Is this the start of Ick???????

[marrone]

Don't do a fresh water dip. It doesn't work on ich, even the ich that you can see on the fish body isn't effective. In the end it's best to treat either with Copper or hyposalinty.


If you going to do hyposalinty it must be at 1.007-1.009 anything above doesn't work. Also you need to do it for 2 weeks after the last ich spore falls off the fish body. It's best to do it for 4 weeks, as then you'll make sure the ich is dead. Also hyposalinty only works on ich, so if it's not ich it will not do the job.

As for Cleaner Shrimp, they probably do more harm to the fish then help.


And yes you can bring ich into your tank by adding corals, LS or LR. This happens a lot more then people realize. It's always a good idea to rinse off you corals and LR before you place them into your tank. Using some type of coral treatment is a good idea too.

 

[charliethetuna88]

Marrone I had an ich problem not to long ago and I belive it came from a frag or something I didn't buy any fish so its not from a fish carrying it what dip do u recomend for dipping frags and for how long

 

[charliethetuna88]

What's a coral thteatment like an idione dip

 

[topmav1]

Would a UV sterilizer help at this point??

 

[jaa1456]

+1 Marrone on ICH coming in on corals. FW dips do not work either. Cleaner shrimps and Cleaner wrasses do not work for ICH at all. They do not eat Ich. The shrimp eats the dead tissue around the ICH and the Wrasse acually eats the slime coat off the fish. Which in this case you want the slime coat to stay as thick as possible. I have never tried hyposalinity and I would go with a QT tank and use some type of copper treatment. I would also leave the Tang in their longer than the 6 weeks. You don't have to continue treating it in the QT after the 6-8 weeks but leave it in there a little longer. The main reason for this is to allow the ICH in your main tank to die off. Ich can stay in the main tank for quite some time without ever seeing any signs of it.

 

[jaa1456]

Charlie, I use Coral RX, it contains no Iodine at all.

 

[topmav1]

This def came from a coral b/c I haven't added a new fish.

 

[topmav1]

Do I maintain the same feeding for the tang in the QT? Do i need to do water changes on the QT after I've gotten it to 1.08?

 

[marrone]

Marrone I had an ich problem not to long ago and I belive it came from a frag or something I didn't buy any fish so its not from a fish carrying it what dip do u recomend for dipping frags and for how long

There are a number of coral treatments that people use. I would do a search on some of them and use the one that would be correct for the type of coral you're placing into your tank. Remember you also need to worry about think like flatworms, leather eating flatworms and AEFW too, so you should dip all you corals before placing them into your tank.

I also dip them in fresh water, at least the rock part, and use a turkey baster to blast off things on the rock. I also start all my corals in the sump. This way if there is something on them they're confined to the sump, which I can take care of easier than the main tank. Even then some things mayn't show up until later, when the conditions in the tank are favorable to them, but you can stop things like ich and Flatworms.

 

[KathyC]

Do I maintain the same feeding for the tang in the QT? Do i need to do water changes on the QT after I've gotten it to 1.08?

Yes, keep the same feeding schedule for the tang.

You will need to test the water in the QT at least daily as it is an uncycled tank - so you will get an ammomnia spike. You need to keep the ammonia as close to zero as possible!

Don't use water from your DT for the water changes - it can very possibly contain free-swimming ich looking for a host and will defeat the entire purpose of the QT.

 

[topmav1]

Ok so I read that I should fill the QT with half tank water and half RO/DI unsalted...
correct? Obviouly watching the Salinity...

Or should i not use the tank water at all?

 

[KathyC]

Ok so I read that I should fill the QT with half tank water and half RO/DI unsalted...
correct? Obviouly watching the Salinity...

Or should i not use the tank water at all?

You need to match the water in the QT to your DT including PH and temp.

Some folks see no issue with using part of the tank water to start a QT - assuming the free-swimming ich that could be in it will die from the low SG. IMO I see no good in doing that. I would that that clean, new water would be the best thing to help any ailing fish.

Don't forget to add an airpump and a heater as well.

Read here on setting up the QT to do a Hypo-salinity treatment:
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/hyposalinity.html

 

[topmav1]

You need to match the water in the QT to your DT including PH and temp.

Some folks see no issue with using part of the tank water to start a QT - assuming the free-swimming ich that could be in it will die from the low SG. IMO I see no good in doing that. I would that that clean, new water would be the best thing to help any ailing fish.

Don't forget to add an airpump and a heater as well.

Read here on setting up the QT to do a Hypo-salinity treatment:
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/hyposalinity.html

Ok thanks.

 

[topmav1]

My wife just called and said she doesn't see any spots on the kole tang today. Is it normal for Ick symptoms to go away and reappear?? Or is my Tang fighting it and maybe winning???

 

[marrone]

Yes it is. The ich just worked it way through the fish and the white spot is the final thing before it falls off the fish and the cycle starts over again. It's best to get the fish of the tank.

 

[KathyC]

My wife just called and said she doesn't see any spots on the kole tang today. Is it normal for Ick symptoms to go away and reappear?? Or is my Tang fighting it and maybe winning???

2 reasons why -
1- it may not have had ich in the first place. At times there can be sand or debris (from hunting around for pods or whatever in your tank)stuck to the fish, which is why I asked you to look at the fish again today

2- NO! Ich does not go 'away' like that. Many times people post their fish is 'cured' because they no longer see the spots. That is unfortunately incorrect. The spots you see are intentionally dropping off the fish. Those are cysts loaded with NEW Ich parasites developing. After they drop off they burst open and and now in the 'free-swimming' stage, looking to reattach to a host.
There can still be many cysts that have not broken through the skin yet that are at work here, and can most definitely still be attached to the gills where you cannot see them at all.

Please do not let this give you a false sense of security

Do check again when you get home, and do compare the fish with the pics you put up yesterday.

Sorry for being a kill-joy

 

[topmav1]

Not a kill joy...I kind of assumed it was not over AT ALL! I just want to try and avoid disturbing the clowns especially since she is about to lay eggs. I'm going to take the kole out tonight anyway and leave the clowns. I just did about a 20% water change yesterday. Should I do another soon?

 

[pecan2phat]

The PH MUST match to do a dip.

A FW dip will not get rid of encapsulated cysts.

I also would not raise the temp in the tank as in Marine Ich it does little to shorten the life cycle of Ich (like it would do in FW Ich). More heat in the water lessens the amount of available oxygen, which in this case is a truly bad idea.

How many fish are in the tank, do you see these on any of the others?

Kathy,
I always hear about FW dips for new purchases and even heard Bob Fenner speak about it yesterday at the CMAC conference.
What I want to know is osmoregulation.
I know that most fish can take a drastic leap downward in regards to salinity but what about when you take that fish out of the 5 minute FW dip and throw him into either your display at 1.025 or even a QT at 1.020?
I mean even the experts recommend that when going from hyposalinity treatment, you should only increase .002 per 12 to 24 hours?

 

[nyfynest22]

Hey everyone im also battling ick big time. its killed my hippo, my anthias, and its now on another anthias the problem is i cant catch the fish to put them in a qt tank what are other options in this matter ? if i cant take all my fish out do to the fact that i cant get to them i have a 220 tank with about 500 pounds of rock so im sure you know were im comming from. thanks

 

[marrone]

I've always found that fish have a much easier time taking an increase in SG than a decrease. You see this, a decrease in SG, when LFS get in new fish and place them in tanks with low SG. The fish start to stress out and some will even die from the change.

As for hyposalinity, I feel that you need to reduce the SG much slower than when you raise it back up. I find that you can increase it a lot faster without the fish stressing out to much. Then again you don't need to bring it back as fast anyway, since the fish will be find at the lower SG.