Can managing ich really work?

[Squidward]

I'd avoid managing. Just do it the right way and quarantine your fish and inverts as necessary. Managing ich is more like being lazy and hoping for the best. That may work but you'll always be worried about your fish.

 

[Squidward]

If it’s truly ich, probably. I say that with 10 tangs in my tank. 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.

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.

Maybe you got it through adding corals or inverts instead?

 

[SeaDweller]

Maybe you got it through adding corals or inverts instead?

I don’t know, anymore. I ran fallow for 76+ days in 2012-13 too. It’s just one of those things that happen to suck, but not suck too much in my tank. Maybe it helps that I feed them 6-7 times a day? I don’t have outbreaks, but a select few show ich occasionally when a new fish is added, it’s not all of them.

 

[sabor]

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.

If its there, then I surely cant tell. My achilles went from full body with white dots to zero. He hasnt shown any signs of ich in almost 2 months. It just boggles my mind how he was able to fight it off. I tried Polylab Medic and it made the achilles worst. I just started doing what I did back then when my blue hippo tang had ich in my first tank and manage to fight off the ich as well which was using selcon and garlic guard to soak the foods. It worked for me. Maybe I'm just really lucky.

 

[mfinn]

Maybe you got it through adding corals or inverts instead?

That happens.

 

[SeaDweller]

If its there, then I surely cant tell. My achilles went from full body with white dots to zero. He hasnt shown any signs of ich in almost 2 months. It just boggles my mind how he was able to fight it off. I tried Polylab Medic and it made the achilles worst. I just started doing what I did back then when my blue hippo tang had ich in my first tank and manage to fight off the ich as well which was using selcon and garlic guard to soak the foods. It worked for me. Maybe I'm just really lucky.

Trust me, it’s there. I added a gem tang recently, and a select few of my fish, including my Achilles, showed it. It goes thru cycles and then they just suppress it. You’ll never truly get rid of it unless you go thru the right protocol.

 

[Phildago]

what products did you use to manage?

None. I think it needs to run its course. The only option I'd even consider is using garlic to stimulate the appetite of the sick fish.

 

[4FordFamily]

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!

What kind of equipment do you run? How large is your system?

Here is an article about my experience with this very topic:

Ich and Acanthurus tangs - Years of experience and ich management

Alright folks I wanted to share some pretty shameful realities about my past and dealing with Acanthurus tangs. To anyone that doesn't know, common Acanthurus tangs include Powder Blue, Powder Brown, Goldrim/white cheek, Achilles, Sohal, Clown...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[4FordFamily]

My 500G in my signature has lots of fish, as does my 180 with no velvet or ich, or other particularly troublesome parasites. It is nice that I don’t have to worry about a stress event triggering an event.

Admittedly, it wasn’t easy nor fun and I learned a lot of hard lessons about how bad the distribution system had gotten.

My recent batch (the only one since very early 2019) went through QT well with virtually no hiccups— perhaps things are improving in the distribution system.

 

[sabor]

Trust me, it’s there. I added a gem tang recently, and a select few of my fish, including my Achilles, showed it. It goes thru cycles and then they just suppress it. You’ll never truly get rid of it unless you go thru the right protocol.

I cant really trust your words due to me recently adding a blonde naso and none of the fish has shown any signs of ich. I check my fish for ich everyday. I was going to take my fish out and get a QT tank, but my good friend who has had ich in his tank was able to fight it off. He told me he first spotted ich 4 years ago in his tank. All his fish are growing and hasnt shown any signs of ich. I dont know if its eradicated, but he hasnt lost any fish to date other than his tomini tang jumping out of his tank. IMO, I think ich can definitely be manage.

 

[WVNed]

I suppose it is impossible to understand that I don't manage ich.
I don't watch my fish poop either.

I don't think or worry about it at all.

 

[SeaDweller]

I cant really trust your words due to me recently adding a blonde naso and none of the fish has shown any signs of ich. I check my fish for ich everyday. I was going to take my fish out and get a QT tank, but my good friend who has had ich in his tank was able to fight it off. He told me he first spotted ich 4 years ago in his tank. All his fish are growing and hasnt shown any signs of ich. I dont know if its eradicated, but he hasnt lost any fish to date other than his tomini tang jumping out of his tank. IMO, I think ich can definitely be manage.

I feel you, and you can trust your eyes and tank more than any person on this forum, can’t tell you otherwise.

but it’s there, as much as I believe in my tank it’s not there when I don’t see it for a year or more, it’s there.

 

[sabor]

What kind of equipment do you run? How large is your system?

Here is an article about my experience with this very topic:

Ich and Acanthurus tangs - Years of experience and ich management

Alright folks I wanted to share some pretty shameful realities about my past and dealing with Acanthurus tangs. To anyone that doesn't know, common Acanthurus tangs include Powder Blue, Powder Brown, Goldrim/white cheek, Achilles, Sohal, Clown...

www.reef2reef.com

I have a 350 gallon tank running a 50w pentair aquatics UV light, algae scrubber, and reef octopus protein skimmer.

I actually read your article already. I was really worried when I first spotted the ich on him and was close to breaking down my whole tank to go fallow as all my fishes were getting it. My last resort was to try something I did back then to my first tank and thankfully, it did the job for now. I closely monitor all my fish from day to day.

 

[Marc2952]

I'd avoid managing. Just do it the right way and quarantine your fish and inverts as necessary. Managing ich is more like being lazy and hoping for the best. That may work but you'll always be worried about your fish.

I agree although i did try to put them in QT i just didnt know that trying to catch a diamond goby was almost impossible without temoving the rocks. I just didnt want to go through all of that.

 

[ReefingDaily]

I would definitely set up a QT and treat accordingly. I know it’s not ideal, but even if you manage to get it under control, it will just remain dormant until its next opportunity arises.

 

[Cassian]

Here’s my advise. Ich can be managed, but it will always be a pain in the you know what. Every time it pops up on a fish you’re gonna have that feeling of “oh no are my fish going to be ok?!” I used to never qt fish. Just acclimate then put in the display. For a while I did pretty good, but when I started adding tangs, ich popped up. I started losing fish left and right. Throughout 3 years of no qt, I only kept three fish longer than a year. In my new setup I decided to qt and keep ich out of my system as best as I could. I now have had zero deaths after fish are added to my display. I will occasionally lose one in qt from disease, but every time I do I’m like “wow I’m glad that didn’t get into my display and kill everything”. So what I’m trying to say here is yes you can manage ich through diet and good environment, but it’s going to pop up occasionally. And to me, that’s just added stress that I don’t need.

 

[sabor]

Here’s my advise. Ich can be managed, but it will always be a pain in the you know what. Every time it pops up on a fish you’re gonna have that feeling of “oh no are my fish going to be ok?!” I used to never qt fish. Just acclimate then put in the display. For a while I did pretty good, but when I started adding tangs, ich popped up. I started losing fish left and right. Throughout 3 years of no qt, I only kept three fish longer than a year. In my new setup I decided to qt and keep ich out of my system as best as I could. I now have had zero deaths after fish are added to my display. I will occasionally lose one in qt from disease, but every time I do I’m like “wow I’m glad that didn’t get into my display and kill everything”. So what I’m trying to say here is yes you can manage ich through diet and good environment, but it’s going to pop up occasionally. And to me, that’s just added stress that I don’t need.

100% Agreed. Definitely QT if you can. I am planning on rescaping my tank soon and will go fallow once I do. Just sharing my experience with the community.

 

[WVNed]

I am just too lazy to take good care of my fish. That's why I built all this.

 

[Marc2952]

100% Agreed. Definitely QT if you can. I am planning on rescaping my tank soon and will go fallow once I do. Just sharing my experience with the community.

I just currently did a rescape and removed about 50% of my rocks to cement with emarco-400. Ended up getting Dino which im currently winning against.

 

[SeaDweller]

@4FordFamily was the prime example of having a ton of tangs (still does) and just managing ich and going against the grain, back in the days of RC. I remember how frustrating RC was and all the snobbery that was there (probably still is, one particular member). He now advocates QT 100%, that should tell any person entering this hobby a lot.