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

[Chris Van Daele]

Based on the excellent advise from this thread and what I have read on the seachem website I think I may be ok dosing my DT as long as I move my corals to my QT. Seachem seems confident that the copper can be removed relatively easily as it's a formula that does not bond to live rock or live sand. Worst case I will test levels and do heavy water changes before re-introducing the corals.

That is also a very handy chart. It does appear my eel and puffer may be at risk but they are both typically very healthy eaters and almost full grown. Hopefully this will help their odds with the medication.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

I'm assuming ionic copper is the most harsh?

 

[Chris Van Daele]

Also just to clarify....if I am dosing at the recomeded level (0.5mg/L) how long should the tank be kept at this level?

 

[Vahanyos]

Here's my experience with Ich and what I did to get rid of it. I had an outbreak from a clownfish i brought in. Infected all my fish except the most hardy ones, but even then, they couldve been in the gills and out of sight. I tried putting bottles of stuff, raising temp, nothing worked. Ich kept coming back and coming back. Then i did more research and learned the life cycle of ich and what it is. This helped me DRAMATICALLY. I took all my fish out and gave it to my LFS (i didnt have room for a QT), and left the tank fallow for 80 days ..

note: i did NOT remove my coral or inverts. The only thing i removed were my fish. The tank wasn't totally empty so i still had some entertainment during that 80 day period.

Mind you, everything i did prior to the fallow tank solution didnt work. After a week or so of "no ich", they came back. The ONLY thing that really worked was going fallow. Going a year and 8 months now with no sign of ich.

as far as treatment, you're on your own. i never treated any of my fish in QT so i wouldnt know. i"ve been lucky enough since to pick out some healthy fish that are still doing awesome.

 

[cmcoker]

30 days at 0.5 for cupramine. Start removing copper and observe a few weeks before adding your corals back. I'd run a ICP test before adding your coral back. A hannah checker would also help to determine your levels during treatment and when you are removing the copper.

You may be better served by removing all the rocks and pulling the eel and puffer out, taking to lfs or setting another tank for them. What are you gonna do when your eel dies in the rocks from the copper? You cant does Prime or any ammonia detoxifiers when using copper. And I imagine a dead adult eel or puffer is gone be tough on your water quality.

 

[HotRocks]

Yes, the Hanna tester will work for cupramine as well.

I would also advise if you do treat in DT, you may have problems with your corals and inverts if copper leaches from anything. I understand you have to do what you have to do for your fish. Just a heads up. Removing the rock and sand is a good call.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

Update:
Last night I removed all my corals and inverts and put them in my QT tank. I do have a spare light for it so they should be kept happy. One question I have is does ich infect inverts? I have a carpet nem, black urchin, and sand sifting starfish. I want to ensure none of these will re-infect my DT when it comes time to re-introduce everything.
I have added the cupramine (initial dose) and will add the next dose 48 hours after the first as per instructions. I have also bought a test kit and will monitor daily to make sure copper levels stat above the needed limit.
So far all my fish are still acting normal.

 

[HotRocks]

All inverts should stay in the coral QT tank for fallow period. They do not tolerate copper at all. They also are not a valid host for ich or velvet. Therefore as long as you keep the coral/inverts fish free for the 76 days all parasites in that tank cycle will be broken and they will die off.

Sounds like you're off to a good start.

I would recommend breaking up the second dosage of cupramine into a few smaller doses as you take the tank up to the therapuetic level. Still dose the same total amount overall, just break it up so you expose them to it slowly over the next 48hrs. (Ramp up)

 

[Dom]

Recently, I had a puffer that developed Ich while in quarantine. For me, HYPO salinity and 5 minute fresh water dips solved the problem. I was satisfied it was cleared up in two months. I got him in October of 2017 and only placed him in my display tank 2 weeks ago... so be patient.

Your situation is a bit different. I'd like to see some pics of the fish as it may be something more serious than Ich. Also, if you could go into some detail about how the fish are behaving. For example; are they swimming into the flow of the return? This is a sign of something more serious than Ich.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

No abnormal behavior whatsoever. They are all still behaving nornmally and eating as normal. Only difference I have noticed is the white spots that are mostly visible on the fins.

 

[4FordFamily]

I wrote the article on removing copper from DT. It can be done, but I don't recommend it. It's so much more work.

Your eel may not do well in Copper -- but you will need to use CP if you want to keep it, otherwise it will re-infect all of your fish without treatment.

I've not tried eels through copper, personally. I've had puffers go through it though.

 

[Chris Van Daele]

In my case, purchasing a bigger QT, setting it up, catching all my fish, and finding a spot for this large QT was far more work then removing my corals and dosing my DT with copper. I have heard mixed opinions on the level of difficulty removing copper from DT. The website for seachem copramine specifies that it is easily done as their formula does not bond to live rock. I suppose time will tell how easy or hard it will be.

 

[Vahanyos]

I left my corals and inverts in the tank during the fallow period when I removed my fish. I want to say confidently that they didn’t get infected with the parasite.

I have not seen any ich outbreaks since. It only affected my fish

 

[Maritimer]

Hold on a second ... Copper and that eel aren't going to be a good combination!

The eel will probably have to be treated separately from the other fish.

~Bruce

 

[Chris Van Daele]

Update:
I am about a week into this now and so far the results are very promising. I am keeping the copper between 0.5 and 0.8 and all signs of ich from the fish are pretty well gone. I know there is a life cycle to the ich so I will continue to dose for the full month. On another positive note my eel and puffer are still active and have healthy appetites. So far so good!

 

[Chris Van Daele]

couple weeks in now and everything is still doing fine.....there are now no signs of ich at all. However in my tank where I put all my corals there are a ton of white specs swimming around. I am assuming these are the ich parasites which will die off eventually since they do not have any fish to latch onto.

 

[HotRocks]

Ich is microscopic. It's most likely your pod population or something like that. Since there are no fish in the tank to eat them!