Need ich management advice please

DracoKat · Oct 25, 2016

So.. two of my wrasses are covered in ich. Which means I have ich in my 75g tank and drives me mad because I QT'd all my fish.

I might've put the tang in too soon though..After 4 weeks of being clean in QT, I put the tang in, and a week later it developed some ich. That was my fault for assuming all was OK. About 2 weeks after adding the tang, my two wrasses has ich. My other fish seem OK for the time being. They are all eating like pigs and very active, even the wrasses with ich. They don't seem to be in distress.

Here's the tricky part.. I do not have space or funds for another large tank or multiple tanks to QT all the fish to let my DT go fallow. My 10 gal QT is currently occupied by new fish and I can't add more to it. I can't even shell out an extra $50 for used equipment on craigslist at this time.

Currently, I am doing my best to work with "ich management" in the tank by doing more water changes and adding garlic to boost the fish immune system. I want to add UV sterilizer.. but again.. no funds.

I am not sure what else to do.. I can't add copper as I do not want to kill my inverts.

Can someone please offer me advice?

melypr1985 · Oct 25, 2016

Hi there! I'm sorry for your situation. I have a few tips for you.
1. Cut out the garlic and instead add a vitamin supplement like Selcon or Vitachem (those are just examples) since garlic wont do anything for their immune system. All it's really good for is getting a fish that is not eating to start.
2. Keep stress at a minimum.
3. Other things you can do is feed live foods like blackworms ect. Or add fish oil to their food.
4. Keep stress at a minimum.
5. Keep stress at a minimum.

I think I repeated myself. lol Good luck! There's lots of people on here who have had great success with ich management and can lend many pointers on how they get away with it.

DracoKat · Oct 25, 2016

thanks

I've been adding vitachem to their frozen food daily.

What sort of fish oil do you recommend?

I will leave the tank alone as much as I can. I won't add anything else (Aside from the two in QT.. I am hesitant on adding them, but may wait until I see the two wrasses improve at least)

Figures, in all my years of having fish, both SW (in nanos) and FW, it's the first time I've had ich. and the first time I've been religious about QTing all fish.

melypr1985 · Oct 25, 2016

DracoKat said:
thanks I've been adding vitachem to their frozen food daily.

What sort of fish oil do you recommend?

I will leave the tank alone as much as I can. I won't add anything else (Aside from the two in QT.. I am hesitant on adding them, but may wait until I see the two wrasses improve at least)

Figures, in all my years of having fish, both SW (in nanos) and FW, it's the first time I've had ich. and the first time I've been religious about QTing all fish.

I believe it's the same fish oil you get at a pharmacy over the counter stuff. Ich can be introduced in so many ways. From a coral, invert with a hard shell, contaminated water, a mistake with QT, ect. I'm sorry the bad luck hit you now.

DracoKat · Oct 25, 2016

thank you for your thoughts. I really appreciate the advice.

I will do my best to manage the ich and will look for the fish oil tomorrow when I pick up my own prescription.

4FordFamily · Oct 25, 2016

I'm going to be honest with you, in over a decade of reef keeping I've seen Ich on wrasse maybe once or twice but certainly never to the point of being covered. Wrasse are often very resilient to Ich.

I would be willing to bet my livestock that you have velvet. Are they losing color? Hiding from light at all? Eating less? You rarely see wrasse do this but are they swimming in to powerheads? Acting more cryptic?

I sincerely hope I am wrong but I really don't think I am. :/

DracoKat · Oct 25, 2016

@4FordFamily I don't think it's velvet. been day 2 so far since I've noticed the spots. No loss of color and out in the open in the light. Absolutely no change in behavior or eating habits. They still chase other fish around and show off.

Said spots look like salt specks.

I thought it was strange too that wrasses has ich. Here's the best photo I can get since he moves so much!

melypr1985 · Oct 25, 2016

Those spots are pretty large. If they have been there for a couple days then that takes out the possibility of it being sand. There's more than I would expect, and it's weird that the wrasse has it and not another fish that should be more susceptible.... but it does look like ick to me. You're right @4FordFamily that's it's odd.

DracoKat · Oct 25, 2016

It's hard to tell if its on my barred gobies since their bodies are light, but I do not see anything on their fins.

My tang has a little on its fins, but hard to tell on his body. It's most obvious on my two wrasses (The exquisite and red-head solon). I am not sure, but I think my solon is doing better than yesterday. I wish I can take photos for progress but they make it hard.

Nothing on my clown or yellow coris wrasse. I can't tell on my leopard wrasse, but she looks clean from what I can tell. Fins are clean.

DracoKat · Oct 25, 2016

Oh, I did lose a clown a week and half ago.. a day or so after adding the tang. I couldn't find her body to find out why she died, and she was healthy, eating and fat when I saw her last.

Not sure if that's any relation.

4FordFamily · Oct 25, 2016

That does look like Ich, now that I see it. I've been faked out before though.

DracoKat · Oct 25, 2016

4FordFamily said:
That does look like Ich, now that I see it. I've been faked out before though.

ha. You lost your bet. send me all your livestock. at least after I get things under control

4FordFamily · Oct 25, 2016

DracoKat said:
ha. You lost your bet. send me all your livestock. at least after I get things under control

Haha you can't handle all this livestock!!!

Also sometimes velvet looks a lot like Ich but gets so severe so quickly that it becomes obvious it was velvet. I rather doubt that happens but I'm holding out until you get the fish tested!

DracoKat · Oct 25, 2016

send me your tanks with the livestock! (ok, how about a coral or two instead???)

how can I test the fish?

melypr1985 · Oct 25, 2016

DracoKat said:
send me your tanks with the livestock! (ok, how about a coral or two instead???)

how can I test the fish?

I'm pretty sure that was a joke.. the testing part. But we will have to wait and see what happens in the next couple days. Just be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. We'll all hope and pray for the best for you.