Can ich really be eradicated?

[jmichaelh7]

I’m about to set up a quarantine for my fish and am wondering if the Powder brown will just keep getting ich no matter what.

What is your guys take on it? Have you done a full quarantine and your blue hippo or powder brown just always seem to get it no matter what ?

 

[Dmb092182]

No if you pull every fish then and leave tank empty for 76 days it will be completely gone. Might want to do it for 90 days to be safe. I think I did 85

 

[BirdFish5000]

As said, you have to go fallow for 76 days to eliminate ich from the tank.

 

[jmichaelh7]

No if you pull every fish then and leave tank empty for 76 days it will be completely gone. Might want to do it for 90 days to be safe. I think I did 85

As said, you have to go fallow for 76 days to eliminate ich from the tank.

76 is the plan right now.

There is always this skepticism that Acanthuridae tang species are ich magnets and once they get a stressor , there is ich again!

 

[jmichaelh7]

I guess the real question is has anyone had an Achilles or PBT without ich following copper lol

 

[Dmb092182]

I guess the real question is has anyone had an Achilles or PBT without ich following copper lol

Yes I have no ich and a whitecheek alive and healthy for 4 years actually all my tangs have been with me 6 years.

 

[Dmb092182]

 

[Dmb092182]

 

[jmichaelh7]

what is your method of qt for coral / fish

 

[AydenLincoln]

I’m about to set up a quarantine for my fish and am wondering if the Powder brown will just keep getting ich no matter what.

What is your guys take on it? Have you done a full quarantine and your blue hippo or powder brown just always seem to get it no matter what ?

In my opinion ich and various diseases will always be present in 99% percent of our tanks and it’s about management over eradication. 76 days is a very long time to fallow and it’s not foolproof. Humans make errors…such as using shared equipment or having the two tanks too close. So I personally like to do an observation period but I’m going to be honest I think we all have skipped steps in the quarantine/treatment process or not done it all especially in the beginning. But in my experience and in my opinion unless a significant stressor or event stresses the fish and flares up the disease they can live happy and healthy lives for years with a good diet, maintenance, UV sterilizer, and low stress. So my thoughts are most fish/tanks have it and by treating them before they go in the tank in theory you can eradicate the disease before it touches your display but you have to do it for every fish, coral, and invert from the very beginning and even that isn’t foolproof and things you can’t treat or medicate carry diseases too.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Thanks for replying

In my opinion ich and various diseases will always be present in 99% percent of our tanks and it’s about management over eradication. 76 days is a very long time to fallow and it’s not foolproof. Humans make errors…such as using shared equipment or having the two tanks too close. So I personally like to do an observation period but I’m going to be honest I think we all have skipped steps in the quarantine/treatment process or not done it all especially in the beginning. But in my experience and in my opinion unless a significant stressor or event stresses the fish and flares up the disease they can live happy and healthy lives for years with a good diet, maintenance, UV sterilizer, and low stress. So my thoughts are most fish/tanks have it and by treating them before they go in the tank in theory you can irradiate the disease before it touches your display but you have to do it for every fish, coral, and invert from the very beginning and even that isn’t foolproof and things you can’t treat or medicate carry diseases too.

 

[Tony616]

I guess the real question is has anyone had an Achilles or PBT without ich following copper lol

I have a Powder blue tang almost 2 years with no ich. I qt all new fish for 30 days with copper power at 2.25ppm

 

[jmichaelh7]

I have a Powder blue tang almost 2 years with no ich. I qt all new fish for 30 days with copper power at 2.25ppm

And what about any new inverts and corals ? What’s your protocol

 

[Dmb092182]

New inverts sit in a tank for 30 days. Scrub all shells when they come in. I would order from reef cleaners because his system of inverts is fishless. Corals for sps I cut them off and dip them then I replug with aqua stick and a little glue. I use to let them sit in a fishless system for 30 days but survival rate was just ok. I also run copper for 2.25 on all fish for 14 days and then move to clean tank for observation. The toughest fish to get through copper is anthais and wrasse. I would just buy qted specimens from Marine Collecters, TSM, or Exotic Reef Creations. This are the ones I would use.

 

[Tony616]

And what about any new inverts and corals ? What’s your protocol

I have sps dominant tank. I throw away old plugs, only keeping live tissue. For inverts, I use toothbrush and scrub their shells best I could.

 

[nereefpat]

Yes, ich can be eradicated. We know its life cycle and we know treatments that work. We also know that spontaneous generation was proven to be nonsense by Pasteur in the 1800s.

Now, there are lots of ways to screw it up with human error.

I have treated the 'ich magnet' fishes like regal and powder brown tangs in my own tank with hyposalinity. I also have successfully treated fishes covered in ich in my QT with TTM or copper before they got to my display. My display doesn't have ich in it, as every fish in there went through TTM or copper in QT.

 

[dadnjesse]

I've had my Powder Blue Tang for 5 years and my tank has never had an Ich outbreak. I do run a UV 24/7. I have just started to buy my fish from Dr Reef Quarantined. I don't want to push my luck.

 

[Evas_reef]

In my opinion ich and various diseases will always be present in 99% percent of our tanks and it’s about management over eradication. 76 days is a very long time to fallow and it’s not foolproof. Humans make errors…such as using shared equipment or having the two tanks too close. So I personally like to do an observation period but I’m going to be honest I think we all have skipped steps in the quarantine/treatment process or not done it all especially in the beginning. But in my experience and in my opinion unless a significant stressor or event stresses the fish and flares up the disease they can live happy and healthy lives for years with a good diet, maintenance, UV sterilizer, and low stress. So my thoughts are most fish/tanks have it and by treating them before they go in the tank in theory you can eradicate the disease before it touches your display but you have to do it for every fish, coral, and invert from the very beginning and even that isn’t foolproof and things you can’t treat or medicate carry diseases too.

This is so helpful. It would be strange to cultivate a complex eco system and not see these things. It wouldn’t be ‘natural’.

I had a happy healthy Copperband succumb to Ich. My established tank mates did not get it and continue to be super healthy and happy. I put a new juvenile yellow coris wrasse in. He’s been happy, healthy, out and about and he’s just disappeared (posted a separate thread about this). One theory is that he might have got Ich as it’s highly likely to still be in my tank. It’s getting on for 2 months since I lost Bruce the Aussie Copperband to Ich. Perhaps he did get it? Why not the others? And why these busy happy fish? It’s a mystery.