Ich! Break it down and qt or roll with it?

[Hijinks_78]

One of my tanks is a 60 gallon cube I’ve been running for about 5 months. It had been running for a few years before I bought it. The fish list are 1 yellow tang, 2 black clowns, 1 pajama cardinal, 2 molly miller blennies. Most of the coral are sps with a spattering of other stuff. The other day a breaker flipped and the tank got fairly cold for a few hours until I got home. It got as low as around 70 degrees, and didn’t have any flow etc. The next day, after getting everything straightened out, I started to noticed some white spot on the yellow tang. It is skittish and I will never catch it, without taking almost all of the rock out. All of the rock is encrusted with sps...To get the molly miller blennies I would need to basically pull every piece of rock out, and if I’m going to do this I would want to take out every fish. I hate to do this to the tank. It has finally settled in enough to start to see some real growth after about 5 months.
As of today, the ich is clearing up on its own, but now I know it is in the tank...for a long time I thought ich was in every tank but now it seems that is not the case, and it is possible, with good qt practices, to have an ich free tank. I’m curious how many of you guys would bite the bullet and pull all of the fish out, and qt for 90 days, and how many would just accept it? In the past I’ve had tanks that have had ich in them and I would see a little bit every now again, but it wasn’t a big deal. But then I think about how nice it would be to not need to worry about ich when the eventual hiccups occur (like the breaker issue that led to this). I’m just really torn...
Thank you guys in advance

 

[Cdipasquale]

Feed Garlic and let the fish kick the ich on their own. There are many diseases and parasites that can kill our fish and I think Ich is the least worrysome. It only presents during extreme stress and a healthy fish is perfectly capable of fighting it off on their own. I don't know if there is any science behind it but garlic has always helped them kick it faster for me and I can't recall losing any fish to ich. I definitly would not tear down a system over it.

 

[Hijinks_78]

Feed Garlic and let the fish kick the ich on their own. There are many diseases and parasites that can kill our fish and I think Ich is the least worrysome. It only presents during extreme stress and a healthy fish is perfectly capable of fighting it off on their own. I don't know if there is any science behind it but garlic has always helped them kick it faster for me and I can't recall losing any fish to ich. I definitly would not tear down a system over it.

That’s how I’ve always dealt with it in the past, but I also never qt fish and I’m just questioning myself a little bit, considering that there are a relatively small number of fish in the system but I plan to add more (some to the dt and others to the plumbed in frag tank).
thank you for your advice. I’m still unsure though. It’s always hard to say how much pulling the rock out for short time would effect the coral and how long growth will stall out for...its bare bottom so that will make it a little less messy

 

[Cdipasquale]

It's not the corals I would worry about. First it's just a PITA to go through all that for something that can fix itself. Second, the problem you're worried about is caused from stress...ripping his home apart to capture and move him is certainly adding to the stress. No doubt once you get it done and put him in QT, you'll wake up in the morning to the ich being much worse. Stability is everything, a healthy, happy fish will rid himself of ich.

 

[Hijinks_78]

It's not the corals I would worry about. First it's just a PITA to go through all that for something that can fix itself. Second, the problem you're worried about is caused from stress...ripping his home apart to capture and move him is certainly adding to the stress. No doubt once you get it done and put him in QT, you'll wake up in the morning to the ich being much worse. Stability is everything, a healthy, happy fish will rid himself of ich.

Sorry if I was not clear. My concern is not this one fish. I have little doubt that it will do fine, regardless. The ich is almost gone already. What makes me consider doing this is avoiding future issues. Eventually there will be another stressful event. Despite my best efforts, a pump will break, a breaker will flip, something will happen that stresses the fish. Right now I have very few fish in the system, so it seems like an opportunity to completely rid the tank of ich, and when the next stressful event occurs, I will not have to worry about ich, as it will not be present in the tank.
I completely agree that as far as this fish is concerned, it will be much more stressful for me to catch and qt it. If I were to do it I would not only have to qt the tang, but the other 5 fish. In the short term it will be more stress for all the fish, coral and me. The question in my mind is what is best for the tank long term. Thanks again for your thoughts

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Well, I would just leave it as is. In my 17 years of reefing I’ve always had ich present in my tanks and never had a problem.
Ich is not something that will wipe out your tank, provided that the fish are well cared for.

Just make sure that it’s not velvet, that’s a whole other story.

 

[Cdipasquale]

Ok, I thought your were just trying to treat this fish. But I have to agree that I believe ich is something that will be there regardless of what you do to try and get rid of it. I've seen it pop up in a tank that's gone 10 years without any signs. So I certainly don't understand the life cycle of the disease enough to be certain on this, but I think your fighting a loosing battle trying to eradicate it from the system completely.

 

[stanleo]

I have to agree that ich is something a heathy fish in as stressfree an environment as possible can handle on their own. I was always under the impression that ich is present in 90% of fish tanks and its only when a fish is stressed or undernourished that it can be noticed.

 

[moz71]

You asked a question that you will get 50/ 50 responses!! So not sure if you get answer that makes you feel better. Lol. I would QT and fallow. Just my opinion.

 

[Squidward]

If you want an ich-free tank then unfortunately you will have to catch all of your fish. It sucks but it'll be well worth it.

 

[Terri Caton]

Try a fish trap. You can get them without breaking down the tank.

 

[Hijinks_78]

i felt like it was a close decision, and I guess the responses back that up...at least it’s a small tank, and it’s a good chance to play with the aquas cape,

 

[Topekoms]

I currently have a 210 that has had an ich outbreak. I have pulled all my fish and doing the 72day fallow to rid my tank of it. Granted I do have an Achillies so that was the main reason for my decision. I have done this once before. Before I got my Achillies I fallowed my tank I ended up having a house fire in July and had to move fish to a questionable tank on if it had ich present or not with a friend of mine. Needless to say they didn't show signs when I picked them back up but I had an outbreak once I had them in my new tank system. So for my own piece of mind I am redoing my fallow. I believe it is better for my fish. Yes it is a pain in the butt for me but well worth it to see my fish happy healthy and no white spots. So my vote would be to remove the fish and QT.