Newbie with ich......what to do??

[Chris Van Daele]

Hello,

My tank is about 6 months old and I just noticed those dreaded white spots. I have done some reading and everyone seems to have a different opinion on what to do. The one common denominator is that it seems to be common so hopefully that means I can successfully treat my tank.

I have raised the temp in my tank and will be doing consistant water changes. How long should I commit to doing this? How much water should be changed daily? I would like to combine this with some chemicals so I can really kick this thing. What do you recommend?

I think the outbreak is still early as all my fish are still acting normal and are still active and hungry.

Thanks!

 

[Huff747]

I'm sure one of the seasoned members will chime in soon but I don't think water changes do much for ich. Maybe give this article a read - https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/ich-eradication-vs-management.45/

 

[Tanggy]

I've dealt with Ich b4. I quarantined my fish and used cupramine for 30 days. I let the display tank go fallow (no fish) for at least 76 days to kill of remaining ick. Now I always quarantine my new fish for at least a couple of months...

 

[4FordFamily]

Unfortunately, if all of your fish are showing symptoms it is more likely to be velvet, which is every bit as common and far more deadly. Spots will be more numerous (more than a few on each fish).

Increasing temperature hasn't been shown to have any impact on it's life cycle --- at best it changes nothing, at worst it stresses your fish worse and lowers the oxygen saturation of the water (warmer water holds less oxygen) which can quickly kill a fish when parasites are damaging the gills of the fish. The spots you see on the body and fins are the tip of the iceberg, by the time these are visible, the fish's gills are often in far worse shape. This causes heavy breathing and discoloring.

Treatment for ich OR velevet are removal of all fish, treatment in quarantine with copper or CP for 30 days, run the tank fallow 76 days.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

Unfortunately I do not have a quarantine tank large enough for my entire stock of fish. Can I treat with copper in my display tank? Is this typically effective after 30 days? What is the point of running the tank fallow for 76 days?

 

[JoshKReef]

Running fallow is the only way to kill it without treating the tank. It has nothing to host on, so it dies off after 76 days. If you treat the tank, it should be gone within 30 days. You cannot use copper in the tank if you have any inverts, or corals, and there is no reef safe medication, which is why people go fallow, so they can keep their corals. Some would say you can't use that tank ever for corals if you use copper in it, but some would say you can clean the copper out fine.

What's your stock list? There are also fish that do not do well in copper.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

I definitely don't have room or funds to set up a completely separate 75 gal tank as a quarantine. What I might be able to do is put my corals in my QT and then treat my tank.

By the sounds of things I may have a copper sensitive fish or 2 but I may have to cut my losses at this point

 

[JoshKReef]

Read this.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-remove-copper-from-dt.326316/

 

[Chris Van Daele]

That article has convinced me to try and go the QT route......catching the fish will be a paint. I also have an eel. Can he stay in the DT or will he need to be caught as well?

 

[JoshKReef]

You don't have to buy a tank, some people use trash cans, or rubber containers.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

What about lighting and flow? Aren’t those hard to get in a trash can?

 

[Chris Van Daele]

What is used for lighting and flow in a trash can?

 

[JoshKReef]

At first in my QT, I didn't have lights, I do now.

What is your stock list so I have an idea of how much you have.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

Snowflake eel
Puffer
Foxface
Coral beauty
2 clowns
Marine beta

Little heavy I know but I am diligent with water changes

 

[JoshKReef]

What would you say your budget is to setup a QT?

You could buy something like this.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...ts-heavy-duty-oval-stock-tank-110-gal-2229862

A heater, a powerhead (or a few cheap ones), and a few sponge filters, seed the sponges with bacteria, monitor ammonia and do water changes.

As far as lights, you can get cheap work lights from home depot to use (8-10 bucks each) and they will clip right to the edge of the container.

edit: I just noticed you said you don't have the room, so this may all be out just because of that.

 

[HotRocks]

Man you can get by with a 40b QT no problem. Set it up on the floor if you have to. I bought mine off Craigslist cheap.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

It does sound like I have some options but I'm back to thinking copper dosing my display will be my best option due to space. I have a 15 gal that I can set up to move some of my live rock and coral into.....then dose the display. I see this being the most cost effective for me and fits my space constraints. Also means I won't have to try and catch all the fish which I know would be an absolute nightmare (especially the eel) I purchased a bottle that indicates it can be removed with carbon once dosing is complete

 

[JoshKReef]

What copper did you purchase. Copper safe has been found to be inconsistent with their concentrations recently.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

I purchased Cupramine by Seachem. Hopefully this stuff is ok as I live in a small town and it was the only stuff available at my LFS.

Does my action plan above look suitable? Obviously I don't want to loose my fish but current circumstances sort of limit me to what I can do.

 

[JoshKReef]

If you are set on dosing your DT (which IMO you shouldn't be, but that's your call and I understand everyone's situation is different), check this chart out. Cupramine is ionic copper. You will want to aim for 0.4 - 0.5 ppm, this can be tested using Seachem or Salifert copper test kit. I'm not sure if the Hanna tester can measure this low, @HotRocks can maybe chime in on that.

The eel and puffer do not do very well in copper.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-and-treatment-guidelines-with-chart.283450/