Not a happy camper :(

[Cooper32803]

So there was an outbreak of ich in my tank. I had to run and get my 5 gallon tank set up with a heater, aquaclear filter, PVC pipe and a lid to make a quick quarantine tank which I dosed with copper. Then I had to take out all my corals (luckily I had my frag tank ready to go) and then all the rock (which I loved the formation of) to get my clowns, firefish and chromis out of the tank. Next I took out the hermits and snails and shrimp so I didnt crush anyone when putting the rock back in. I am not happy with my new rockscape, but have been dealing with this for the last 3 hours and had to give it a rest for the night. Any words of encouragement or advice as to what steps to take would be great as this will be a 2 month battle to rid the fish and my tank of any ich. Will the 5 gallon be big enough for the four fish or should I go out and buy a 10 gallon? out:

 

[Rockadile]

took me over a year to be happy with my rockscape. You are not alone my friend.

I would go 10 gal if for no other reason its bigger.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

So there was an outbreak of ich in my tank. I had to run and get my 5 gallon tank set up with a heater, aquaclear filter, PVC pipe and a lid to make a quick quarantine tank which I dosed with copper. Then I had to take out all my corals (luckily I had my frag tank ready to go) and then all the rock (which I loved the formation of) to get my clowns, firefish and chromis out of the tank. Next I took out the hermits and snails and shrimp so I didnt crush anyone when putting the rock back in. I am not happy with my new rockscape, but have been dealing with this for the last 3 hours and had to give it a rest for the night. Any words of encouragement or advice as to what steps to take would be great as this will be a 2 month battle to rid the fish and my tank of any ich. Will the 5 gallon be big enough for the four fish or should I go out and buy a 10 gallon? out:

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

 

[NanoNathan]

all the pulling rock out changing every thing will stress the fish more. move the fish to the QT, just keep working with your rock i changed mine so many times befor i was happy. when you get it right you will feel great and love it. good luck with your fish and i hope they get well soon

 

[Pkunk35]

Sorry, man, I've definitely been exactly where you are. I had a outbreak of what i believe was oodinium in a 45 gallon once. I was only able to save one clownfish (he lived about 9 years tho afterwards!).

Do you know the cause of the outbreak? Was it a new fish introduced or maybe something stressed the tank out? Without knowing exactly what is causing the outbreak its hard to give specific advice. But since the fish are already in qt...

Some general things you can do is dip the fish in RO water and Methylene blue which is a gentle dipping solution and you can do this daily until the visual cysts are gone. I would give the fish as big of a tank as possible and add garlic and vitamins to their diets. I believe raising the temp of the water (slowly!) they live in will also speed up the life processes of parasites, this is good b/c in a qt tank the life cycle of the parasite should be broken. You should also raise the temp of the infected tank as well. Also, water change the QT bottom daily if possible until all visual evidence of the disease is gone.

The for sure cure for parasites is to allow the tank to go fallow or fishless for a long enough period of time so that the parasite life cycles are broken. I had my 45 gal go fallow for more than a year before I put fish back.

I believe "ick" is a general term for what could be a wide variety of causes...generally fish stave off ick by just being very healthy.

I would qt the fish until they are visually clear of disease and eating well + 30 days. Keep the tank fallow for at least 30 days. Put a fish back in and pray.

I believe the coral can go back in (after water change and acclimation).

GL man, but I think if you've already gone this far to help your fish, they are in good hands.

 

[Cooper32803]

There was no new fish but I did have two fish go missing (which I assume the hermits took care of the carcasses) So I assume that would have been the cause? I also raised the QT to 80 already (hopefully that wasnt too quick, but it was only a one degree increase. I will plan on getting a bigger QT tank (10 gal) and a heater for the main tank...(dont normally need one as it is normally around 79 with the lid and PC lights on) I have all the corals in my frag tank except for my kenya tree, some mushrooms and some zoas... I plan on going the long haul as it could be a while for the ich to die off in the tank itself. What should I keep the copper dosed at in the QT? As for garlic and vitamins, what should I use? I know brightwell has a garlic supplement... and I do feed Roggers food which has garlic in it, but need to get one just for fish as the one I have is the complete reef food...

 

[Degener8]

The one u have should work five and get selcon for a vitamin suppliment. Follow the safe levels and dosing directions on the copper you are adding. When you change water add the appropriate amount of copper for the new water.good luck!

 

[lpslover]

Sorry, that sucks. I'd go with 10 if workable. The more space the better, the fish are already stressed.

Once you finish the copper and do a couple water changes on the QT tank, you might consider treating the fish with a broad spectrum antibiotic. I've lost fish to secondary infections in the past.

The selcon is an excellent idea. I'd also add vitamin C and garlic to the fish food, and when you get the fish back in the primary tank, add a couple cleaner shrimp. IME they seem to help prevent ich outbreaks, although I've never heard of them curing it.

As for the rock, you have 8 weeks to fiddle with it while you wait for all the ich to die. You'll get it to where you're happy with it.

 

[Cooper32803]

Well I do have one skunk cleaner shrimp in the tank already, so I am hoping he will go after any of the parasites in the tank... My fish never really went to him to be cleaned though. At least not that I saw. What antibiotic should I use?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Good luck! It is never fun dealing with these outbreaks.

 

[Pkunk35]

Well I do have one skunk cleaner shrimp in the tank already, so I am hoping he will go after any of the parasites in the tank... My fish never really went to him to be cleaned though. At least not that I saw. What antibiotic should I use?

A cleaner shrimp is not going to clean your tank of parasites if this is what is happening. Going fishless in the main tank is generally best way of ridding most parasites. I would keep up with water changes in the main tank, check your parameters often during this time and get the fish healthy in the QT. If you try to do too much too quick I'm almost sure you will stress the tank more.

Personally I haven't used antibiotics with fish (is it really necessary?) so can't comment on that.

 

[3Twinklets]

There was no new fish but I did have two fish go missing (which I assume the hermits took care of the carcasses) So I assume that would have been the cause? I also raised the QT to 80 already (hopefully that wasnt too quick, but it was only a one degree increase. I will plan on getting a bigger QT tank (10 gal) and a heater for the main tank...(dont normally need one as it is normally around 79 with the lid and PC lights on) I have all the corals in my frag tank except for my kenya tree, some mushrooms and some zoas... I plan on going the long haul as it could be a while for the ich to die off in the tank itself. What should I keep the copper dosed at in the QT? As for garlic and vitamins, what should I use? I know brightwell has a garlic supplement... and I do feed Roggers food which has garlic in it, but need to get one just for fish as the one I have is the complete reef food...

The Roggers complete should be good for everything but I do use a flake occasionally also.
Reefscaping is difficult. Take your time and you will be happier in the end. I had to get a friend to help with mine. Sometimes another eye is great.
And lastly......It will all work out. It has probably happened to all of us!!

 

[allabout]

Agreed, a cleaner shrimp will not help at all. Also, I believe raising the temp does nothing for marine ich (its not the same as freshwater ich). I recently ran into ich as well so I know how much it absolutely sucks. I've lost 2 clowns and a wrasse... my punishment for not quarantining perhaps.

Anyway, I did a lot of research, so I'll save you the time. Hopefully it's ok to post a link here to another forum, but this was the best, most comprehensive and informative (and accurate) information I found on ich - Curing Fish of Marine Ich There are other links within that article that go more in-depth, I suggest you read it all. You'll get through it, best of luck!

 

[Cooper32803]

Well the clown that was in most trouble passed today...

RIP marlena...

 

[weaponsofmassdesign]

Sorry about the fish. I've had two gobies go missing in the last few weeks. I love my aqua scape right now. I got it right on the first try but I did it over three days (a couple hours each day) so that I could have time to look at it as I built it up. Now though, I think I need to lower some so coral won't be so close to the light later. I don't want to but I think I'm going to have to.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I'm sorry to hear that. It bites when fish die.

 

[droblack]

I've found that treating fish disease usually ends in stress and death. Many of the seasoned reefers I know believe that ich exists in most marine tanks housing fish, and that they stave it off when healthy. The idea of creating an "ich free" tank is difficult to futile. I've never treated for ich, and have rarely seen it in my fish, but have lost fish to all kinds of other mishaps and maladies. Keep em eating well and less stressed is the best bet imo. Sorry for your losses.

 

[lpslover]

I would agree with droblack. Ich is probably present in most tanks and only pops up when fish are stressed. My earlier point on the shrimp is not that they can cure ich. They won't. But I think they help create a stress free environment that contributes to the fishes' overall resistance to disease, kind of like having a fish masseuse on call. IME, fish do better long term with access to cleaners.

As for the antibiotics, I think it is a prudent stop gap measure with fish that have been stressed and beat up either by parasites or a less than charitable tank mate. If they are fighting secondary infections it is going to take them longer to heal and recover. In some cases they are already so run down that the secondary infection can kill them. I've had good success with Erythromycin. It is a gentler antibiotic but also broad spectrum. I have also heard great things about neomycin sulfate. This is essentially what is in neosporin.