Ich in Reef Tank! Need Help!!! (New to Hobby)

Mustangtodd97 · Jan 8, 2018

I purchsed a blue hippo tang on Saturday. I noticed He was really stressed in the bag during acclimation (heavy breathing & trying to get out of bag). Sunday morning, I noticed the white spots on him. Ich. He seems happy in the tank, swimming about, no hiding in rock. I have corals & invertes in my tank, and have no quarantine tank. Called LFS, the advised me to lower salinity (to 1.023) raise water temp to 80-82, and feed a food which contains garlic. I did all this, but I am concerned about the health of my other 6 fish (and this one too!) Should I be worried? What else should I do? Thanks in advance for the advice.

Brew12 · Jan 8, 2018

Mustangtodd97 said:
I purchsed a blue hippo tang on Saturday. I noticed He was really stressed in the bag during acclimation (heavy breathing & trying to get out of bag). Sunday morning, I noticed the white spots on him. Ich. He seems happy in the tank, swimming about, no hiding in rock. I have corals & invertes in my tank, and have no quarantine tank. Called LFS, the advised me to lower salinity (to 1.023) raise water temp to 80-82, and feed a food which contains garlic. I did all this, but I am concerned about the health of my other 6 fish (and this one too!) Should I be worried? What else should I do? Thanks in advance for the advice.

You have 2 options. You can try to run an Ich managed system where it will always be in your tank and you try to keep your fish healthy enough to fight it off. With good water quality, husbandry, and high quality food the only time you should ever see spots is if you have a stress event like a failed heater or ATO. You can use a product like Polyp Lab Medic to help knock back the parasite if it seems to be impacting your fish.

The other option is to pull all your fish out of the display tank and treating them in a QT system. You would then have to leave the display tank without fish for 76 days to starve the parasite out.

Unfortunately, there is no reef safe cure for Ich.

miyags · Jan 8, 2018

Yes, you should be worried.Get ready to QT and treat all the fish.The longer you wait the worse it gets.

miyags · Jan 8, 2018

If Option 1 does not work,it's usually to late for option 2.Been there did that.It's hard to set up hospital tank,last minute,to save fish that are almost dead. When if you started treatment 3 weeks earlier,you could have saved them while they were still active.

Brew12 · Jan 8, 2018

miyags said:
If Option 1 does not work,it's usually to late for option 2.Been there did that.It's hard to set up hospital tank,last minute,to save fish that are almost dead. When if you started treatment 3 weeks earlier,you could have saved them while they were still active.

That is the risk. For some people it works just fine. If it doesn't work, you lose the fish.

The flip side of that is that it is also possible to lose fish in QT. I always run strict QT protocols and it makes me sad to think of the fish that haven't made it through. The positive is that once my fish make it into my DT I have very good success. I've only had 1 fish death in my DT in the last year.

I think everyone who is fairly new to the hobby should practice QT with proactive treatment. But, that is just my opinion. I'll help people as best I'm able do whichever method they decide to pursue.

Daltrey · Jan 8, 2018

Please tell me you didn't put a hippo tang in a 45 gallon tank? You do know they can grow up to a foot long. If so I would take it back.

Mustangtodd97 · Jan 8, 2018

Do I remove the infected fish from the DT immediately? If i do, Will this help my situation at all?

Daltrey · Jan 8, 2018

The only way to get rid of ich from your display tank now is to remove all of your fish and treat in QT. Then run your display tank fishless for 72 days.

Notice they use a hippo tang in the diagram. That fish is one of the biggest carriers of ich and chances of buying one without it are slim to none.

Brew12 · Jan 8, 2018

Mustangtodd97 said:
Do I remove the infected fish from the DT immediately? If i do, Will this help my situation at all?

Unfortunately, it will not help. Once an infected fish is introduced into a system it is very likely that the system is now hosting the parasite.

Daltrey said:
The only way to get rid of ich from your display tank now is to remove all of your fish and treat in QT. Then run your display tank fishless for 72 days.

Notice they use a hippo tang in the diagram. That fish is one of the biggest carriers of ich and chances of buying one without it are slim to none.

I feel it is safe to assume every fish comes with Ich. If a local fish store ever has one fish with ich in its system then it will always be there. It isn't economically possible for a LFS to run their systems without fish for long enough to clear it.
Because of this, the LFS I go to keeps their inverts separate from their fish. They run low levels of copper in their system to help keep parasite numbers in check. It makes the fish look nice prior to sale but it isn't enough to eliminate the parasites.

Daltrey · Jan 8, 2018

Brew12 said:
Unfortunately, it will not help. Once an infected fish is introduced into a system it is very likely that the system is now hosting the parasite.

I feel it is safe to assume every fish comes with Ich. If a local fish store ever has one fish with ich in its system then it will always be there. It isn't economically possible for a LFS to run their systems without fish for long enough to clear it.
Because of this, the LFS I go to keeps their inverts separate from their fish. They run low levels of copper in their system to help keep parasite numbers in check. It makes the fish look nice prior to sale but it isn't enough to eliminate the parasites.

Your preaching to the choir. I always QT, observe and treat new arrivals. Not just fish and inverts either.

Brew12 · Jan 8, 2018

Daltrey said:
Your preaching to the choir. I always QT, observe and treat new arrivals. Not just fish and inverts either.

Fantastic! I practice what I preach, too. This is currently set up. My invert/coral QT isn't up right now.

Daltrey · Jan 8, 2018

And if you think that plastic bag stressed him you might want to watch this.

Gmj4409 · Jan 8, 2018

Great video - very informative and interesting. Thanks for sharing.

jpcrash1 · Jan 8, 2018

Yes, when you buy a blue tang just count on it having ich.

EmdeReef · Jan 8, 2018

Mustangtodd97 said:
I purchsed a blue hippo tang on Saturday. I noticed He was really stressed in the bag during acclimation (heavy breathing & trying to get out of bag). Sunday morning, I noticed the white spots on him. Ich. He seems happy in the tank, swimming about, no hiding in rock. I have corals & invertes in my tank, and have no quarantine tank. Called LFS, the advised me to lower salinity (to 1.023) raise water temp to 80-82, and feed a food which contains garlic. I did all this, but I am concerned about the health of my other 6 fish (and this one too!) Should I be worried? What else should I do? Thanks in advance for the advice.

I don't see how lowering salinity to 1.023 would make any difference with ich, but it could stress your corals... Also, running the tank at 80-82 won't do anything for treatment. I'd keep the parameters as stable as possible to give your fish the best fighting chance. As previously mentioned, ich can be managed. I think many of us have done it successfully at times. To be honest, I've lost more fish to copper treatment than ich...but that said it is the only proven cure along CP (not advocating no treatment, but living in NY with space constraints there were times when I simply couldn't run a quarantine tank due to space constraints and I had to do it. It can be unnerving as every time you see a spot or anything you wonder if your tank is done).