ICH protocol for adding fish after outbreak?

[toddrparr]

Good day to all!

 

I recently lost 3, 2 clowns and a tomini tang, of my 6 fish to an ICH infection. Other 3, 2 chromis and a dwarf angel, are alive and kicking showing no sign of infection. I have been treating the tank with 3% hydrogen peroxide, 12.5ml 2X/day for a week (it has been 6 days since the fish died). 

 

I am not going to let the tank sit fishless for the 76 or so days to potentially eradicate the ICH, I don't think I can catch the 3 fish in the tank...

 

what is a "safe" timeframe to wait to add fish? I know nothing is set in stone... in my 5 years and with 3 separate tanks, this is the first time I have dealt with ICH.

 

thanks!! 

[seabass]

Read through this:  https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/peroxide-h2o2-dosing-for-parasites-in-reef-tank.725/#post-9254

 

[toddrparr]

@seabass thanks for that, great read!! I am doing something similar to the authors method. May try the UV sterilizer too. Just need to be patient with it....

[mcarroll]

Seeing these folks in the linked site come so far around (under a comically alarmist disclaimer) to basically reinvent the "healthy fish" wheel is not comforting.

 

UV, micron filtration and (to a lesser extent at our level) ozone are already long-established methods for fighting fish disease.  Peroxide too, but not in a reef tank setting.  

 

Lab vs reef is a crucial difference when dosing peroxide as the reef environment can "absorb" a huge amount of oxidation before your target "free oxidation" level is reached.  If this weren't true, peroxide would be a go-to algicide since algae is much easier to kill than the parasites we're interested in.  And peroxide *is* a proven algicide in the lab, but it virtually doesn't work at all in a reef tank.  I.e. in "real life".

 

From reading that off-site post, it's just as likely that their peroxide dose never reached toxicity, the fish that lived were simply healthy enough to survive the outbreak on their own....and that losses were (as the author confessed later) a result of OTHER toxic chemistry they had been testing on their tank.  (How they think they know what caused what in that experiment, I dunno!!)

 

On 9/8/2022 at 10:04 AM, toddrparr said:

Good day to all!

 

I recently lost 3, 2 clowns and a tomini tang, of my 6 fish to an ICH infection. Other 3, 2 chromis and a dwarf angel, are alive and kicking showing no sign of infection. I have been treating the tank with 3% hydrogen peroxide, 12.5ml 2X/day for a week (it has been 6 days since the fish died). 

 

I am not going to let the tank sit fishless for the 76 or so days to potentially eradicate the ICH, I don't think I can catch the 3 fish in the tank...

 

what is a "safe" timeframe to wait to add fish? I know nothing is set in stone... in my 5 years and with 3 separate tanks, this is the first time I have dealt with ICH.

 

thanks!! 

I would not personally put any faith in peroxide if you really think you have a parasite outbreak going on.

 

There are reef safe products I would recommend – such as those from Ruby Reef.  

 

But the real deal is a properly sized UV (parasites are the hardest things to kill) and/or a 20µ (or finer) micron filter.....both (or all three, including the liquid additive) would not be overkill.

 

IMO, if the fish you are adding in the future will be healthy (ie bought locally, inspected by YOU before bringing them home) you can do it while the UV+micron is still running for max safety.  Keep UV+micron running for at least a few months after the last fish goes in.

[mcarroll]

(P.S.  Get help selecting AND help installing the UV!)