Ich outbreak!!

r.bergonia19 · May 24, 2016

I just saw my fish in my DT and they all have ich. My question is I can't catch them but what I can do is take out all corals and inverts and treat my DT copper would that work??
And if after I treat my tank with copper and take out all the copper with carbon can I put back all corals and inverts in the tank or I need to wait 1 month for the bacteria to build cause I saw that if u put copper in reef tank it kills all the good bacteria.
My tank is 20 gallon high mix reef, bare bottom with about 20 or less pounds of live rock.
Fish- yellow scissortail damsel, tomato clownfish, harp tail Blenny, neon dottyback.
Inverts- crabs, shrimp and snails.

tthouston · May 24, 2016

Some Forum will say leave the fishes in there and let they fight with ICH and other forum said remove fish treat them in quarantine tank and leave DT fallow 76 days or so. I did not read anywhere advice use cooper in display tank yet so be careful to do that. Research more in this forum, it has a lot of information about ICH treatment. Lot of Reef advance in here willing to help you. Good luck.

Tahoe61 · May 24, 2016

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-eradication-vs-ich-management.188775/

Please review above link if you have not.

I would not treat the display with copper. If you do decide to go that route review the use of Cuprisorb post treatment with Cupramine.

It would be far better to use a QT . In a 20 gallon with 20lbs of rock it actually should be really easy to catch the fish. Drain the water down (put aside in a container) pull the larger pieces of rock, use clear plastic containers such as sandwich meat containers and corner each fish. I have done it multiple times on a similar size tank, it's really not that time consuming. Watch for moving rocks, hence the reason I pull them and put them in a rubber tub.

r.bergonia19 · May 24, 2016

Well can I just leave the tank fish less for one month since I don't have sand. Will that kill the ich??

jetmaker · May 24, 2016

r.bergonia19 said:
Well can I just leave the tank fish less for one month since I don't have sand. Will that kill the ich??

76 days

tthouston · May 25, 2016

r.bergonia19 said:
Well can I just leave the tank fish less for one month since I don't have sand. Will that kill the ich??

IMO, For 20g tank and bare bottom, this short cut may help you.
1- Move all your live rocks and saltwater in the tank stored in Brute can (you can buy at home depot) with pump and leave it for 76 days or more is better. Just refill ro/di water to the line you mark for every 2 days to keep sg 1.026 stabilize, no need replace saltwate. After finish 76 days or so you need to using your old saltwater from the tank (save your salt) to replace old water in the Brute can few hours to reduce phosphate before put the rocks back to the tank.
2- Completely clean your tank and all your equipment relate with fish tank (leave it dry for one day is the best) and start cycle again. (3 weeks to 1 month)
3- Once it cycled, your fishes should finish treatment from quarantine tank then you can introduce fishes again.
Good luck,

4FordFamily · May 25, 2016

r.bergonia19 said:
Well can I just leave the tank fish less for one month since I don't have sand. Will that kill the ich??

Nope. Rocks or sand aside there are strains that can even live longer than 76 days without a host although none have been 100% confirmed I have witnessed it once. This will work though with 99% certainty so long as there is no contamination with "infected water" and your qt is more than 10 feet from your DT

jetmaker · May 25, 2016

tthouston said:
IMO, For 20g tank and bare bottom, this short cut may help you.
1- Move all your live rocks and saltwater in the tank stored in Brute can (you can buy at home depot) with pump and leave it for 76 days or more is better. Just refill ro/di water to the line you mark for every 2 days to keep sg 1.026 stabilize, no need replace saltwate. After finish 76 days or so you need to using your old saltwater from the tank (save your salt) to replace old water in the Brute can few hours to reduce phosphate before put the rocks back to the tank.
2- Completely clean your tank and all your equipment relate with fish tank (leave it dry for one day is the best) and start cycle again. (3 weeks to 1 month)
3- Once it cycled, your fishes should finish treatment from quarantine tank then you can introduce fishes again.
Good luck,

When tom

jetmaker · May 25, 2016

When toments leave the fish they will get in the rock

jetmaker · May 25, 2016

If it killed your fish it's likely velvet

joshkirkland83 · May 25, 2016

Cmon man, put your reefer pants on and catch those fish. If I can catch fish out of my two tanks several times,then you can handle a 20g.

4FordFamily · May 25, 2016

I've emptied fully thriving reef tanks 180 gallons or better several times of rock inverts and all fish including dozens of wrasse in the sand in an hour or so.

tthouston · May 25, 2016

jetmaker said:
When toments leave the fish they will get in the rock

For the 20 lbs rock, he can treat in brute can for many months he want OR he can treat those rock with acid then cook them in brute can. With second option his rock can put back in the tank within a month.
For 20g tank BARE BOTTOM and equipment, good clean up and 1 or 2 day dry then back to business for new cycle.

joshkirkland83 · May 25, 2016

Wow....I hope no one ever does this on any tank for ich treatment.

tthouston · May 25, 2016

Here is a link in this forum show how to use acid to clean the rock.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-do-i-make-dry-rock-white-again.244700/

monkiboy · May 25, 2016

4FordFamily said:
I've emptied fully thriving reef tanks 180 gallons or better several times of rock inverts and all fish including dozens of wrasse in the sand in an hour or so.

that is impressive. I've done many times the same helping other reefers out but never that fast, especially with the wrasses! good work sir!

r.bergonia19 · May 25, 2016

Ok guys I'll try to do what u guys said. Thanks to all!

Jimbo662 · May 25, 2016

I spent two hours with a friend this past Sunday removing all my rock (about 200lbs) so that I could catch all the fish to put them in QT. I'm going to try the tank transfer method on the recommendation of another local reefer. Using two 29gs for that. Luckily I've got a 75g that I can use to house them in after the final transfer...then the waiting begins for the big tank to finish the fallow period.

r.bergonia19 · May 25, 2016

Well I forgot I don't have any heater and filter to use it for my qt. any can send me a free heater and filter?
I'm in San Jose california.
Don't have enough money to buy a heater and filter cause I don't work yet I'm just 15 yrs old.

Reef Stu · May 25, 2016

I helped break down a 260 gall tank in exchange for livestock. Which included two yellow tangs, one hippo tang, a coral beauty angel fish, another angel fish, and two clowns. After moving/stressing the fish I had an ick outbreak. I use Kent Garlic Extreme, UV sterilizer, and more importantly made sure to keep my water parameters perfect and fish feed well, in an effort to boost the fishes natural immune system. It's been about 3 months and I haven't lost a fish. IF I had a hospital tank set up ready to go with the SAME water parameters as my main display, I would've gone that route. If I were you I wouldn't stress the fish more then I had to. I have rushed to set up hospital tanks in the past and still lost fish.