ich in my reef tank

[jy13131]

I developed ich in my reef tank which infected my yellow tang, mandarin goby, pygmy angel and green cheeked blenny. Although I moved all to a hospital tank, everyone has died except the mandarin. How long should I leave the reef tank hostless (fishless) to ensure there will be no reinfestation. I have a million copepods in my tank and my mandarin is HUNGRY! Thanks

[PatrickB]

I developed ich in my reef tank which infected my yellow tang, mandarin goby, pygmy angel and green cheeked blenny. Although I moved all to a hospital tank, everyone has died except the mandarin. How long should I leave the reef tank hostless (fishless) to ensure there will be no reinfestation. I have a million copepods in my tank and my mandarin is HUNGRY! Thanks

sorry you learned your lesson the hard way man i would leave your tank clean for 2 months if it was that bad. are you treating the mandarin any way? hyposalinity?

[snowlancer2720]

get some of this stuff called kick ich, its completely reef and invert safe, i used it on mine and it worked, its kind of pricey..but well worth it... I would try to get some vitamins into the mandarin until he looks good then put him back in the infected tank after treating it for a few days (like 3)

[PatrickB]

get some of this stuff called kick ich, its completely reef and invert safe, i used it on mine and it worked, its kind of pricey..but well worth it... I would try to get some vitamins into the mandarin until he looks good then put him back in the infected tank after treating it for a few days (like 3)

 

 

there isn't anything that can kill ich thats reef safe. you still have ich weither you think you do or not. here is a nice collection of articles to read.

 

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

 

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/...ature/index.php

 

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j.../marineich.html

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2003/mini1.htm

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/dec2003/mini2.htm

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/mini3.htm

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2004/mini4.htm

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2004/mini5.htm

[SplitSequence]

I said this in another post but it's still relevant, a lot of evidence points to skunk shrimp being able to help control ich. They are reef-safe, and a longer-lasting solution than chemicals.

[PatrickB]

I said this in another post but it's still relevant, a lot of evidence points to skunk shrimp being able to help control ich. They are reef-safe, and a longer-lasting solution than chemicals.

 

 

ill point that they can and do eat ich but not anywhwere near what ich can reproduce and they are VERY hard on your they rip bigger whole into the scales of the fish this can cause secondary infections in an already sick fish. i have a skunk shrimp but i don't have ich so i never see him around my fish. i just liked the little guy.

[SplitSequence]

ill point that they can and do eat ich but not anywhwere near what ich can reproduce and they are VERY hard on your they rip bigger whole into the scales of the fish this can cause secondary infections in an already sick fish. i have a skunk shrimp but i don't have ich so i never see him around my fish. i just liked the little guy.

 

 

I liked mine too, very cute. Eh, i've said more relevant reply in other topic.

[snowlancer2720]

QUOTE(snowlancer2720 @ Apr 13 2006, 07:13 PM)

 

get some of this stuff called kick ich, its completely reef and invert safe, i used it on mine and it worked, its kind of pricey..but well worth it... I would try to get some vitamins into the mandarin until he looks good then put him back in the infected tank after treating it for a few days (like 3)

 

 

 

 

there isn't anything that can kill ich thats reef safe. you still have ich weither you think you do or not. here is a nice collection of articles to read.

 

i never said that it would kill it, it just gets it off of the fish....theres no way to kill it, it will always be in the tank

[danskim]

i never said that it would kill it, it just gets it off of the fish....theres no way to kill it, it will always be in the tank

That is not true...

"There is a widely held belief in the marine aquarium hobby that "Ich" is always present in our aquaria and this belief is often repeated on marine bulletin boards. There is much information in the scientific literature that contradicts this belief.

 

C. irritans is an obligate parasite (Burgess and Matthews, 1994; Dickerson and Dawe, 1995; Yoshinaga and Dickerson, 1994). Obligate means the parasite can not survive without infecting its host, in this case, fish. Theronts have been shown to die if a suitable host is not found within the required time."

 

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j.../marineich.html

[OntarioLiftie]

If you people knew anything about mandarins youd know they have a protective slim coating unlike any other fish but comparable to clownfish that makes it impossible for mandarins to catch ich. He is fine and there was prolly nothing wrong with him, i would through him back in your reef so that he doesnt starve!!!!

[snowlancer2720]

^^^ thats interesting because i had a mandarin a while back (which i in the end gave to someone else for lack of food) which definately got ich...so i dont know where you go that info, if you could point me to where you got that, i would like to read it..im not flaming you, im just curious as to what you are basing that on...

 

danskim: im not flaming you either, but how is it possible that ich can survive in a tank for a long time without infecting anyone, and then say, a year later, all of a sudden break out without adding another fish that could have been the carrier?

[OntarioLiftie]

well see that i dont know but doesnt running a UV steralizer kill off all parasites?

 

and how do you know it was Ich it could have also been some other parasite or marine velvet desease. and when i was researching mardarins and how to train them to eat frozzen which i sucessfully did once before he died of velvet desease, which kinda really ticket me off i came across that tid bit of info.

[snowlancer2720]

^^ dunno about that, i do run a uv, and somehow the ich still survives, i doubt it was velvet thought...isnt it bigger white spots than ich? btw, congrats on the frozen

[fxdude]

I just had a big ich break out in one my tanks so I've done a lot of reading on it. This is what I found, not sure if it's absolutely true though. Ich lives in all tanks to a minor degree. Almost all fish have gotten ich at some point in their lives, most of the time it is such a small case that the fish's immune system fights it off without you or the fish really even knowing about it. You may not see a "breakout" of ich for years and then all of a sudden it takes over your tank. This could be from adding new fish, bad water quality, or something else that has thrown off the balance of your tank stressing your fish and lowering their immunity. Ich moves from the rocks where it multiplies to the fish where it "attacks" and back to the rocks (not sure about the moving back to the rocks part). One of the only times to kill ich is when it's in it is free floating in the water from the rocks to the fish. Once it gets to the fish it is very hard to kill (sometimes a fresh water dip can shock the ich but also remember that this will shock your already sick fish). If there are no fish in the aquarium the ich has no where to go and will eventually die off (but not all the way, just to a very minimal amount), ich has a very hard time surviving without a host. A UV sterilizer cannot kill all of the ich before it reaches your fish but can help kill off the ones that actually make it into the unit. This is why removing the fish, major water changes weekly if not bi-weekly are the best ways to minimize an outbreak of ich. Dosing with something like Kick Ich can help kill the free floating ich as well as using Marc Weiss' Coral Vital can help in "discouraging" ich from attaching to fish. Like I said, don't quote me on this. I would love to hear what other's opinions on whether this info is correct or not.