Caught ick on coral beauty and emperor angel

[Reefer-begginer]

Hey all. So yesterday ( I would think ) I somehow introduced ick into my 125g saltwater tank.

I just noticed it today on my coral beauty and emperor angel ( coral beauty is covered in it, while the emperor has small dots here and there ).

My current treatment as I dont have a QT tank atm is kordon herbal Ick-attack and raising my temp up to 84°.

About how long does ick normally last on fish during medication periods + high heat?. ( note this tank has shrimps and starfish in it atm and I don't want to dose copper into the tank to ruin my chances of keeping them in the future ).

 

Also what would be some ways I can help the fish out if I feed them twice a day ( all fish eat currently none are refusing to eat etc ).

As well as should i remove my filter floss in the tank? I dont know if that removes the chemicals within it and I don't know exactly how long to be using the medication on the tank ( as im sure my raccoon butterfly and foxface probally have ick as well ).

The only thing is I have to turn my skimmer off so if theirs anything else you can suggest to me please let me know

[Tired]

Ich takes longer than a day to cover fish. They were very likely infected longer ago than you think. It's possible one of them has had it for awhile, but dormant, and something has stressed them enough to let the ich take over. 

 

I would really, really suggest trying to get a proper quarantine set up, so you can use something stronger. I've used kordon herbal in freshwater fish, but I'm not sure how well it works in saltwater. Follow the directions on the bottle for how long to use it. 

You should also have a quarantine in general, when you have a large tank you plan to keep multiple fish in. It prevents this sort of thing from happening. Ich is bad, but other things are worse. Velvet is nasty. Uronema is untreatable. 

 

Filter floss just strains bits of stuff out of your water. It won't remove medications. Activated carbon is what removes medications.

Turning the skimmer off shouldn't be a problem unless you severely overfeed. Feeding more than once a day is good as a general rule for fish that like to graze, but won't do anything in particular to help them, assuming you're already feeding them enough. 

[Tamberav]

4 hours ago, Reefer-begginer said:

Hey all. So yesterday ( I would think ) I somehow introduced ick into my 125g saltwater tank.

I just noticed it today on my coral beauty and emperor angel ( coral beauty is covered in it, while the emperor has small dots here and there ).

My current treatment as I dont have a QT tank atm is kordon herbal Ick-attack and raising my temp up to 84°.

About how long does ick normally last on fish during medication periods + high heat?. ( note this tank has shrimps and starfish in it atm and I don't want to dose copper into the tank to ruin my chances of keeping them in the future ).

 

Also what would be some ways I can help the fish out if I feed them twice a day ( all fish eat currently none are refusing to eat etc ).

As well as should i remove my filter floss in the tank? I dont know if that removes the chemicals within it and I don't know exactly how long to be using the medication on the tank ( as im sure my raccoon butterfly and foxface probally have ick as well ).

The only thing is I have to turn my skimmer off so if theirs anything else you can suggest to me please let me know

First...please turn the heat back down to normal. Increased temps is done for freshwater  ich and not salt...they are totally different parasites but both commonly called ich which makes it confusing.

 

The parasite is attacking the fishes gills compromising their ability to breath and increasing the temps means less oxygen in the water. 

 

That herbal stuff does not cure ich so don't expect a miracle. It might help with light infestations. 

 

The fish basically need to fight it off themselves so feed them well...soak food in selcon and feed quality foods.

 

Can you get a pic of the coral beauty? Covered in spots is either a bad infestation or velvet. If the coral beauty went from no spots to covered in spots in a day...then it is probably velvet and can wipe a tank out. It is very deadly. 

 

 

[Tamberav]

4 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

 

Sorry double post.

[Reefer-begginer]

5 hours ago, Tamberav said:

First...please turn the heat back down to normal. Increased temps is done for freshwater  ich and not salt...they are totally different parasites but both commonly called ich which makes it confusing.

 

The parasite is attacking the fishes gills compromising their ability to breath and increasing the temps means less oxygen in the water. 

 

That herbal stuff does not cure ich so don't expect a miracle. It might help with light infestations. 

 

The fish basically need to fight it off themselves so feed them well...soak food in selcon and feed quality foods.

 

Can you get a pic of the coral beauty? Covered in spots is either a bad infestation or velvet. If the coral beauty went from no spots to covered in spots in a day...then it is probably velvet and can wipe a tank out. It is very deadly. 

 

 

So with how my rocks are, its very hard to get a photo. But it doesn't look like the fish has it anymore. But that also doesn't mean it still doesn't have it. What would be the best way to get a photo of said fish?

[Reefer-begginer]

5 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Sorry double post.

Nvm got a semi decent photo. https://imgur.com/gallery/ZDkWwXJ

[Tamberav]

2 hours ago, Reefer-begginer said:

Nvm got a semi decent photo. https://imgur.com/gallery/ZDkWwXJ

Is it just the fins? It does look like ich in that photo which would be good news. 

 

If your see them swimming into powerheads or avoiding light then we would suspect velvet as well.

 

I have ich in my 80 but only ever saw it once when there was some aggression with a new fish. It cleared right up. I run a large UV and feed my fish live food and fresh clam from the market and soak dry foods in selcon. I try to keep stress and aggression low as that tends to trigger outbreaks. Stressed fish have crappy immune systems. 

[Humblefish]

I agree that is most likely Ich: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/402060-marine-ich-fish-disease-information/

[Reefer-begginer]

3 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Is it just the fins? It does look like ich in that photo which would be good news. 

 

If your see them swimming into powerheads or avoiding light then we would suspect velvet as well.

 

I have ich in my 80 but only ever saw it once when there was some aggression with a new fish. It cleared right up. I run a large UV and feed my fish live food and fresh clam from the market and soak dry foods in selcon. I try to keep stress and aggression low as that tends to trigger outbreaks. Stressed fish have crappy immune systems. 

It was all over the fish's body yesterday but today I see only specs here and there, im guessing that herbal ick attack im doing has done some good in ridding it off its body atleast ( or the temp to 84 did that rather quickly ).

I did drop it back down to 80 from the 84 I did.

Also, the ick on the emperor angels looks confined to its fins only. Can't tell if its on its body as it does has lymphocysts 

[Tired]

Ich often goes in cycles like that. Doesn't mean the meds did it. The temperature definitely didn't, it takes longer than that for high temps to do anything. 

[Reefer-begginer]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

Ich often goes in cycles like that. Doesn't mean the meds did it. The temperature definitely didn't, it takes longer than that for high temps to do anything. 

Which is why I'm guessing whys is confirmed on the angels and not the foxface or raccoon butterfly. Those 2 have been eating nearly 3 times a day now while the angels eat maybe once - twice a day.

 

Is the food im giving them decent atleast?

Angel and butterfly frozen mix

Mega marine cuisine 

Emerald entree 

Seaweed delight 

[Tired]

Yes, but that doesn't have anything to do with it. Fish need good food, but good food alone won't cure disease. Otherwise, disease wouldn't exist.

[Tamberav]

If you can get fresh live clams and freeze then chop and live worms...I would add those. LRS is good too. I soak dry foods (masstick) in selcon but fish oil works too.

[Reefer-begginer]

4 hours ago, Tamberav said:

If you can get fresh live clams and freeze then chop and live worms...I would add those. LRS is good too. I soak dry foods (masstick) in selcon but fish oil works too.

I've seen alot of people use selcon, would the brightwell variant work on it as well?

[Tamberav]

5 hours ago, Reefer-begginer said:

I've seen alot of people use selcon, would the brightwell variant work on it as well?

Not familiar with that one but some people just buy fish oil capsules and put some on. The fatty oils is what you want, if something doesn't have to be refrigerated then it doesn't have the oils. 

[Reefer-begginer]

So the frozen cubes I have would have those oils in it?

[mcarroll]

On 8/9/2020 at 11:43 PM, Reefer-begginer said:

My current treatment as I dont have a QT tank atm is kordon herbal Ick-attack and raising my temp up to 84°.

Just in case this is your first encounter with "Ich" (really Cryptocaryon in marine fish) check this article from U. of Florida's aquaculture archive:

Cryptocaryon irritans Infections (Marine White Spot Disease) in Fish

 

Elevated Temperature

You aren't wrong for consdering the elevated temperature as it does affect the parasite's lifecycle, but it's unlikely to do anything very productive in terms of slowing it down or eliminating it in terms your fish will care about.

 

Ich Attack

I'm not familiar with Ich-attack, but, generally speaking, light-duty treatments like that really just do a little bit to improve the fish's resistance to attacks or reduce the parasite's effectiveness in attacking.  Unfortunately they are not likely to contain a parasite outbreak by themselves.

 

Consider adding a larger-sized UV filter and/or a diatom filter like the Marineland Polishing filter (it'll take two) or a classic Vortex XL diatom filter.  

 

Both kinds of filter will kill or filter out the infectious agents from the water.

 

A 25-watt unit from AqauUV like this...

 

...or two smaller 15-watt units like this...

....would be great for UV.   Lifeguard and others make units that could also work.

 

Keep in mind the flow rate is what determines the actual effectiveness....so pay attention to product instructions, and use the SLOWEST flow recommendation (or smallest tank-size recommendation if that's the only rating the filter has).

 

Here are AquaUV's recommendations and flow guidelines. You want that 90,000 µw/cm2 performance level...nothing lower:
https://aquaultraviolet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/UV-Charts-Salt-and-Fresh-Water-Web.pdf

 

Can you post a picture of the tank and the fish?

 

 

[Reefer-begginer]

On 8/13/2020 at 1:25 AM, mcarroll said:

Just in case this is your first encounter with "Ich" (really Cryptocaryon in marine fish) check this article from U. of Florida's aquaculture archive:

Cryptocaryon irritans Infections (Marine White Spot Disease) in Fish

 

Elevated Temperature

You aren't wrong for consdering the elevated temperature as it does affect the parasite's lifecycle, but it's unlikely to do anything very productive in terms of slowing it down or eliminating it in terms your fish will care about.

 

Ich Attack

I'm not familiar with Ich-attack, but, generally speaking, light-duty treatments like that really just do a little bit to improve the fish's resistance to attacks or reduce the parasite's effectiveness in attacking.  Unfortunately they are not likely to contain a parasite outbreak by themselves.

 

Consider adding a larger-sized UV filter and/or a diatom filter like the Marineland Polishing filter (it'll take two) or a classic Vortex XL diatom filter.  

 

Both kinds of filter will kill or filter out the infectious agents from the water.

 

A 25-watt unit from AqauUV like this...

 

...or two smaller 15-watt units like this...

....would be great for UV.   Lifeguard and others make units that could also work.

 

Keep in mind the flow rate is what determines the actual effectiveness....so pay attention to product instructions, and use the SLOWEST flow recommendation (or smallest tank-size recommendation if that's the only rating the filter has).

 

Here are AquaUV's recommendations and flow guidelines. You want that 90,000 µw/cm2 performance level...nothing lower:
https://aquaultraviolet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/UV-Charts-Salt-and-Fresh-Water-Web.pdf

 

Can you post a picture of the tank and the fish?

 

 

I have been treating the tank for what I belive is about 3 weeks now( all ich is gone from the fish which is good ) but is it true that treatments can take up to 6 weeks?

[Tired]

Yes. You want to be sure that the ich is completely gone, as opposed to just being at low enough levels for you not to see it.

[Reefer-begginer]

Good thing I have enough for 6 weeks worth of treatment