melypr1985
totally addicted
Oh wow! That's some serious hardware lol.
Ich, Hospital Tank Questions
- Thread starter Bubba12
- Start date
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Oh wow! That's some serious hardware lol.
RMS18
I keep water chemistry as my hobby
+1 to watch the corals, this is my second time with ich, I only added corals since I treated for ich, so a coral had to bring it into my system. I am not using a light on mine as when I have the light on my fish are more stressed, but I'm also doing ttm this time around. I used copper the first time and lost 1 fish due to it not eating and my others lost a lot of weight. Petco has their dollar per gallon sale going on. N
RMS18
I keep water chemistry as my hobby
I think @Humblefish told me 30 days. You can't see ich because it is in the Tomont stage which can last 3-28 days when attached to substrate. All my fish went thought qt with copper and had no issues, no stress was put on the fish, no moves, rearranging of rock or aggression. For once I thought I'm finally done tank is running well etc. Then I bought a pink toadstool from divers den and 2 zoa frags from my lfs. 2 weeks later all my fish were rubbing and 1 had visible spots.
30 days of isolation (from fish) for corals/inverts will work the vast majority of the time. Just like 30 days of copper treatment works the vast majority of the time. It will at the very least protect you from the most serious diseases, like velvet & brook. However, if you happen to encounter a strain of ich that takes >30 days for all the theronts to be released from encysted tomonts, then 30 days will fail. This has only been encountered once: In a Colorni and Burgess 1997 study, it took 72 days for all the theronts to be released from a group of tomonts. So, it really comes down to how much risk are you willing to take?
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Bubba12
Community Member
So this is where the 72-76 days of fallow comes from?
Yes, below explains why the extra 4 days:
Please be advised the fallow period for Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) has been adjusted to now be 76 days. Based upon new calculations (see below):
Let's do the math and tweak the fallow period for ich using the parasite's known life cycle & worst case scenario:
So, let's add it all up. 2+72+2 = 76 days. That would be the true maximum fallow period for ich. Probably a bit of overkill, but I will make the necessary adjustments to the stickies and start recommending 76 days from this day forward.
- Let's say a trophont drops off the last fish you catch before going fallow. We know that the protomont can only crawl around 18 hours max before beginning the encysting process. The process itself takes no longer than 12 hours until it has hardened around what is now called a tomont. 18+12=30 hours, but I'm just gonna call it 2 days to err on the side of caution.
- The longest known time period it took for theronts (free swimmers) to be released from a group of tomonts is 72 days. However, I want to make it clear that this 72 days has only been encountered once; one study involving a single strain of ich. In most other studies, 7-14 days has been "the norm" for theront release.
- Once released from it's tomont, a theront must find a fish host to attach to within 48 hours (2 days) or it dies. Thus ending ich's presence in your fallow tank. Although in actuality, a theront's infectivity is greatly reduced just 6 - 8 hours after it leaves the cyst. It's non-infective after just 8 hours, but still able to move for up to 48 hours. So again, to err on the side of caution, we're gonna say 2 days for this "final phase" of it's life cycle.
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Bubba12
Community Member
I got all my fish transferred to the QT tank on Saturday. It was a giant PITA, but in the end I got to re-do my aquascape and I like it much better. So not all bad. I haven't started the copper treatment yet, but my fish appear to be doing very well. They are eating very well and I haven't seen any decrease in activity. Should I hold off on the treatment and see if they can kick this on their own or go ahead and start?
RMS18
I keep water chemistry as my hobby
They can't kick ich, ich won't go away while there are fish to host. Copper, TTM or hypo salinity are your only choices. Make sure they are fat before you treat with copper, it will suppress their appetite. And remember you need 30 days at a therapeutic level. If at anytime you need to pull copper out, you need to start over. That's why TTM was much more appealing this time for me, 13 days and I'm done, then just wait out the DT.
Although it may never killed them, they won't be able to beat ich on their own. It will just keep coming back. This explains why: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/understanding-ich.188770/
Here are your treatment options: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-treat-ich.191226/
omykiss001
Active Member
Me too. That is what my 40b my fish are currently living in will become after the fallow period ends a frag/coral invert QT tank, just need to get a skimmer of some sort for it.
