Help with Ich

[abirozy]

Hello there

I have a JBJ 28 gallon nano intermediate (LED). I have added an aquamaxx HOB-1, an inline JBJ UV steralizer (just turned on), and recently upgraded lighting to a reef radiance dm-132e (132W LED).

My livestock is as follows:

• 2 tank raised false percs (had for 2 years in an old 2 gallon)
• 1 yellow neon goby
• 1 gumdrop clown goby
• 1 yellow coris wrasse.

I also has about 7 corals, a mix Zoa's, torch, candy cane, vargus cespituaria, duncans... I just today added my corals from the Cherry Corals live sale (about 22 frags) and now have some acro's a bunch of Acans, frogspawn, candy cane, and a few others.

PROBLEM:
1) about two weeks ago, my yellow neon started scratching and developed ich. Not severe, but still noticeable. It was when he got Ich that I turned on the UV steralizer.
2) About 2 days ago, my yellow coris started to scratch against the rocks, but does not show any visual signs of ich yet.
3) about 4 days ago, I noticed one of my clowns had black around his gills and 4 small black spots on the same side. I checked with someone and they said if it didnt look raised, it was most likely not ich because it was black. They said if I had a torch (I do) that it was probably a sting and not to worry.
4) Today the clown started to rub against the back of the tank, but did not show any visual signs of ich (other than the black)

QUESTION:

1) What treatment should I use? Trapping is out of the question, so I need to treat in tank.
2) What are your thoughts on Kick Ich? I heard it is the safest, but takes the longest and only requires to have the skimmer turned off, carbon taken out, and does not require water changes every day like Ich-x.
3) How about Ich-X? I heard it is quicker, but stranger so more likely to stress out corals, requires you to turn off skimmer, take out carbon, and do water changes every day.
4) Neither of the treatments state I have to turn off my UV steralizer, do i?
5) If I just got my coral frags in my tank, and none of my fish other than the neon show visual signs of ich, should I wait a few days to start the treatment to allow the corals to acclimate to tank?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I want to get this right.

Adam

 

[Reefing Madness]

Does the Yellow Neon show signs of Ich? White spots, not black?
There is such a thing as Black Ich, but I highly doubt thats what you have there.
It is entirely possible that your Torch got the clown. I'd wait a few days, see if they heal up on their own.

 

[abirozy]

Does the Yellow Neon show signs of Ich? White spots, not black?
There is such a thing as Black Ich, but I highly doubt thats what you have there.
It is entirely possible that your Torch got the clown. I'd wait a few days, see if they heal up on their own.

Reefing

Yes, the neon goby had the classic white ich, raised spots, etc.... I figured the torch got the clown, but now that he is rubbing against the tank and the yellow wrasse is as well, I am thinking it is a matter of time before the white spots appear. Funny thing is, the neon goby is actually getting better.

 

[miamiangler]

Try feeding your fish this pellet food from New Life Spectrum Thera+A the one with the red A on It . It contains garlic and if you can raise the temp to 80 degrees .This worked for me with my tank last week . It was the first time in years I had a fish get sick ,but the temp in the tank dropped to 75 degrees .

 

[Reefomatic]

Get DR G's medicated food , if you cannot remove the fish , best way it to remove the fish , setup quarantine and perform one of the 3 methods proven to work.

Doctor G's also works it's medication is bitter to the fish , so if they don't eat use some fresh garlic to entice them to eat. Adding anything now with the coral purchased is asking for trouble. Don't do it ..please head my warning .... Be carefully with doctor g read the instruction , small quantities and blow your coral with turkey baster after feeding to avoid the food being eaten by the coral.


This is my humble opinion, kick ich and other products mess with the biological bacteria,... And you will loose your coral.....

 

[flynhawaiianz28]

I always advocate for pulling the fish into quarantine and treating with Seachem's cupramine but that's just me. You have quite a few options available to you and each options suits each person differently.

 

[heathd.hd]

I just did the ich x in my tank the last 3 days but I have no coral. My inverts are still alive from what I can tell and the fish have responded well. I have had some algae turning colors and I gained some new algae but I'll fight that battle later because I saved my fish. I didn't have a qt tank so it is what it is. I followed the recommended dosage and dosed every 12 hours instead of 24 hrs. My skimmer stayed on but is skimming weird. Idk what results you will have but I'm happy to not lose my foxface that was really looking bad. I did lose my clown trigger before I treated. This may not be the very best option but if it's all you have try it.

 

[3dees]

UV is useless for Ich. only three proven methods. hypo salinity, tank transfer, and copper. all to be done in a qt. none of the so called reef safe products work. it's probably not what you want to hear but that's it. you can set up a small qt for 75.00 or less if you buy used. if you do have ich, your tank will have to be fallow for at least eight weeks.

 

[Kworker]

Treating for Ich in your display will be a mistake.

It was your fault you did not QT to begin with and introduced it to the system. Now the only proper way to deal with the issue is the long way. You have to set up a QT and treat the fish in there and allow your display to go fallow. Sorry for my bluntness.

This is a perfect reason why I always say.. people complain about not wanting to put the fish in QT and just want to put it in display because they can't wait, but it takes MUCH more time dealing with parasites/diseases after its in your system than if you were to just initially QT.

Like previously stated, UV sterilizers are practically useless for parasites/diseases. I would look into doing either a Cu treatment or tank transfer.

 

[heathd.hd]

We all understand that qt is the best way to go. But like I said ich x has worked for me so far. I lost a heater in my tank and had to buy a new one. I've spent 1500 in the last couple months on my tank and 75 for a new heater. If I ran out and bought a qt tank i would be living on the street right now [wife] would have made it so. So is it my fault I don't have one heck yah. Do I claim responsibility yup. But sometimes u have to fix things with duct tape and a hammer. Even though you really don't want to. So it's a choice and can work.

 

[Bjreef562]

+1 with miamiangler on this one, I fed the same food and raised my temp and my purple pseudochromis pull through without the need of medication

 

[abirozy]

Thank you everyone for the replies... I will know to QT my fish going forward. Unfortunately, as a new hobbyist, it was not laziness, but rather lack of knowledge that caused me to not QT my fish in the first place.

1) I had my two clowns for over 2 years in a small 2 gallon wall tank and they were doing great, so I didn't think of QT'ing them.
2) The yellow neon EATS ich, so I didn't think of QT'ing him.
3) I thought with the yellow neon in my tank and the UV the clown goby and yellow wrasse were safe.

Oh well, live and learn. I am learning that as a new hobbyist, I will mistakes along the way.

PROBLEM:

1) It is not the setting up of a QT tank that is the problem for me, but rather getting the fish out of my existing tank. I only have a 28 gallon and it has about 35 lbs of live rock set up with a lot of caves and coral. I have tried to put some pellet food in the net to trap them, but so far, no luck. I will keep trying.

2) Also, if I do manage to trap the fish, how do I rid my display tank of ich with all the coral in it? Will the UV work for the Ich in the water column?

3) How does Ich get into the tank, if not on a fish? I.E. IF I manage to treat all my fish and IF I manage to get rid of Ich in my tank and IF I don't add any more fish, do I have to worry about Ich reappearing from water changes, adding coral, etc???

Apologies in advance for asking so many questions. Just a new hobbyist living and learning his lessons the hard way.

 

[flynhawaiianz28]

Today is my last day of my fallow period in my 20 long and when I get home my fish get to go back in the DT and I learned the hard way too so don't feel back. From now on I am QT'ing everything as well.
1. I took all the live rock and corals out when I decided to QT everything. I tried to do it all without stressing out the fish even more and it sucks to tear the tank apart but it gives you time to re-aquascape and its going to sit fallow anyways so it will have plenty of time to settle, at least 8 weeks.
2. You can leave your coral in your DT but your DT has to sit fallow, which means no fishies. Inverts are fine cause it doesn't affect them and by letting the tank sit fallow for at least 8 weeks, the ich can go through it's life cycle and die off. It dies off because it does not have a host to survive. You have to remember just because you do not see the ich does not mean it is not there. After the phase where it is not visible on the fish anymore, the ich has simply left the host and went into the substrate to continue the life cycle and reproduce.
3. Normally ich has to have a host to get into the tank or I suppose it can hitchhike with anything if you don't observe and QT first. Hopefully someone can chime in a little more on this one.