Black ich? Or wrong diagnose? (Video)

[Jason_MrFrags]

I need to treat my whole aquarium, the problem is in there, QT tank wont erradicate the parasite of my display tank

As with many of the fish diseases. Pulling fish and treating them and allowing the system that they were in to go fallow will kill off any parasite in the display tank. I am unsure of the Lifecycle of Black Ich (turbellarians) and how long, but with everything else 76 days is the standard fallow period to allow dieoff.

 

[armandoarturo]

As I mentioned on 10/13, prazi often fails to cure turbellarian infections. The cysts of these worms tend to come and go, so it can appear that the worms are being controlled by that medication, when they actually are not.

Tang turbellarian infections can be self-limiting, that is, they can go away on their own. Is the fish showing ANY other symptoms? If not, it isn’t showing that many spots, you might want to just let it go for a bit. Or - if you can catch the fish easily, try the 5 minute freshwater dip that I mentioned.
Jay

Im getting sick of this…
I just Cant seem to control this. I tried to catch my blue tang to give him a fresh water dip but i wasnt lucky at all. Its too fast and hides in rocks.
Would it work if I drop salninity down to some point that it will kill turbellarians?
Since I still dont have corals, would it work to drop it for a while and then raise it little by little until im back to 1.026?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Im getting sick of this…
I just Cant seem to control this. I tried to catch my blue tang to give him a fresh water dip but i wasnt lucky at all. Its too fast and hides in rocks.
Would it work if I drop salninity down to some point that it will kill turbellarians?
Since I still dont have corals, would it work to drop it for a while and then raise it little by little until im back to 1.026?

I've never tried hyposalinity on turbellarians (black ich). It does work against flukes and ich. A FW dip works against black ich, so hypo might work.

Here is a link to the way to run hypo:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[armandoarturo]

I've never tried hyposalinity on turbellarians (black ich). It does work against flukes and ich. A FW dip works against black ich, so hypo might work.

Here is a link to the way to run hypo:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

I guess im gonna go this way and end up with this while situation.
Will hyposalinity affect any of this?:
- yellow tang
- blue tang
- sailfin tang
- yellow coris wrasse
- melanorus wrasse
- cleaner wrasse
- bangai cardinals
- cleaner shrimp

Im guessing shrimp could be affected. Could it spread infection if I move it to another tank I have with two healthy yellow tangs Meanwhile ?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I guess im gonna go this way and end up with this while situation.
Will hyposalinity affect any of this?:
- yellow tang
- blue tang
- sailfin tang
- yellow coris wrasse
- melanorus wrasse
- cleaner wrasse
- bangai cardinals
- cleaner shrimp

Im guessing shrimp could be affected. Could it spread infection if I move it to another tank I have with two healthy yellow tangs Meanwhile ?

Those fish are all fine with hypo.

Correct - you cannot use hyposalinity on ANY invertebrates; snails, shrimp, corals, etc. It may also kill marine algae that you could have in the tank.

Moving the shrimp can easily transmit the infection - just by virtue of moving water over.

Jay

 

[armandoarturo]

Those fish are all fine with hypo.

Correct - you cannot use hyposalinity on ANY invertebrates; snails, shrimp, corals, etc. It may also kill marine algae that you could have in the tank.

Moving the shrimp can easily transmit the infection - just by virtue of moving water over.

Jay

If this happens to re-appear Im also considering getting all the fish out into a QT tank or tote, and let the tank go trough a fallow period.
Is there any way to “shorten” the fallow periods?

What if I just drain the whole aquarium and fill it with RO/DI water and run it for a couple of days and then start over again?

Or maybe getting salinity down to the point everything dies but not all the biological filter?

What would be the way to treat my fish so I dont re-introduce parasites? (Flukes, turbellarians, cryptocarion, etc?)
Fresh water dip them all ?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

If this happens to re-appear Im also considering getting all the fish out into a QT tank or tote, and let the tank go trough a fallow period.
Is there any way to “shorten” the fallow periods?

What if I just drain the whole aquarium and fill it with RO/DI water and run it for a couple of days and then start over again?

Or maybe getting salinity down to the point everything dies but not all the biological filter?

What would be the way to treat my fish so I dont re-introduce parasites? (Flukes, turbellarians, cryptocarion, etc?)
Fresh water dip them all ?

Holding fish in a tote during a fallow period is not easy to do.

You can shorten the fallow period by raising the temperature. It becomes as short as 45 days at 81 F. However, the animals left in the tank have to be able to handle the higher temperatures.

Yes, you can drain the whole tank and fill it with tap water (don't need RO/DI for this). Let it run for 48 hours. That will take care of ich or flukes. However, if you have any animals in the tank that you need to remove to do this, they will still be carrying diseases.

If the tank does not have any invertebrates in it, you can just leave the fish in there and run the hyposalinity treatment that I had mentioned.

For keeping this issue from happening again, you should quarantine all new fish:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[armandoarturo]

Holding fish in a tote during a fallow period is not easy to do.

You can shorten the fallow period by raising the temperature. It becomes as short as 45 days at 81 F. However, the animals left in the tank have to be able to handle the higher temperatures.

Yes, you can drain the whole tank and fill it with tap water (don't need RO/DI for this). Let it run for 48 hours. That will take care of ich or flukes. However, if you have any animals in the tank that you need to remove to do this, they will still be carrying diseases.

If the tank does not have any invertebrates in it, you can just leave the fish in there and run the hyposalinity treatment that I had mentioned.

For keeping this issue from happening again, you should quarantine all new fish:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Yes, I currently only have those fish I mentioned above: (sailfin tang, blue hippo tang, yellow tang, melanorus wrasse, yellow coris wrasse, cleaner wrasse, two clowns and two bangais). No inverts.

I’m just a bit scared because I have read horror stories in the forum about wrasses and hypo.

But I guess this will be the way to go then…

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes, I currently only have those fish I mentioned above: (sailfin tang, blue hippo tang, yellow tang, melanorus wrasse, yellow coris wrasse, cleaner wrasse, two clowns and two bangais). No inverts.

I’m just a bit scared because I have read horror stories in the forum about wrasses and hypo.

But I guess this will be the way to go then…

Wrasse usually handle hypo fine if done properly. Here is a post:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[armandoarturo]

Wrasse usually handle hypo fine if done properly. Here is a post:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Thanks a lot for all your help Jay, I truly appreciate it.
Ill start this weekend and take my time to get it down in 3-4 days…

Just one last question.
Im gonna put my cleaner shrimp in a QT meanwhile…
Is there any way to get the shrimp clean somehow so I Can place it in my other tank without contaminating it?
What would you do

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks a lot for all your help Jay, I truly appreciate it.
Ill start this weekend and take my time to get it down in 3-4 days…

Just one last question.
Im gonna put my cleaner shrimp in a QT meanwhile…
Is there any way to get the shrimp clean somehow so I Can place it in my other tank without contaminating it?
What would you do

Hmmm, anything "wet" moving from one tank to another can transfer diseases. How large is the risk? Pretty small if you acclimate the shrimp to a container of new tank water, and then move it out of there into the tank (but not zero risk).

Jay

 

[armandoarturo]

Ok, so… I started to reduce salinity on december 2nd.
Its been 4 days and today Im currently in 1.017.
Im guessing ill be in 1.009 ~ 1.010 by the day after tomorrow.
So that makes it 6 days to go from 1.026 down to 1.010 +-
Lets see how it goes, Ill keep posting my results and journey…