Hey all! I really really need help. I have 30 gallons tank with corals, crabs etc. Last year I lost all my fishes due to ich. I waited over 3 months before adding new fishes. I see everywhere that tank should stay 72 days without fishes so the ich will die. It was over 100 days... Now i got 2 clown fishes and a royal gramma, all went through quarantine tank and were in main display for over 4 month. And yesterday i spotted ich on my gramma! How could that happen?! And what should i do? Could ich survive in the tank? And how to treat it? As far as i know lowering salinity will kill al my invertebrates? I put gramma in quarantine tank, but should i put there all fishes? Please, any help would be very appreciated!
ICH AGAIN!
- Thread starter galka
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Kyl
And how does it feel like, to wake up in the sun
If you 100% want to prevent ich, you must quarantine every single thing going into the tank; fish, rock, coral, macro algae, inverts - everything.
NeuroticAquatics
Valuable Member
Inch could have been somewhere like in the gils where you would not see it. I’ve wiped out my 240g twice due to not quarantining and treating everything. I think treating is the way to go, even if nothing shows.
Coralfuture
Active Member
Ich can come in on corals/inverts w/e its hard to say where it came from. If you want to treat then you would want to QT all fish for ANOTHER 72 days 
What are water parameters BTW?
What are water parameters BTW?
skim
Well-Known Member
ICH is alive and well in all tanks all the time and is dormant in a sense. It is like Cancer in Human and Animals, the Cell is in us and is doing the Indy 500 Race and the Track is the Body. Totally harmless until it finds a weakness and something activates it and well we know the result. I have not done any QT ever and I have to go back to my freshwater days to remember when I had ICH. One of the biggest reason for ICH is Stress and poor diet. One of the worst fish for ICH is probably the Blue Hippo ( DORY ) why, watch the movie and you know the fish and the stress level. Now look at the Naso tang, very cool fish when mine sees coming he pops himself on the edge of the tank and lights a smoke and asks me how my day was. So the less noise and activity around the tank the better, and try not to do too many things with the tank at once. The less you handle your fish the better, find out if the store has added anything to water when buying the fish, if not just float and dump. You start playing with more nets in and out every time the fish is touched by a net slime is lost so that may answer your question on how. ICH in display, fresh netting, slime is lost BINGO, the weak spot. Fish that don't get along and have conflicts another weak spot, so chose well.
Food I only feed Flake and Pellets and dried Seaweed and have Garlic in it. I feed Frozen maybe 2 to 3 times a year as a treat. Naso is close to 10" I call him the peace maker, the Moorish Idol approaching 5 years is 6-7" Brazilian Yellow Belly Blue Hippo about 5 " Scopas Tang 4" full grown and Star Eyed Blenie 5" all bought in the 2 - 3 " mark and have only fed with Flake and Pellet. Now I will only feed 3 brands Northfin pellets, NLS Flake and pellets and Omega One Flake and Pellets, Seaweed I believe is Ocean Nutrition with Garlic.
From what I understand nothing really kills ICH it more like stuns it and it will drop off. A couple of cleaner shrimp may also be of great use.
Food I only feed Flake and Pellets and dried Seaweed and have Garlic in it. I feed Frozen maybe 2 to 3 times a year as a treat. Naso is close to 10" I call him the peace maker, the Moorish Idol approaching 5 years is 6-7" Brazilian Yellow Belly Blue Hippo about 5 " Scopas Tang 4" full grown and Star Eyed Blenie 5" all bought in the 2 - 3 " mark and have only fed with Flake and Pellet. Now I will only feed 3 brands Northfin pellets, NLS Flake and pellets and Omega One Flake and Pellets, Seaweed I believe is Ocean Nutrition with Garlic.
From what I understand nothing really kills ICH it more like stuns it and it will drop off. A couple of cleaner shrimp may also be of great use.
HotRocks
Fish Fanatic!
For the casual reader:
Ich CAN BE completely eradicated from a reef tank. If proper fallow periods for inverts/coral are completed and all fish that enter the tank are Qt'd properly ich would not be present or dormant.
Here is a read that may be of help.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.188775/
How did you QT the fish?
I haven't introduced anything new to the tank since last year except fishes. For fishes first i got 2 clowns, they were in in quarantine tank for about 2 weeks and than in 2 month gramma, same procedure. I don't really get where ich could come from.
HotRocks
Fish Fanatic!
If they were only in QT for a couple weeks and not treated for ich, they very likely carried it into your system unnoticed.
Ich can come in on corals/inverts w/e its hard to say where it came from. If you want to treat then you would want to QT all fish for ANOTHER 72 days
What are water parameters BTW?
temp 25-26
ph, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were always in perfect state no sudden ups or downs
salinity 1.024
Coralfuture
Active Member
Usually I treat all my incoming fish with or without signs of ich. Incoming corals and inverts chill in QT tho no treatments other than coral dips. I had had a similar situation and gotten ich so I know your pain my friend.
4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
This is why we prophylacticly treat for it. Many many fish can retain ich without obvious symptom to bring it to your new tank. This is VERY common practice. Wrasse, gobies, and other fish can and very often do bring ich and even velvet without symptom for months of observation.
4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
Ich is an animal, a parasite. This is why the analogy you describe isn’t really a truly analogous comparison. I can keep ich out of my tank the same as I can keep snails and other inverts out.
The post above is a good example of the misinformation about ich. It's not present in every system, garlic or cleaner shrimp (or wrasses for that matter) don't do a thing, it's not caused by stress but that can bring it out.
Tangs are more likely to have ich probably because of their thin mucous coat.
FW ich has nothing to do with marine ich.
Tangs are more likely to have ich probably because of their thin mucous coat.
FW ich has nothing to do with marine ich.
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And what would be recommendations of what to do now? Copper treatment or lowering salinity? And can i do anything in display tank other than leaving it without fishes for couple of months again?
Also my quarantine tanks is just 10g I guess that's not good for leaving fishes there for a long time especially if they are weakened already?
Also my quarantine tanks is just 10g I guess that's not good for leaving fishes there for a long time especially if they are weakened already?
HotRocks
Fish Fanatic!
Living with a parasite affliction is much more stressful on the fish than a medicated QT tank IMO. Actually you may really see your fish come alive in QT once the parasites are removed.
I have Qtd a lot of fish, I have never really seen any of them "Stressed" in a QT. Now symptomatic from a certain disease, infection, or parasite is a different story.
I personally would use copper. copper isn't as scary as it sounds now that we have a nice way to accurately monitor it (Hanna High Range Copper Checker)!
A 10 gallon tank is fine, for 2 clowns and a gramma. Put some pvc elbows or fittings in the tank so they have a place to sleep/hide.
