Ich Questions

[DLHDesign]

I’m a little disappointed with myself about this one.

Don't beat yourself up over this; we've all been there. Even in the best of conditions with reefers that know exactly what to do, the survival rate of infected fish is not high. It's a rough side to the hobby.
Remind yourself that you did all you could do. Learn from what you've gone through, and honor her in that learning.

What chemicals or medications should I have on hand at all times to be able to react a whole lot faster?

Take a look at this thread. Start with the "bare essentials" list and you should be able to handle any urgent care needed. If you encounter other issues, you should usually have time to pick up whatever you need. Unfortunately, you got hit with a hard one right out the gate. I know how that is; same happened to me (which triggered me to learn everything I now know - so I'm still honoring those first losses).

Was the sick fish ever introduced into the DT with the other fish? If so, then they may also be infected with the same problem and time may be critical for them as well. Keep an eye on them; if need be, don't be afraid with transferring them into the HT. I know it may seem more of a risk (and it may be), but if they are showing any indications of a problem, it's better to get them somewhere you can treat them.

 

[HTXReefer]

Update.

My tang survived the night but it’s not eating at all. I tried pellet food with garlic and mysis shrimp that it normally devours as well as seaweed hanging by clip. I did pick up Cupramine and have it on standby. Should I go ahead and dos the cupramine or wait to see if I can get her to eat?

 

[DLHDesign]

Great to hear!

I would usually suggest getting a fish to eat before you add medications that could suppress appetite (which copper may). But if the problem is velvet or brook, you don't really have time to wait for something that may not happen. I would go with start to ramp up your copper. Check your other params (temp and ammonia at least) to make sure those are within limits. Note that running the QT a little colder (1-2F) than your DT wouldn't hurt anything (colder temps slow metabolic processes - which means problems happen slower, basically). At least; colder is better than hotter.

 

[HTXReefer]

Thank you for the advice. I’ll go ahead and start the copper. Temp is right on with the DT and ammonia was at 0 around 12:00 today

I’m setting up another 20 gallon HT right now and am going to transfer the rest of the fish tomorrow morning and start the cupramine.

 

[HTXReefer]

Another update. Clowns now have spots but have gone through FW dip and now in HT under treatment. Completely removed all rock to find hiding blenny with no luck. Now removing all sand to find him.
Before and after

b

 

[DLHDesign]

It's painful, but the right move once you decide to go the "ich eradication" route. Good luck; keep us posted!

 

[Tamberav]

Blenny could be hidden inside a rock, I have had a hard time finding some of my fish because they are wedged inside of a rock and I don't see them when I take it out.

It is also possible he perished.

It would suck not to find him or a body though as you would not want to accidentally overlook him only for him to be there able to spread disease. However, you may not find anything.

 

[HTXReefer]

Unfortunately my smaller clown and 1 green chromis didn’t make it. First thing this morning I freshwater dipped all fish and into the HT. Started the first dose of cupramine and within an hour both were dead. Checked the copper level thinking I messed up but the levels were barely traceable.
Never found the blenny. Replaced the sand and looked through all the rock. I wonder if it jumped out and my dog ate it.
My two remaining chromis and 1 clown aren’t eating and I’ve tried everything including garlic. Hopefully they start tomorrow. If not, this outbreak would have wiped everything out within a couple of days.

 

[DLHDesign]

I'm sorry for your loss. :-(

Just to be sure; you've got the correct test kit for the brand of copper you are using?

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Unfortunately my smaller clown and 1 green chromis didn’t make it. First thing this morning I freshwater dipped all fish and into the HT. Started the first dose of cupramine and within an hour both were dead. Checked the copper level thinking I messed up but the levels were barely traceable.
Never found the blenny. Replaced the sand and looked through all the rock. I wonder if it jumped out and my dog ate it.
My two remaining chromis and 1 clown aren’t eating and I’ve tried everything including garlic. Hopefully they start tomorrow. If not, this outbreak would have wiped everything out within a couple of days.

That stinks. The stress of the dip, tank move, and ammonia from a new tank was probably too much along with the ich. Just try to save anything you can and quarantine in the future.

 

[HTXReefer]

Latest update. I have lost all fish but one Clown and 1 Chromis. Miraculously the last two fish started eating this morning and are looking a whole lot better now. Still have 68 days left in quarantine but the fact they are eating is giving us hope. Water parameters in the HT are perfect. I have read that I need to keep copper at therapeutic levels for 14 days before I start removing through water changes. Is this an adequate amount of time to kill the swimming stage of either Ich or Velvet parasites?

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Latest update. I have lost all fish but one Clown and 1 Chromis. Miraculously the last two fish started eating this morning and are looking a whole lot better now. Still have 68 days left in quarantine but the fact they are eating is giving us hope. Water parameters in the HT are perfect. I have read that I need to keep copper at therapeutic levels for 14 days before I start removing through water changes. Is this an adequate amount of time to kill the swimming stage of either Ich or Velvet parasites?

No, 14 days is not the correct amount of time for you. Ich is only really damaged during in its free swimming stage, so the visible ones on the fish and the eggs are not killed. If you were doing two tanks, you could transfer the fish out of your qt into a new tank for the rest of the fallow period because all the ich would be in eggs. Because you only have one tank, your fish must stay in therapeutic copper for 30 days. I’m sure I didn’t get that life cycle just right, but the point is that you need 30 days of copper. At no point during that time can copper go below therapeutic levels. Add copper to new water before it goes in the tank.

 

[Wick]

I personally think this was velvet or brook, not ich. specially with how fast all those fish died. Clown fish are very hardy. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[DLHDesign]

Because you only have one tank, your fish must stay in therapeutic copper for 30 days. ... At no point during that time can copper go below therapeutic levels. Add copper to new water before it goes in the tank.

Yup; this. 30 days is what you're looking for. Once you're past the first few, it's generally just a maintenance question - the fish can handle it.

And to be overly clear on "add copper to new water", this applies to water changes only. When you are adding top-off RO/DI water, do NOT add copper to this. Only when you remove copper from the tank should you ensure you add it back in to keep the concentration consistent. Water evaporating will not remove copper, so there's no need to add more in when correcting for that evaporation.