So, I have had minor ich b4 in my tank, individualized to a fish or 2, but this time is full blown ich, not HIV, but full blown aids! It all started with my freaking purple tang, the smallest of my tangs, and his napolean complex. I realized he was stressing every1 out a few days ago. There was slight but managable ich on my hippo tang, so I tried to remove the purple tang. It took several days and lots more stress on the fish until I finally caught him. I have already lost my mated square anthias pair. And fear that most of my fish will die. My blonde naso and hippo are covered. My foxface and yellow tang have it alittle. And most of my smaller fish, midas blenny, bicolor pseudo etc... are rubbing. I am already in the process of raising the water temp and lowering salinity to help rid it. I even fresh water dipped the naso for 2.5 mins last night, just seemed to stress him more. (I did it to a purple tang once, worked great). I have even started adding kick ich. Yes, into a reef tank. I have used it b4, I don't know if it really does anything, but it never seemed to hurt my corals. I am running my halide and 10k atinics alittle less to try to keep the mood alittle more relaxed. I have also hooked up my 36w uv sterilizer that I normally don't have running. I would love to catch the hippo and try to dip it but I don't think I could and the mere chase would stress him more. If my yellow tang (sammy) dies I think my girlfriend and I will be devistated, as he is my longest surviveing sw fish.
Has anyone been in this full blown ich situation b4? Is there any hope. Is there something more I could be doing to save my buddies?
__________________ It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean, but it takes a long time to get to London in a row boat.
The best way to treat ich IMO is to pull all the fish out and put them into quarantine where you can treat with copper. treating ich while the fish are IN a reef tank is a loosing proposition. You can't balance the needs of treatment with the needs of a healthy reef. They need to be in a separate system for treatment.
Sorry to hear about the ich infestation. Unfortunately, from what I am understanding, if you don't quaranteen all of them now and treat them in a separate tank, you stand a chance of loosing them all in a short amount of time. IMHO, I would pull all of them and treat them in a bare bottom tank and hold them there for at least 30 days. This will allow your main DT to cycle out the ich in there and die out as they require a host to reproduce. Copper treatments are the most common for ich and are a big No No for a reef system. The copper is even obsorbed into the silicone sealant of tanks to leach out into the water and is harmful to invertebrates, worms and other good tank creatures. Even though the fish may look fine after treatment, if you put them back into the DT before the 30 days, you will have the ich all over again.
Hellow sorry for your losses I cant add anything more to what was already said but Iv had full blone ick and it wasnt to good I had alot of loses untill I realized to qurentine so good luck hope they heal quick.
Raymond
I have also hooked up my 36w uv sterilizer that I normally don't have running.
Why would you own a UV and not use it. I've been a staunch believer in UV sterilizers for 40 years. Plugging it in now isn't going to solve your problem. It's too little, to late.
If you could count all the little white spots on your infected fish, then multiply that number times 360 you'd get a grasp of the number of new trophants in your system looking for a host. The constant use of an adequate sized UV will keep trophant numbers low giving your fish a better chance of fighting off the disease. That along with an appropriate diet, clean water, good water parameters and a stress free life will keep their immune system in tip top shape.
My guess is that the number of Tangs in your system (4) played a significant role in causing the stress that brought on the disease.
Dick
__________________ Amphibious
Reaching my 70th BD, I realize that I cannot help but grow old. However, I refuse to grow up!!! My wife would tell you, "He may be 70 but, He's going on 17". Life is wonderful with a woman like that.
Thanks for the input. I know taking them out and is the best option, but near impossible. I could catch maybe a handful, but the hippo, the worst of them all, could never be caught. I know 4 tangs seems like alot, but all were great together, except the purple. The others never bothered a soul. He alone was the problem. But being that he was like that, yes haveing another 3 didn't help.
Current staus is no more loses. The naso and hippo are coverd, the yellow tang and foxface have alittle, and everything else seems to have little or none. despite the present circumstance all the fish seem to be acting and eating just fine aside from the naso, he stays in the corners keeping to himself. Lucky for me I have 7cleaner shrimp and a cleaner wrasse that are going crazy cleaning everyone. The fact that ever1 is still eating gives me some hope they may recover, but I fear for the naso and anyothers that follow in his pattern of not eating.
__________________ It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean, but it takes a long time to get to London in a row boat.
Aside from the blonde naso, breathing looks fairly normal. I really think I freaked him bad by dipping him, he freaks when I near nay part of the tank hes by. I just fed the tank and everyone is eating like normal, except for the naso. He was my newest addition and at $85, I would pref not to lose him.
__________________ It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean, but it takes a long time to get to London in a row boat.
So, just got back as I spent the night out of state, and as I suspected the naso did not survive. Everyone else on the other hand seems to being doing about the same. Maybe even a tiny bit better, but not much. I will keep doing what I can to rid the ich.
__________________ It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean, but it takes a long time to get to London in a row boat.
Shananagans, I truly regret that you are in a situation where you are not able to pull the fish out and quaranteen them while treating them and give your main DT a chance to break the life cycle of this parasite. I have posted a link below for you to read, if you haven't already done so, so you will have a better understanding with what you are up against, the life cycle of this parasite and treatment options available. I am hoping that you have no more losses and can regroup shortly.
For the first time in 10 years I am dealing with Ich also. My Volitan is in a hypo bath right now going on 3 weeks. I really thought Ich was what happened to "other people" and I still have no idea how mine got it. I didn't really have to choose between copper and hypo because he is a scaleless fish and will only tolerate the hypo.... but if he was a "regular" fish, he would be sitting in copper right now.
Well, just another update, no further losses have occurred. Not much seems to have change, I did notice the fog over my hippos eyes have gone away. The ich seems to be small if that makes sense. I have raised them temp in my tank significantly, and that is what I think has made the diff. Since I am hoping another week or 2 of this should have them back in good health. I have been keeping an eye on my corals and the temp has not seemed to effect them.
__________________ It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean, but it takes a long time to get to London in a row boat.
The parasite that causes ich only lives on the fish for one phase of its life. They then drop off the fish to go through the other stages and then reinfect the fish again. Some fish seem to develop a resistance to ich. Raising the temp speeds the lifecycle up but does not kill the parasite.
© Copyright Max Strandberg
icon under their name to add to their reputation.