I have a bug ..... now what?

[Logicbear]

I have a 270 gallon setup its been about a year and I just added the last of my stocking 3 mature tangs a hipo, purple, and a scopas. I already had a sailfin and yellow tang. The fish showed no visible signs of ich or velvet when I added them the first 6 hours went as expected everyone trying to find there home but it was not too bad by morning I turned the lights on and I see what looks like ich on the Scopas and Purple tang. The fish are getting along great and eating well acting very normal. I researched all day and even still its like 1 in the morning. What is my best plan of attack here I have a 75 gallon that I can set up and use as QT but but can I put 5 tangs, a queen angle, snow flake eel, 2 gobies, a couple wrasses and some cardinal fish in a ZERO aquascape 75 gallon tank? Would it be better to ride it out in the main display as they seem to be acting normal swimming and eating well? I have 4 cleaner shrimp and 4 peppermint shrimp in there I plan to buy a HUGE UV to try and manage it. what do you guys think any help would be great I am freaking out here. thank you in advance. Bryan

 

[ichthyogeek]

First, read this sticky on ich management vs ich eradication, then make a decision. I've typed up some protocols on ich eradication for you below:

Ich eradication vs. Ich management

Ich eradication vs. Ich management The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros & cons of ich eradication and ich management, and present the best methods for implementing each. Ich eradication - Simply put, this method means doing everything possible to keep ich out of your tank. That...

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It sounds like you have a lot of fish. Do you have any other spare tanks? Or 5 gallon buckets? If you have more than 3 5 gallon buckets, this is what I'd do:

125: evacuate all the fish. If you don't have coral/heat sensitive inverts in the tank, up the tank temperature to the 80s, and turn off the lights (just in case it's velvet, and to keep algae growth down). Leave it alone for no less than 3 weeks.

75 gallon tank: add all the big fish: the angelfish, tangs, and the eel, maybe the wrasses if they're more than 4" long). Keep the lights dimmed or low. Start dosing with a medication to get rid of ich (read the stickies to find out what should work best). Add stuff like slate tiles, PVC pipe, or flowerpots in order to provide shelter for the fish (PVC is preferable due to its relatively nonporous nature).

5 gallon buckets: all the small fish. Start tank transfer method-ing them. BLEACH THE BUCKETS BETWEEN USE. Afterwards, separate the fish out based off of how many fish you have, as an example: one 5 gallon bucket has the cardinalfish, and the other has the gobies. Oh, and put the shrimp in the buckets too if you decide to heat up your tank.

 

[Logicbear]

@ichthyogeek Thank you I read the Ich eradication vs management and at this point I am going for management. This morning the fish look better, they are eating very well and swimming beautifully. I am going to move forward and get the 75 gallon set up to QT if I see the condition of the fish get worse I will pull the rock catch all the fish and QT I have a couple 20 gallon tanks as well but if the fish continue to act healthy and visibly show less symptoms do you think its is reasonable to continue to manage them with in the main display? Of course I don't want any fish to die if they appear to be improving and acting normally should I still move them into QT? I can its just its no small feat and I feel the large water volume and over filtration have been my saving grace thus far.

thank you again,
Bryan

 

[ichthyogeek]

Really, it's up to you on how much you want to eradicate ich in the tank. The hippo tang will probably be the first fish to show signs of ich contamination, so if it gets bad, that will probably be the fish to show it.

I personally believe that ich and as many disease factors should be eradicated from the fish tank.

It is up to you on if you want to manage vs eradicate the ich population. If the fish start to look like you could bake them in the oven (i.e. heavily encrusted with ich), then pull them out. But otherwise, up to you.

 

[Cstar_BC]

I think ich management is way better than the eradication method .

obviously avoidance is the gold standard but so much of ich is stress related that I feel sometimes keeping them in the tank and letting them swim and eat with a good biolaod already in place should be better than moving them unless they look like a frosted doughnut

 

[Logicbear]

I agree this is certainly not an ideal situation and I plan to be ready to QT if things take that turn for the worst and I will also continue to supplement the food and installing a UV sterilizer. I fully understand that reacting is not best practices but reacting is all I can do at this point and I am simply doing the best I can. thank you again for the support and encouragement as I work through this what is certainly ICH break out.