Possibly ich again!!!

[Thomashtom]

Hi its possible ich has reared its ugly head again!!! The first outbreak was 6 months ago. I took the affected fish out and treated them with CP. Its a 440 gallon tank so i could not treat or catch all fish plus i have a epaulette shark and 3 eels so my options were limited. Those fish still remain unaffected by it. I did take the shark out and treated with Quinine sulfate but obviously with limited success. I still have tangs in QT and other fish in a 180 so again my options are limited. I am considering removing shark and live rock and treating DT tank with either CP or copper. I have heard that you can remove copper or CP successfully enough where you can still have inverts or a shark in system. Any suggestions or treatment options would be appreciated. Just as a side note i also have been running a diatom filter on all tanks for the last month backflushing it for hrs with hot water and ccld water in between tanks. Oh i almost forgot i added a personifer angel a week ago that was in QT for 2 months and he is the one that may possibly have ich. Thanks in advance. Tom

 

[Humblefish]

Copper is a no-go with sharks & eels.

CP is your best option, but in a DT it will likely be broken down by biofilm: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/qt-and-biofilm.292878/

You can't even use CP in a QT that has been setup for more than 2-3 months. You need to sterilize your QT periodically to prevent biodegradation of CP, prazi, antibiotics, etc.

 

[Thomashtom]

CP worked in a QT that was setup for over a year. My DT has never been treated with CP so do I have decent chance it will work? And I know I have to shark out what about the eels if I treat with CP? Thanks Tom

 

[Humblefish]

CP worked in a QT that was setup for over a year. My DT has never been treated with CP so do I have decent chance it will work? And I know I have to shark out what about the eels if I treat with CP? Thanks Tom

Not trying to sound rude, but if it worked then why are you having to treat again? What I'm getting at is CP may have still been present in your long-term QT at a subtherapeutic level, which knocked back the parasites but didn't eradicate them all.

 

[Thomashtom]

Not trying to sound rude, but if it worked then why are you having to treat again? What I'm getting at is CP may have still been present in your long-term QT at a subtherapeutic level, which knocked back the parasites but didn't eradicate them all.

Np but the fish I treated with CP are still ich free. It seems to be still present in DT. I am really not trying to dispute you I left the fish I treated with CP in QT for well over the 30 days with no further treatment and I did notice that that it wiped out all algae growth in QT tank. This is my only option left I do not have capacity to treat all fish, shark and eels in QT. So do I have remove both shark and eels or just shark with CP? I know I will have to remove live rock from DT before treating with CP. thanks for your help. Tom

 

[Humblefish]

So do I have remove both shark and eels or just shark with CP?

You can treat both sharks & eels with CP. Is that what you're asking? Sorry, it's been a long day, and I'm having a hard time concentrating.

 

[LuckyPhil]

If you won't QT the fish and treat them then I wouldn't bother with treating again and look at Ich Management (i'm not supporting this, as I prefer Ich Eradication).
C.Irritans returned in your tank because the DT was not left fallow for 76 days to completely wipe out the parasite and as mentioned by HumbleFish you can't treat CP for 3 months
CP/Copper treatments only kill the parasite in the free swimming stage and therefore you must of had a strain that hatched from the cyst stage in the latter days.
I believe that you won't QT the fish and treat separate to the DT then it will come back.

 

[Thomashtom]

It's looks more and more like it might of been a false alarm it's been days and I have not seen an outbreak. Fingers crossed. LOL. Only thing I could think of is that the diatom filter has been pumping out sand and air bubbles and they may have stuck to him. Humblefish I was told sharks do not handle CP well. Lucky Phil I have QT these fish and I have tangs in copper QT right now. I just don't have capacity for sharks and eels in a separate QT. Thanks

 

[LuckyPhil]

You may just be witnessing the life cycle of ich and i wouldn't rule it out just yet. Your thread was created on Saturday and your update is on Tuesday (3 days), Ich/trophont stage will feed off the fish for 3-7 days before dropping off to the protomont stage.
If your sharks and eel are still in the DT then expect to see ich back when you re-introduce the tangs and fish that are currently QT'd

 

[Thomashtom]

You may just be witnessing the life cycle of ich and i wouldn't rule it out just yet. Your thread was created on Saturday and your update is on Tuesday (3 days), Ich/trophont stage will feed off the fish for 3-7 days before dropping off to the protomont stage.
If your sharks and eel are still in the DT then expect to see ich back when you re-introduce the tangs and fish that are currently QT'd

 

[Thomashtom]

That is a possibility but any spots I've seen have dropped off by the next morning with no scratching or ich related behavior . Is there research that sharks can handle CP?

 

[Thomashtom]

You can treat both sharks & eels with CP. Is that what you're asking? Sorry, it's been a long day, and I'm having a hard time concentrating.

Humblefish just to clarify sharks can handle CP? That would be great and also very annoying because i would of treated my DT along time ago knowing that dont have the capacity to house everyone of my fish. The place i bought it from said i should remove the shark before treatment.( National Fish Pharmacy). Since then i wound getting a script for it after reading all the articles on this website(alot by you). If i do go this route i guess i should remove all live rock and maybe dose a little higher because i cant remove all the sand(its a 3ft deep tank, 32 inches high). What do you think? Thanks Tom