How can I be sure ich is gone?

[MareR]

Well here I thought all my troubles were gone here comes one more lol. I decided to get a new bicolor foxface about two weeks ago ish for my 55 gallon (I KNOW I KNOW they get big but I'm planning to upgrade anyways to either a 75 or 90 and he was a smaller size anyways-perfectly suited for a 55. I noticed he had white spots all over that would seemingly come and go and I thought "oh god this could be ich but it doesn't seem to be affecting my other fish."

Lo and behold my two clownfish now have white spots, my beloved sailfin white spots on its fins but so far that's it. I've taken those fish out. My falco hawkfish, diamondback goby, and banggai cardinal all seem fine. I got the foxface from a pretty reputable source in Phoenix, and did a dip with something the store provided me (I forget what). My water parameters are all fine, I just did a 10% water change, and my temp is 77 degrees. Is there a way to remove ich completely and how long should I wait before adding new fish? Should I just have a complete do over? This isn't the first time I've lost all fish in a tank (the last time this happened was due to a bacterial bloom about a year ago ugh) I know these things can happen but man it still sucks when they do.

 

[Reef and Dive]

Only after treating all fish effectively and leaving the tank fishless for at least 76 days.

 

[MareR]

Only after treating all fish effectively and leaving the tank fishless for at least 76 days.

76 days okay I was wondering if it was 1 or 2 months but 2 months it is. thank you.

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

76 days okay I was wondering if it was 1 or 2 months but 2 months it is. thank you.

Actually 76 days is for velvet ich is 90 days I believe. It is time and salt consuming but humblefish.com Tank Transfer Method is the best I have come up with. I lost a lot of fish to velvet when I returned fish too early. I read 6 or 8 weeks and turns out to be 11.
I lost the first batch trying to medicate and either was too late or the meds were too stressful. Second round I lost my Harlequin Tusk Australian to stress of paraguard dip followed with fresh water dip. Then I moved the rest to TTM and saved them all.
Just got three angels and were in QT when the larger passer and the tiny blue each had one spot of ich. I immediately started the TTM for ich and saved the majestic and passer. Lost the blue in next to last transfer but I think I didn’t mix that batch of water right. When I went to fill another tank it read only about 1.016. So maybe stressed him too much. Don’t know how I screwed that one up? But they were all eating and behaving perfectly. Tomorrow night they are free to return to a more permanent home while I complete my next build for them. XXXL900 Red Sea

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Yes, sorry for your troubles, must be super frustrating. Read these articles. You need to run the tank fish-less for 45 days with the temp kept at 80.6 for the entire time. Treat all your fish with copper in a quarantine tank for 30 days with the use of copper power and a Hanna Checker for the test kit. You could also post some pictures here for feedback on diagnosis.

45 Day Fallow periods

I've been doing some research into the "76 day fallow period". I never heard of that prior to coming to Reef2Reef this past summer. I had always used 32 days as the maximum time for a tomont to remain viable under tropical conditions, and then I would round up to 45 days to help ensure that...

www.reef2reef.com

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[vetteguy53081]

As long as you treated at therapeutic level for full 39 days and fish shows no signs or behavior of infection, it should be cured
Do not return fish to display tank until tank has been free if fish for at least 44-60 days
What level did you treat at and what copper kit did you monitor levels with?

 

[threebuoys]

Since your other fish are all showing symptoms,your best option is to place all of you fish in QT following the protocol linked below. You will need a rather large tank to do this given the size and number of fish you have. The protocol uses copper and prazi medications. Also read the fallow links others have suggested to understand your options for the DT.
If you have doubts about your diagnosis, provide some photos and videos and we will try to confirm for you.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Well here I thought all my troubles were gone here comes one more lol. I decided to get a new bicolor foxface about two weeks ago ish for my 55 gallon (I KNOW I KNOW they get big but I'm planning to upgrade anyways to either a 75 or 90 and he was a smaller size anyways-perfectly suited for a 55. I noticed he had white spots all over that would seemingly come and go and I thought "oh god this could be ich but it doesn't seem to be affecting my other fish."

Lo and behold my two clownfish now have white spots, my beloved sailfin white spots on its fins but so far that's it. I've taken those fish out. My falco hawkfish, diamondback goby, and banggai cardinal all seem fine. I got the foxface from a pretty reputable source in Phoenix, and did a dip with something the store provided me (I forget what). My water parameters are all fine, I just did a 10% water change, and my temp is 77 degrees. Is there a way to remove ich completely and how long should I wait before adding new fish? Should I just have a complete do over? This isn't the first time I've lost all fish in a tank (the last time this happened was due to a bacterial bloom about a year ago ugh) I know these things can happen but man it still sucks when they do.

As said, you'll need to remove ALL fish from the tank, treat them for ich and leave the tank empty of fish for 60 days or so.

If you cannot remove all of the fish, but they look o.k., you'll end up doing what is called "ich management" - basically, the ich parasite is still in the tank, but in a chronic state. With strong UV and very careful control of water quality, and not adding any delicate fishes, you can sometimes keep the ich parasite from becoming acute again - but not always.

Eradication with proper quarantine is best and even that isn't always 100%.

Jay

 

[MareR]

Yes, sorry for your troubles, must be super frustrating. Read these articles. You need to run the tank fish-less for 45 days with the temp kept at 80.6 for the entire time. Treat all your fish with copper in a quarantine tank for 30 days with the use of copper power and a Hanna Checker for the test kit. You could also post some pictures here for feedback on diagnosis.

45 Day Fallow periods

I've been doing some research into the "76 day fallow period". I never heard of that prior to coming to Reef2Reef this past summer. I had always used 32 days as the maximum time for a tomont to remain viable under tropical conditions, and then I would round up to 45 days to help ensure that...

www.reef2reef.com

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

I will have to give these a read. Unfortunately both clowns and sailfin passed, but again my three survivors are lookin real good and I'm keeping my temp at 80 degrees but might go higher if these fish start showing those dreaded spots. Everything was going really well this past year, which is why I got the new "centerpiece" foxface. ugh I knew they were more prone to ich but heard they could be fine with it too? so wanted to give it a shot and now i wish I never got it lol

 

[LAReefer4Life]

I will have to give these a read. Unfortunately both clowns and sailfin passed, but again my three survivors are lookin real good and I'm keeping my temp at 80 degrees but might go higher if these fish start showing those dreaded spots. Everything was going really well this past year, which is why I got the new "centerpiece" foxface. ugh I knew they were more prone to ich but heard they could be fine with it too? so wanted to give it a shot and now i wish I never got it lol

Sorry for your loss. Ich management can be tricky and an oversized UV is definitely the way to go if you're trying this method, it will help keep the parasite numbers at bay.