Can managing ich really work?

[Marc2952]

So ive had my tank for 6 months and so far things have gone well except for the fact that i got ich on my system, i have tried to manage it by feeding only frozen and nori ( for my yellow tang). My current fish used to be:
2 clownfish
Yellow tang
Diamond goby
3 Lyretail anthias
Now they have gotten those white spots all over but have fought it off, problem is last night i lost ALL my fish except my two clowns. I didnt know ich could kill that fast. This is my tang a couple hours before it died aswell.

 

[Tahoe61]

Are you sure you are dealing with ich?
Please post an image of the infected clowns.
But yes the disease can be managed.

 

[Phildago]

I believe it can. I had an outbreak a while back. I never was able to get my fish out of the tank or to go fallow since that point and I haven't seen any sign of ich since the initial outbreak.

 

[Marc2952]

Are you sure you are dealing with ich?
Please post an image of the infected clowns.
But yes the disease can be managed.

Once i get home ill take a pic, it looks like salt all over the body i pray its not velvet because thats a whole other animal.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Could it be velvet? Describe the white spots you were seeing. Ich shouldn't kill that fast.

 

[Marc2952]

I believe it can. I had an outbreak a while back. I never was able to get my fish out of the tank or to go fallow since that point and I haven't seen any sign of ich since the initial outbreak.

what products did you use to manage?

 

[Marc2952]

Could it be velvet? Describe the white spots you were seeing. Ich shouldn't kill that fast.

Its like salt all over the body

 

[PicassoDan]

That stinks man, I hate losing fish. My question is: why try to manage it when you can just avoid it all together? Let the tank be fallow for at least 72 days, and then use the tank transfer method (TTM) to introduce new fish. For bonus points, after TTM, use a QT tank to observe fish for a few weeks.

 

[sabor]

Yes you can manage ich. You just got to be sure that it’s ich and not velvet.

 

[mfinn]

IMO this is the perfect example of trying to manage disease in our tanks.
Thinking that all you have to do is feed them good and they will be fine.
Many times other diseases will raise havoc.
As fast as the losses here makes this look like velvet, as long as they just recently showed signs of being sick.
Quarantining fish and treating prophylactically , is the only way IMO.

 

[Marc2952]

That stinks man, I hate losing fish. My question is: why try to manage it when you can just avoid it all together? Let the tank be fallow for at least 72 days, and then use the tank transfer method (TTM) to introduce new fish. For bonus points, after TTM, use a QT tank to observe fish for a few weeks.

I tried to before but it was almost impossible to catch that diamond goby without emptying the tank which i really didnt want to do, i hate when things like this happens but lesson learned i will always QT from here on out. Sucks my sister was starting to catch interest in the hobby until she saw all the procedures needed for success lol

 

[Marc2952]

IMO this is the perfect example of trying to manage disease in our tanks.
Thinking that all you have to do is feed them good and they will be fine.
Many times other diseases will raise havoc.
As fast as the losses here makes this look like velvet, as long as they just recently showed signs of being sick.
Quarantining fish and treating prophylactically , is the only way IMO.

Correct i belive the yellow tang might have been the culprit since i got him 4 days ago and was looking very skinny when i got him. Fed him lots of nori and was fat and happy until yesterday when he started getting tons of white dots which looked like he got sprinkled with salt, hours later my clowns and anthias started getting the same thing.

 

[WVNed]

Can't possibly be done. It will never work.
Here is my new yellow tang from Petco in my QT. I am treating him with excellent environment and good food. All the fish do so well in my QT I never take them out. There are 33 in there now I think.

 

[mfinn]

Can't possibly be done. It will never work.
Here is my new yellow tang from Petco in my QT. I am treating him with excellent environment and good food. All the fish do so well in my QT I never take them out. There are 33 in there now I think.

I'm glad it's working well for you. I really am.
But what do you tell people like the OP in this thread?
Just keep adding fish?

 

[WVNed]

I'm glad it's working well for you. I really am.
But what do you tell people like the OP in this thread?
Just keep adding fish?

I am struggling with this. I quite literally do nothing. It is all about what you have in your tank, how you started it, how you keep it and what you do every day.
The disease is a sign you are doing it wrong IMHO.

You can either run a QT and go through all that stuff or have a system that isn't threatened by every new addition.

But I don't think you can go somewhere in between and have it work.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I am struggling with this. I quite literally do nothing. It is all about what you have in your tank, how you started it, how you keep it and what you do every day.
The disease is a sign you are doing it wrong IMHO.

You can either run a QT and go through all that stuff or have a system that isn't threatened by every new addition.

But I don't think you can go somewhere in between and have it work.

I QT for about 4 days without medication. Just monitor and get them eating. If a disease presents itself then I treat it. The first copper resistant ich/velvet strain is what I am more concerned with.

 

[4FordFamily]

With some fish, yes. The issue is that velvet is every bit as common, perhaps more common and exponentially more deadly and not impossible but VERY difficult to "manage". The same practices that add ich to a tank will add velvet as well and for this reason I say it's not worth the risk.

Velvet is also misidentified as ich frequently.

Some fish like powder blue tangs, achilles, and some of the more fragile acanthurus tangs are overwhelmingly more difficult to "manage ich". Though it can be done, a hundred or so die to each success story, IME/IMO. That's ich, not velvet.

 

[brandon429]

We must shy away from forming reef notions by our own tanks, any measurement system has outliers and those are always the home tanks. The end all be all end to guessing about fish protocols is to build a thread in the new reefs forum that says “offer your tank examples here and we will guide fish disease without using fallow, qt and ttm”

now we’re talking other people’s tanks and fifty entrants by lunch. 300 by end of week

what will the numbers show in a ratio of 98:2


there is a reason nobody makes those threads and I know who id like to see running one, they’re not posting here so far. Outliers don’t replicate well humbling work threads show.

***outliers are also valid reefs they’re just hard to replicate for others. Artisans in their own home really can have such a skill, transmissibility of the method is in question

 

[sabor]

With some fish, yes. The issue is that velvet is every bit as common, perhaps more common and exponentially more deadly and not impossible but VERY difficult to "manage". The same practices that add ich to a tank will add velvet as well and for this reason I say it's not worth the risk.

Velvet is also misidentified as ich frequently.

Some fish like powder blue tangs, achilles, and some of the more fragile acanthurus tangs are overwhelmingly more difficult to "manage ich". Though it can be done, a hundred or so die to each success story, IME/IMO. That's ich, not velvet.

I dont know what the success rate is, but I personally have an Achilles that had ich all over and was able to beat it with good nutrition. He doesnt have a single spot on him anymore and is thriving in my tank. This is my first Achilles so I guess I am lucky? By the way, the ich spreaded to all my other fishes and every fish managed to fight off the ich. Its been 3 months now. My achilles use to scratch his body off the rocks all the time and now he doesnt. All my fishes eat like they havent ate in days. I also added a blonde naso recently this past month and he is also thriving. I guess my story is one of the lucky ones, but I highly doubt it.

Fish list: Yellow tang, purple tang, chevron tang, blue hippo tang, sailfin tang, achilles, blonde naso, mystery wrasse, 2 clowns, 3 anthias, 5 chromis, flame angel, neon goby, cleaner wrasse. I havent had one lost yet and everyone is cleared from what I can tell.

P.S. Achilles started getting ich after getting bullied by my Gem Tang. I sold the Gem tang and that was when my Achilles started thriving. There can only be one boss in the tank!

 

[SeaDweller]

If it’s truly ich, probably. I say that with 10 tangs in my tank (Achilles, PBT, sohal, gem, purple, yellow, blue, chevron, tomini, desjardinii) I have a weak strain that shows up when a new fish is added. And I don’t see it again after a few weeks. It’s there, just suppressed. Tank mates are 21 anthias, angel, clowns.

I would rather have no parasites but qt has failed for me, obviously. I was religious on TTM and it still slipped thru, should have stuck to copper from the beginning.

can it be managed? Sure, but I’d rather not have to manage it.