Banner image

Could use some advise on getting rid of ich. (1 Viewer)

gasman

gasman

I contributed!
Lifetime Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2011
Messages
554
Location
Annandale, MN
I have a Powder Blue Tang thats got ich, yes I know they are magnets for ich, is there any better way of ridding the display tank of it other than pulling all the livestock out and treating them in a hospital tank and waiting 8 weeks for the ich to all die out in the tank?

What would you use for the treatment in the hospital tank?

Can inverts carry ich or is it just the fish that need to leave the tank?​

This tang had it, then was clear of it, only to have it again the last couple days.. I have the brine shrimp soaking in Selcon as I type this. I also was reading about soaking food in garlic, as well. I tried that this morning and the fish looked at their food and gave me the finger! I don't blame them. I know David G will be chiming and I'm looking for his thoughts as well..........ok, ready!

Oh BTW, does just the tang go in the hospital tank or all of them? Which product would you use to treat this? There are no coral in the tank yet.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Only way to rid yourself of it is all fish in hospital tank. Lots of arguments over whether it will forever remain out of your tank as the ?cysts/eggs? Could come in on snail shells, frag plugs etc in the future. Inverts stay in the display, only fish. Mandarins stay in the display if you have them too, I believe that is OK, verify tho.

You can try to "manage in the display" with more frequent water changes, heavier feeding, keeping algae on a clip at all times for the tangs and maybe running a UV sterilizer. I have seen more failures than successes tho lately with people trying to "manage it". I don't think they feed enough or change enough water frequently enough or both.

In the hospital tank, you can try hypo salinity or copper. Either way, my opinion is the greatest risk to fish in a hospital tank are ammonia or nitrite spikes. I will normally do hypo and use prime or amquel aggessively to counteract ammonia spikes. Some fish don't do well in copper, so check that first.

As you are sort of close and you put up with Angie on occasion, I will offer you the use of a 36w coralife turbo twist UV sterilizer if you like.

Regardless of the route you take, good luck.
 
I believe the consensus is the tank needs to go fallow without any fish for about 72 days (maybe off by a few). Cysts will reside in your tank during this time and without waiting your fish can be reinfected. Inverts will not be a carrier of ich but the cysts could hang out on them (and anything else wet).

If you want to rid your tank of ich then you could use copper or the tank transfer method. Hypo salinity can be problematic as there have been reports of resistant strains.

If you just treat the tang and put it back in the tank he can/will get reinfected. PBTs are notorious for having ich.
 
Last edited:
Doesn't hurt, still isn't a cure, but can help take the edge off temporarily so fish can "live with it" long term.

If you try to manage with it, I would be sure to siphon the sand well during water changes.
 
Last edited:
acharpenter said:
Of course there has to be an "Angie dig" in here. Thank you James

He does run a UV http://www.tcmas.org/v4/forums/show...b)-110-REbuild&p=638680&viewfull=1#post638680 but here is a possibly stoopid question I never thought of - would adding another UV help?
Click to expand...
Yep, already have a 40 watt UV on the sump. how big a hospital tank would you use for a tang, goby, chromis and 2 pj cardinals? I suppose the bigger the better. Can you recommend a certain product to treat them with in the hospital tank?
 
Last edited:
this conversation is had all the time and to me it really comes down to - a. either you want the highest possible chance or saving the fish or b. Want to roll the dice and let nature take its course.

For option a, pull the fish and treat in copper.

For option b. Feed well (mysis soaked in selcon not brine) and make sure the water quality is up to par. uv, garlic, reef safe treatments are all really half measures and cumulative have no where near the odds of saving the fish as a cooper treatment will. Lots of things can help, but it's a factor of 1-5% increases in odds vs, 80-90% trump card with cooper.

40 gallon would be a nice size qt for the tang
 
marty9876 said:
this conversation is had all the time and to me it really comes down to - a. either you want the highest possible chance or saving the fish or b. Want to roll the dice and let nature take its course.

For option a, pull the fish and treat in copper.

For option b. Feed well (mysis soaked in selcon not brine) and make sure the water quality is up to par. uv, garlic, reef safe treatments are all really half measures and cumulative have no where near the odds of saving the fish as a cooper treatment will. Lots of things can help, but it's a factor of 1-5% increases in odds vs, 80-90% trump card with cooper.

40 gallon would be a nice size qt for the tang
Click to expand...

it will be getting 5 fish total but the others are small. Will have to put some pvc tubes in there for them to hide in. My understanding is copper doesn't like to come back out of things like rock and substrate well.
 
Bare bottom, pvc pipes are all you need. Make it so much easier to clean. Get come biological filtration in the system with high mechanical filtration helps too. No carbon or skimmer. 20% or more water changes on day 3 and day 6. Use amquel on day 3 and monitor from there on out. Always try and use a ph/kh buffer anytime use amquel as it eats up the kh of a system.

Focus most on the basics, stable temps and oxygen exchange
 
marty9876 said:
Bare bottom, pvc pipes are all you need. Make it so much easier to clean. Get come biological filtration in the system with high mechanical filtration helps too. No carbon or skimmer. 20% or more water changes on day 3 and day 6. Use amquel on day 3 and monitor from there on out. Always try and use a ph/kh buffer anytime use amquel as it eats up the kh of a system.

Focus most on the basics, stable temps and oxygen exchange
Click to expand...

as in an air stone? which buffer would you recommend?
 
Power head/surface aggregation ( plus the tang will want some flow). Air stones don't really oxygenate water, it's the water turning over at the surface that does the gas exchanges.

Any buffer at all, could use alk if you does two part. Technically could use baking soda but I don't know the dosing guidelines for that and you can easily over do it. Point is amquel alone will drop your ph and in a 'new tank' the ph is always a challenge to start with so adding a product to lower the ph more is not so good. It's not that amquel is bad just nice way to promote a more stable enviroment is to buffer anytime use it.
 
marty9876 said:
Power head/surface aggregation ( plus the tang will want some flow). Air stones don't really oxygenate water, it's the water turning over at the surface that does the gas exchanges.

Any buffer at all, could use alk if you does two part. Technically could use baking soda but I don't know the dosing guidelines for that and you can easily over do it. Point is amquel alone will drop your ph and in a 'new tank' the ph is always a challenge to start with so adding a product to lower the ph more is not so good. It's not that amquel is bad just nice way to promote a more stable enviroment is to buffer anytime use it.
Click to expand...

guess its a trip out to grab a tank tomorrow........and get some amquel. I hate livin rural, closet option is petsmart
 
Marty, I use seachem prime. It says it doesn't cause the pH to drop. Opinions?

40b with a HOB and a power head and a screen top of some sort, then PVC for hiding places is what I use. (Heater, controller etc)

I will toss bioballs in my sump a few days and then put them in the hob with some floss.
 
LowersMyBP said:
Marty, I use seachem prime. It says it doesn't cause the pH to drop. Opinions?
Click to expand...

I have no experience with that product. Marketing never lies right?!? :) My gut would say all those products contain the same active chemical since they all do the same thing but that's over my pay grade.

For me, I view buffer and Amquel (or equivalent) as part of the fish disaster recovery kit. Those two fix four of the basics in minutes with ease (ammonia and pH). Temperature and oxygen are the other two biggies and those are solved via setup/heaters/pumps etc. Handle those four environmental factors and the rest falls into place more often than not.
 
marty9876 said:
I have no experience with that product. Marketing never lies right?!? :) My gut would say all those products contain the same active chemical since they all do the same thing but that's over my pay grade.

For me, I view buffer and Amquel (or equivalent) as part of the fish disaster recovery kit. Those two fix four of the basics in minutes with ease (ammonia and pH). Temperature and oxygen are the other two biggies and those are solved via setup/heaters/pumps etc. Handle those four environmental factors and the rest falls into place more often than not.
Click to expand...


So do you have a favorite copper treat you use? I was reading some leave the tank blue, others don't.......I've never had to use one before.
 
Cupermine, safest and easiest to use. Don't turn tanks blue (that's meth blue if think your referring too).

Cupermine - 1 drop per gallon day one then 1 drop per gallon day three and then .5-1 drop per gallon on day five (.5 for sensitive fish). When do water changes add back the cu you took out e.g. 2.5-3 drops per gallon if at full strength
 
marty9876 said:
Cupermine, safest and easiest to use. Don't turn tanks blue (that's meth blue if think your referring too).

Cupermine - 1 drop per gallon day one then 1 drop per gallon day three and then .5-1 drop per gallon on day five (.5 for sensitive fish). When do water changes add back the cu you took out e.g. 2.5-3 drops per gallon if at full strength
Click to expand...

That sounds like a plan. I have a chromis, 2 pj cardinals, a fire goby and the blessed trouble-maker tang. Do any of those sound sensitive? You treat the fish just a week and let the tank sit fishless for around 72 days? Shrimp are inverts, right? would you treat for anything else while they're out of the tank like flukes or other crud?
 
Last edited:
Fire goby might be a issue, general rule of thumb smooth skin fish can have sensitivities to cooper. Midas Benny for example, not good with cooper. You really can't leave him in there so not much choice there but to try it.

Run the cooper for 3 weeks once you've hit full strength e.g. 4 weeks total. Shrimp and such leave in the tank, I've never done the fallow bit but that's the number thrown around. Long time.

Can't hurt to run a round or two of praziquantel (prazipro) but do it after the cooper and the copper is out of the water to be safest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top