Return of the Killer Ick

[TopCat]

I have a 90 gallon tank and 29 gallon sump. Two tangs died from the ick and one of the B&W Clownfish started having the ick. I put another powerhead (MJ 1200) and the ick disappeared from the B&W Clownfish. At this point, I have 2 B&W Clowns, 1 Snowflake, 2 Chromis and 1 Cleaner Shrimp in the tank.

So i thought no more ick, yay! I bought 2 large True Percs like 2 days ago. The ick has returned on both these two new True Percs. The other 5 fishes are fine. I also have 2 Anenome in the tank now.

I read up on the treatments. It seems that the best thing to do is the hyposalinity one. Should I remove the 2 Anenome and the Cleaner shrimp and do it to the entire tank? This way I'll know the ick is gone for good. Or should I try to catch all 7 fishes, put them in a 29 gallon tank and do it there?

Any alternative and/or advice would help.

Thanks,
TopCat

 

[james1990]

ill share what I know from the research I did on MR.

you need to remove the fish and put them in a quarantine tank. I believe hypo salinity should not be done in your main tank but I would search that. I dont see how adding a powerhead does anything for the ick parasite? what you could have been seeing is a different stage in the parasites cycle. All fish have ick, it depends if the fish has a healthy immune system to not be affected by it.

do you quarantine your new fish at all? if not, this is why your having this problem and no matter what treatment you do, you will always get it back.

so you need to QT the fish in a separate tank and keep the display tank fishless for 4-8 weeks so the ick has nothing to attach too and die. As for the process you do for hyposalinity I will leave the internet to help you on that.

but you need to do some research on what your dealing with. Once you have an ick outbreak and even loose fish to it, you shouldn't add new fish until it is taken care of.

 

[TopCat]

Yeah, I will surely QT in the future. Do I remove the ones with the ick and treat them in a seperate tank or just remove ALL the fishes? I dont know how I can put all 7 fishes in a 26 gallon tank tho :X

 

[edd]

you have to treat all fish. read up if you can remove other things from dt and do hypo in dt. i would also research how long tank needs to be fish less cause i read from 1month- 3 months. my 150 has been fish less since october 4, i have 2 picassos in qt now. I'm not taking any chances. i also read that not all fish have ick its parasite and they have to pick it up some where.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

you need to treat all fish. Do it in a QT. 7 fish in a 26G is not too bad if you have some structures such as a bunch of PVC for the fish to hide. In fact, I usually maintain a low salinity hospital tank with live rocks. About.com has a nice write up of how do the hypo properly.

 

[mbg75]

8 week minimum fallow period to rid tank of ick.