Freakin ICH....

[Carz]

So I got it.....Not sure how. I got a purple tang off of a friend who's tank is ich free and really clean. I even put him in a QT tank for 4 weeks with copper. 3 days of adding him to the big display tank my blue tang breaks out with Ich. Stress I am guessing from the new tang. I grabbed all of my fish except one yellow watchman and put them all in the QT tank with copper. Need advice for the main display. I cant find the yellow watchman goby. I have not seen him for a few weeks because he has about 140 lbs of rock to hide under and has several homes. I want to let the main display run the ich cycle for about 6 weeks, but the yellow watchman is still in there somewhere. Any thoughts besides tearing it down???

 

[reef lover]

Id try a fish trap...

 

[HotRocks]

You will want to go fallow for 76 days to be sure you completely erradicate ich.

+1 on the fish trap, if that doesn't work, then teardown is the only other thing I know to do.

Also out of curiosity, since you treated this PT and still somehow ich got through what copper are you using? What test kit? What level did you treat at?

 

[drstardust]

You will want to go fallow for 76 days to be sure you completely erradicate ich.

+1 on the fish trap, if that doesn't work, then teardown is the only other thing I know to do.

Also out of curiosity, since you treated this PT and still somehow ich got through what copper are you using? What test kit? What level did you treat at?

Likewise, did you quarantine everything else in your tank (inverts, corals, etc) before putting it in? If you QT'd the purple correctly but ich was already in the system from something before, you could have had an outbreak in the setting of the new stressor (introduction of the PT), rather than having the PT introduce the ich.

 

[Carz]

Not sure how it got there. I have 2 tanks and this is my older one that has been great and I have not added anything to it for 6-8 months. This tang was the first thing. I used seachem copper and their test kit and held it at 0.4 ish. Possibly a cross between the other tank. Maybe I used tools without washing or put my hands in both without washing. Just not sure.

 

[Carz]

No signs of ich in other tank which is newer (3 months)

 

[HotRocks]

No signs of ich in other tank which is newer (3 months)

How close do the tanks sit to one another?

 

[HotRocks]

Not sure how it got there. I have 2 tanks and this is my older one that has been great and I have not added anything to it for 6-8 months. This tang was the first thing. I used seachem copper and their test kit and held it at 0.4 ish. Possibly a cross between the other tank. Maybe I used tools without washing or put my hands in both without washing. Just not sure.

Yeah definitely have to be careful or cross contamination.

If I have been in my QT room working on tanks I avoid my DT for a couple of hrs after a thorough wash and dry.

 

[Carz]

Tanks are in different rooms and I guess now I just need to concentrate on fixing the problem if I can catch that yellow goby.

 

[HotRocks]

Tanks are in different rooms and I guess now I just need to concentrate on fixing the problem if I can catch that yellow goby.

Yes I agree. Can you post pics of the blue tang? Are you 100% sure it's ich?

They are a fish that love to wedge themselves in between rocks etc. @4FordFamily has a yellow belly blue hippo that has been in question a few times, but was always just a scrape or what not.

 

[Carz]

It is ich for sure. This all started last week so he went to the QT a few day ago. Not sure how I did it but I caught him in seconds of trying. The ich has cleared up but I saw a tiny bit on a damsel so I started pulling everyone to the QT. I finally caught the PT last night and there is one still in there. Cant start the count down until I get him out and at this point I would like to just see him.

 

[Carz]

This is probaly a topic for a new thread but what are the thoughts on this....
I am thinking of draining this tank to catch the goby and it will be rearranged differently when I set it up. After I let this tank sit out the Ich cycle I was thinking of just adding tangs only. The purple and blue are fine with each other and are in QT together with no issues. I was thinking of adding a powder blue and a yellow. So it would be 4 tangs total in this big tank. I think it will work, but should I get the powder blue and yellow tang now and put them all in the QT tank together so they get to know each other. I do not have dividers in the QT tank now, but I am certain I would need to divide the yellow and powder blue at first. This way I can add them all at one time. any thoughts or call this a dumb Idea.

 

[drstardust]

Yeah definitely have to be careful or cross contamination.

If I have been in my QT room working on tanks I avoid my DT for a couple of hrs after a thorough wash and dry.

I have shoulder length gloves that I use when touching anything associated with the QT, in a separate room from DT. I take them off before leaving the room. I feel like my home is a lab facility lol.

 

[Carz]

Trust me my process is about to change.

 

[hatfielj]

I would consider adding a large/powerful UV to help prevent something like this from happening again. I added one to my tank awhile ago when my tangs all had ich and I have not seen ich since starting it. I have an achilles and hippo tang that were quite badly infected and both have been clean as a whistle for 4-5 months now. I thought for sure they would be a goners since they are both such ich magnets. I bought this unit from BRS.

I know there's likely still trace amounts of ich in my tank because everyone says that UV doesn't completely irradiate ich, but I'm not seeing anything on my fish and it's been many months now. I run it fairly slow and it's quite oversized for my tank (my system is total gallons around 250 and this thing is rated for 600 gallons). Best thing I've ever done for my fish.

 

[drstardust]

I would consider adding a large/powerful UV to help prevent something like this from happening again. I added one to my tank awhile ago when my tangs all had ich and I have not seen ich since starting it. I have an achilles and hippo tang that were quite badly infected and both have been clean as a whistle for 4-5 months now. I thought for sure they would be a goners since they are both such ich magnets. I bought this unit from BRS.

I know there's likely still trace amounts of ich in my tank because everyone says that UV doesn't completely irradiate ich, but I'm not seeing anything on my fish and it's been many months now. I run it fairly slow and it's slightly oversized on my tank (my system is total gallons around 250). Best thing I've ever done for my fish.

Certainly a good ich management tool based on many people's experience. I actually plan on adding one to my tank in addition to my QT protocol in case something ever sneaks through.

 

[Carz]

That is some good advice.

 

[HotRocks]

I am also considering adding a UV to my DT. I think that alot of the management tools can also be beneficial in a "clean" DT just for the overall health of all the inhabitants and maintaining water quality etc.

 

[sawdonkey]

I am also considering adding a UV to my DT. I think that alot of the management tools can also be beneficial in a "clean" DT just for the overall health of all the inhabitants and maintaining water quality etc.

And the side benefit is that your water will be crystal clear! I just added UV a few days ago and after only 24 hours, I was blown away by the clarity! I did the Jeboa 55W in my 200 or do gallons of water.

 

[Carz]

Just did some research on that jeboa and it looks pretty nice. I may have to try it out