Ick!

[Lifer]

So I lost the battle with ick and lost all my livestock. 2 clowns, 1 yellow tang, 1 blue tang, and 1 azzure damsel. I finally setup a quarantine tank but it was too late. My question is, how long before I can restock? I heard it takes up to 5 weeks to ensure any ick parasites die off without a host. I have some soft corals so I don't want to medicate the main tank. I will be quarentining any new fish, but how long should I wait?

[jack1978]

I'd go 10 weeks without fish in the display.

Any new fish 2 weeks in QT treated with Cupramine.

 

[Lifer]

Wow, that's a long time. Thanks, I heard cleaner shrimps eat ick. Any thoughts?

[jack1978]

Wow, that's a long time. Thanks, I heard cleaner shrimps eat ick. Any thoughts?

 

They do not do anything for ich. Time for the parasites to run their life cycle and medication for your fish is what will work. It sucks, but better than loosing more livestock later. Focus on some more coral in the mean time....make sure you dip those as well.

What size Frank are you running?

[Lifer]

I have a 29 gallon coralife biocube. It's been running for about 6 months. My first run at saltwater, and it's been very smooth, all water parameters are great and I was changing 5 gal of water each week. I never quarantined before and never thought it would happen to me. It was the blue tang that infected my tank.

[Dark_ice]

+1 about waiting ten weeks, what's you're tank size by the way? and by blue tang are you referring to a blue hippo tang or a blue powder?

[Lifer]

It was a regal tang. All were very young, the regal was maybe 1" big. The yellow tang was 1.5" and the rest were less than an inch. I tried to acquire them small to grow together and give me time before they outgrow the cube.

[jack1978]

It was a regal tang. All were very young, the regal was maybe 1" big. The yellow tang was 1.5" and the rest were less than an inch. I tried to acquire them small to grow together and give me time before they outgrow the cube.

 

Before the "Tang Police" jump out of the woodwork, it's not recommended to keep them in such tight quarters....even if you plan on moving them at some point. And, they can be ich magnets. Research some fish better suited for your tank in its downtime.

 

[Lifer]

Slow down jack. This is not my first rodeo. I have seen many arrangements like mine that house a tang, including members on this site. Ick outbreaks can happen to anyone. This is my first one with corals

[TJ_Burton]

Slow down jack. This is not my first rodeo. I have seen many arrangements like mine that house a tang, including members on this site. Ick outbreaks can happen to anyone. This is my first one with corals

 

That doesn't make it right...

 

 

 

 

 

says the guy with a vlamingi tang in a 20 gallon

 

 

 

[metrokat]

Slow down jack. This is not my first rodeo. I have seen many arrangements like mine that house a tang, including members on this site. Ick outbreaks can happen to anyone. This is my first one with corals

Tangs are ick magnets as you probably know. Possibly the fish most reported in our hobby to have ick. I understand about the size of your tang being small. It is also possible that close quarters cause stress and aggression with fish that are used to swimming in volumes more of water. Stress causes the fish to have low immunity, hello ick.

[jedimasterben]

Stress causes the fish to have low immunity, hello ick.

The presence of the parasite is what causes the attack - anything that lessens the slime coat will add fuel to the fire. I can chop all the fins off a fish (can't think of anything much more stressful) and as long as it stays alive, it won't be a host to a parasite that isn't in the tank.

[GlassHouse]

Ich lifecycle in tomont stage (the stage where it's in the aquarium without fish) is 3 - 28 days. +/- a day or so on either side for the other stages, so let's call this 4 weeks. This covers 99% of marine ich infestations. The tomont stage may last a few extra days, but much longer simply isn't reasonable and 10 weeks is simply impossible. It's like a person being pregnant for 18 months, it simply doesn't happen. Out of abundance of caution, most people recomend leaving a tank fallow for 6 weeks. This is more than adequate, but you have to write it down and actually count out the weeks.

[Lifer]

The regal tang was new, about 2 weeks in the tank, he had a great hiding spot in the rocks. There was no aggressive behavior. All the fish seemed very comfortable together. He must have had ick when I bought it. I just wanted to make sure I let the parasites life cycle complete before I introduce any new fish.

 

Thanks GlassHouse. That's good info.

[jedimasterben]

Ich lifecycle in tomont stage (the stage where it's in the aquarium without fish) is 3 - 28 days. +/- a day or so on either side for the other stages, so let's call this 4 weeks. This covers 99% of marine ich infestations. The tomont stage may last a few extra days, but much longer simply isn't reasonable and 10 weeks is simply impossible. It's like a person being pregnant for 18 months, it simply doesn't happen. Out of abundance of caution, most people recomend leaving a tank fallow for 6 weeks. This is more than adequate, but you have to write it down and actually count out the weeks.

The longest recorded tomont stage was around 90 days, and I've seen some statements that 128 days was observed but not recorded.

[Rollermonkey]

Slow down jack. This is not my first rodeo. I have seen many arrangements like mine that house a tang, including members on this site. Ick outbreaks can happen to anyone. This is my first one with corals

You may have seen misleading advertisements with tangs photoshopped into a BioCube or the like, but I promise that you haven't seen any successful tanks on this site with any number of tangs in a BioCube.

 

Also, welcome to Nano-Reef.

 

The longest recorded tomont stage was around 90 days, and I've seen some statements that 128 days was observed but not recorded.

Jedi, I know this subject is one you've been paying a lot of attention to, and I trust your knowledge of it more than most... Have you heard about some purported strain of ich that remains dormant for ten months? I have trouble believing anyone could isolate a tank for that long without introducing a new source, even if from an unexpected vector.

[Lifer]

http://www.nano-reef.com/featured/_/2010/zook-r34

 

Here's one. 20 gal

[Lifer]

This is way of topic. I've seen tangs at the lfs in much smaller enclosures. I have associates with tangs in a nanotank for years, It's not about the tang, it's about the life cycle of ick

[jedimasterben]

Jedi, I know this subject is one you've been paying a lot of attention to, and I trust your knowledge of it more than most... Have you heard about some purported strain of ich that remains dormant for ten months? I have trouble believing anyone could isolate a tank for that long without introducing a new source, even if from an unexpected vector.

I've heard of it, but never seen any concrete data. There are more and more cases of the parasite that are able to withstand very low salinity and are resistant to copper.

[ward827]

And yet another thread about to derail . . .

*Mention yellow tang and look out!

[Lifer]

Lol. Hopefully there won't be a next time but if I ever mention ick, I'm not specifying what kind if fish!

[jack1978]

Slow down jack. This is not my first rodeo. I have seen many arrangements like mine that house a tang, including members on this site. Ick outbreaks can happen to anyone. This is my first one with corals

 

"Slow down"? I wasn't bashing you. Just giving some basic info. I assumed this hobby was new to you by the nature of the information contained in your posts. I had no idea this was not your "first rodeo". Please continue on as everything seems to be working out well for you.

Good job.

[Lifer]

Thanks Jack. I have had an aquarium for 20 years, everything from planted to African cichlids. I currently have a 90 gal Oscar tank. I have had a fish only saltwater for over a year. This is my first coral tank and I wasn't sure if marine ick behaved any different than freshwater ick. I'm still learning about corals. I appreciate your feedback.

[jedimasterben]

Yeah, about the only similarity between Ichthyophthirius multifiliis and Cryptocaryon irritans is that they're both commonly called 'ich', unfortunately, the two are night and day.

[GlassHouse]

The longest recorded tomont stage was around 90 days, and I've seen some statements that 128 days was observed but not recorded.

Anectodal evidence isn't really "proof" as there are too many variables. For example, I've seen one person on another board swear up and down that they kept their tank fallow for 8 weeks and then re-introduced the fish only to have them get ich again. I went back and looked at their tank thread and it hadn't even been two weeks! Other people take the fallow time to add corals to their tanks, which has the ability to re-introduce ich that hitchikes in on frag plugs or live rock. It's all very anectodatal. Scietific studies show that, the vast majority of ich only has a one or two week tomont stage.

 

If there is a scientific study showing a 90 day tomont stage, please provide a link. Otherwise, I have to believe that it's sadly just an old wives tale.