Now i have read and heard that hypo salinity and many copper based medications will cure ich...FOR GOOD. But is there a way of curing it in a reef tank???And is ich always in there but only appears whenever a fish becomes stressed or loses its slime coat.... i'm using natural sea water but sits in a large container for the full length of the ich cycle....after filtration would it still have ich??? just over ich outbreak but there are no signs.... do i just keep fish healthy and do monthly water changes ?? knowing that ich is always going to be there or do i go fallow with the chance it may come bacK help needed thanks
Ich......let's talk
- Thread starter JadeM
- Start date
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Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) is a living creature. It can't appear magically in every tank (though it can sometimes feel that way!) and if you're rigorous with quarantine, you can have a tank with no ich. (Which means you can also have things like achilles tangs!) It can be present on a fish's gills and enter your display, though the fish shows no symptoms. It can be encysted on a frag plug, piece of liverock, or a shell - almost anything hard and wet, and enter your display when you've added no fish. If you're keeping your seawater in a fishless barrel for 76 days, it should be fine (from an ich standpoint, at least) to put into your tank.
If your fish had ich in your display tank, and got over it - and they weren't removed for a 76 day fallow period - then ich is probably still in your tank and on your fish, just at a low level. That's what happened to me when I started out. Bought fish, placed in tank. Ich outbreak! Most fish recovered. Bought new fish, only to see ich move on the vulnerable newcomers as soon as they entered the tank, killing fish after fish. I wound up pulling all the fish for a fallow period, and have quarantined all fish since.
To date, I know of zero reef-safe treatment options, I'm afraid ... if one is ever found, I'm sure it'll be announced with a trumpet fanfare! Using other treatments, like copper, can be a challenge in your display. Liverock absorbs copper, bringing your copper level below that which would kill the ich - and can then _leach_ copper into the water at some later date, stressing or killing creatures you _want_ in your tank.
~Bruce
If your fish had ich in your display tank, and got over it - and they weren't removed for a 76 day fallow period - then ich is probably still in your tank and on your fish, just at a low level. That's what happened to me when I started out. Bought fish, placed in tank. Ich outbreak! Most fish recovered. Bought new fish, only to see ich move on the vulnerable newcomers as soon as they entered the tank, killing fish after fish. I wound up pulling all the fish for a fallow period, and have quarantined all fish since.
To date, I know of zero reef-safe treatment options, I'm afraid ... if one is ever found, I'm sure it'll be announced with a trumpet fanfare! Using other treatments, like copper, can be a challenge in your display. Liverock absorbs copper, bringing your copper level below that which would kill the ich - and can then _leach_ copper into the water at some later date, stressing or killing creatures you _want_ in your tank.
~Bruce
melypr1985
totally addicted
There's lots of good info above. All correct and I agree. I'm just going to reiterate the important parts. There is no reef safe cure for ick. The only way to get it out of your display is to go fallow (fishless) for 76 days and treat the fish in QT. QT all additions to the tank, including corals and inverts to be sure ick never enters your tank in the first place. It can be a pain to do all this, but it's priceless to know that the animals you care for arn't going to get sick because of neglect or laziness. After all this you can truly say you did your best.
thanks
will go fallow for the 76 days...one more question i have a very large zebra moray eel and it would be a pain taking her out....can she get ich???
As far as I know, JadeM, _all_ fish can get ich. I've never worked with eels though, so take that with a grain of Instant Ocean . . .
Luna, if you remove the fish from your display for a 76-day fallow period, and don't introduce anything new (and wet) ich will be gone from your tank. It can encyst on crabs and shrimp, but can't _feed_ from them. As far as ich is concerned, a shrimp might as well be a piece of liverock - it can starve to local extinction (exactly what we want!) in a tank full of invertebrate life.
~Bruce
Luna, if you remove the fish from your display for a 76-day fallow period, and don't introduce anything new (and wet) ich will be gone from your tank. It can encyst on crabs and shrimp, but can't _feed_ from them. As far as ich is concerned, a shrimp might as well be a piece of liverock - it can starve to local extinction (exactly what we want!) in a tank full of invertebrate life.
~Bruce
4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
melypr1985
totally addicted
Yes she can. You want to remove every fish from the display including the eel. One point to make here is that you can't treat the eel with copper. CP or TTM will be best for her.
mmmm this is hard QT set up most fish out except for the wrasse gang which im having trouble catching they even out smarted a bottle trap...i will get them tho hypo has clearly killed most visible white spot over the period of days lowering the salinity.... now with the eel she has been getting targeted by my cleaner wrasse and has bashed herself into so many rocks she has taken all the pigment of her tail and is getting quality rest now the cleaner wrasse is out....there a forums saying eels cant get it ???? is it true how would they?? also this clear fluid on her eye has built up slowly....not hurting or stopping her from eating but heres a pic
didnt want to go straight to medication knowing that eels dont go well with hypo and copper so just asking for different meds that will still work....does prazipro heal her eye problem???i read it and it only said it kills flukes flat worm etc thanks
Duke4Life
Just a crazy eel guy, LMAS
Give it a few days and see how the condition develops. @Humblefish how do you typically treat pop eye?
Not Humblefish, so believe anything he says over anything I say . . .
I was able to treat a mild case of popeye (due, I suspect, to injury) in a fairy wrasse, using a bit of epsom salt - the USP / no additives kind. If the cause is bacterial, though, you'll want something in an antibiotic - and I won't even try to suggest which would be best.
~Bruce
I was able to treat a mild case of popeye (due, I suspect, to injury) in a fairy wrasse, using a bit of epsom salt - the USP / no additives kind. If the cause is bacterial, though, you'll want something in an antibiotic - and I won't even try to suggest which would be best.
~Bruce
melypr1985
totally addicted
This ^^ is good advice and what I would say as well. However.... this tank has ick right? The eel can certainly get it and be a carrier for it. Everyone has to come out of the tank for the fallow period to begin. He can be treated easier for the pop eye in QT anyway. Also something to think about. If they spots are going away right now it's because they are dropping off the body to multiply. Hypo doesn't kill the white dots on the fish. They are too deeply buried under the skin of the fish for hypo or even copper to kill them while they are on the fish.
