYI if the cb angel has it the tang will probably have it soon.

[Reef_Angel]

Whoyah is absolutely right. Moving them all into the QT tank is your best solution, and leave your main tank fish free no matter how good the others look. It there are parasites/ich, they need a host. Take the host away, and your tanks population of problems will go away. Run your tank as usual, don't add anything to it. Just watch your parameters and keep it up and ready for your other fish after they finish their cure. If you put them back before that time, they will get the disease again. Have you used any chemicals in your QT tank before? There are a few different ways to handle the ick problem, and it's been discussed on this site. I'll look through some articles for you to follow for the fish treatment! ...Angel

[Reef_Angel]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#After I posted the comment above, I searched our site to find a good discussion about ich. I actually found one of my own posts with some ot the "how to's" of getting rid of ich. Some of that particular answer may not apply to you, but it should help. You'll be getting a myrid of advice from other's here as well! More questions? Just keep asking! We're happy to help you! Here's my post: :Good Luck! .....Angel #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#60bf00#ed_cl##ed_op#HR#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op #FONT color=#0000ff size=4#ed_cl#Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:19 pm Post subject: #ed_op#BR#ed_cl##ed_op#BR#ed_cl#BEFORE you treat your tank with any copper product, please read this!! If you have one fish that's going to be treated for ich, then you are going to have to treat all the fish. If you use copper medication to do this, then you will not be able to use that tank for anything but fish. Copper medication will kill any coral you may have, and once it's been in the tank, you can scrub it for days and not get the copper out of that tank. It will leach out into your tanks clean water, and it will do harm to your coral and your invertebrates. I would suggest using hyposalinity to treat all the fish....corals would have to be removed. It takes about 6 weeks, but it will insure that your fish & tank will be free of ich. #ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#0000ff size=4#ed_cl#Hyposalinity is the lowering of the salinity to 1.10, and holding it there for 4 to 6 weeks in order to rid the system of parasites. Here's a link that will explain the process of doing this safely: #ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#0000ff size=4#ed_cl##ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#0000ff#ed_cl##ed_op#A href="http://www.captivereefing.com/lexicon.php?letter=Hyposalinity%20Treatment"#ed_cl ##ed_op#FONT size=4#ed_cl#http://www.captivereefing.com/lexico...cl##ed_op#FONT size=4#ed_cl# #ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#0000ff size=4#ed_cl##ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#0000ff size=4#ed_cl#There's no quick fix to ick orther parasites. You may have found this on them soon enough to have a successful treatment. By monitoring your water, and watchng their progress, you may just have the success that you're looking for. Good luck with all of them. You might want to think about a bigger tank when they're all better, or having 2 running and break up the batch of fish you have there. Always read up on what you buy first, and learn about each fish to insure they will last a long time in you tank without outgrowing your system so quickly. Hope this helps a bit! Keeping our fingers crossed for you! ....Angel #ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#HR#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#0000ff size=4#ed_cl##ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#