Living with ich: Can/Should it be done?

[HingleMcCringleberry]

Hi all,

 

I’m looking for opinions on wether it is worth trying to cure my ich. 

 

I have ich ich in my 30 gallon reef tank. It broke out about 2 months ago and all the fish made it. I bought some reef safe medicine that claimed it would cure ich knowing it wouldn’t cure it. I do credit the medicine with lessening the burden on my fish and allowing them to fight through it. 

 

My my understanding is that ich is definitely still alive in my tank. Just not in plague proportions. I’ve heard fish start to build a degree of immunity to a particular strain of ich after they fight off the initial infection. So there’s just a small amount of ich feeding on my fish in low enough numbers that my fish maintain their immune systems and appear asymptomatic. 

 

And I guess I could be ok with that. It feels precarious. If the ich ever reaches critical mass then it will start to tax the immune system of the fish. The stress of fighting it off weakens their immune system and it snowballs into another outbreak. That’s my understanding. 

 

But can I avoid giving ich that foothold? My fish get along great. My parameters are stable. And I don’t plan on adding any more fish. So all the biggest triggers to stress a fish and start an outbreak are mostly neutralized?

 

in the meantime, as my fish continue to fight the daily battle of enduring a handful of ich bites, they are slowly building more immunity. Like a cruel vaccine? Maybe?

 

ive also heard from someone that ich can only reproduce and undergo its lifecycle a finite number of times (many years worth). But still. If all my fish hang on, and nothing new is added, could it be possible to make it to the finish line and beat ich by running out the clock?

 

there are tons of encrusting corals that cover a maze of mat holes and crevices in the tank. I could only remove the fish by tearing it all down and sacrificing a lot of coral die off. 

 

Can I live with ich? Has anyone done it? Is it really worth tearing down my tank to kill it?

[Melfy77]

Curious as well. I have the same issue, plus I'm in Canada and copper treatment are no longer available (ie not allowed). So basically we're left with those useless products like kick ich and medic lab...

[HingleMcCringleberry]

Just now, Melfy77 said:

Curious as well. I have the same issue, plus I'm in Canada and copper treatment are no longer available (ie not allowed). So basically we're left with those useless products like kick ich and medic lab...

Woah. Now I’m curious. Why is copper not allowed? Should I be apprehensive about using it? I have been using copper in my hospital tank. 

 

Shoot. Is it an environmental hazard! I’ve been dumping it into my bathtub after water changes??

[Melfy77]

4 minutes ago, HingleMcCringleberry said:

Woah. Now I’m curious. Why is copper not allowed? Should I be apprehensive about using it? I have been using copper in my hospital tank. 

 

Shoot. Is it an environmental hazard! I’ve been dumping it into my bathtub after water changes??

Not a clue actually. Will ask my LFS this afternoon. Will also pick up some garlic extreme. 

[HingleMcCringleberry]

4 minutes ago, Melfy77 said:

Curious as well. I have the same issue, plus I'm in Canada and copper treatment are no longer available (ie not allowed). So basically we're left with those useless products like kick ich and medic lab...

Also haha. Kick ich and rally is what I used to get my fish over the hump. Patient zero was a ridiculously tiny blue hippo that came with a large tank I had bought on Craigslist. Unlike the other fish that came with the tank he was in bad shape. Frighteningly skinny. I doubted he would survive copper and quarantine like that so I put him into my 30 gallon to recuperate. He was covered in ich days later but never stopped fighting and eating even as the water turned green every morning. He’s currently fat and asymptomatic and seemingly happy with his temporary confined space. Those meds aren’t worthless. They did the seemingly impossible and kept a starving baby hippo alive through a massive outbreak. It also didn’t kill my acropora frag so props to ruby reef for being reef safe as advertised.  

[Tamberav]

Don't you need to remove the foxface anyways which requires catching it.

 

A foxface can't stay in a 30g. 

[Melfy77]

3 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Don't you need to remove the foxface anyways which requires catching it.

 

A foxface can't stay in a 30g. 

You mean the tiny hippo tang ? Don't remember reading about a foxface. That being said I could be wrong I do have the memory of a hippo tang ie Dory😂

[HingleMcCringleberry]

44 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Don't you need to remove the foxface anyways which requires catching it.

 

A foxface can't stay in a 30g. 

Yes but the rabbitfish is not hard to catch. I used to catch him and the tang every couple days and give them freshwater dip when they had ich. I just net them quickly when they come up to grab food on the surface.  It’s the hawkfish and wrasse I’m worried about. 

[Jacob319]

For the ick you should mix garlic into their food (which I’m not sure on how to at the moment) but I’ve heard that that’ll get rid of the ick

[Clown79]

15 hours ago, Melfy77 said:

Not a clue actually. Will ask my LFS this afternoon. Will also pick up some garlic extreme. 

It's antibiotic treatments that are no longer sold in stores, you must get a prescription for it from a vet.

 

Cupramine, prazipro, and copper treatments are still sold in stores

[Melfy77]

2 hours ago, Clown79 said:

It's antibiotic treatments that are no longer sold in stores, you must get a prescription for it from a vet.

 

Cupramine, prazipro, and copper treatments are still sold in stores

I looked everywhere and could only find kordon copper aid which apparently isn't even good.