Questions about Ich and adding future fish

[NakiFantaki]

My tank has been up and running for almost a year now and I haven’t had to many issues up until a few weeks ago.
I added a kole eye tang and he did very good for the first 3 weeks. Then, he broke out in ich and all of my other fish got it, except one. All of the fish died, but my melnarus wrasse has been 100% fine and never shown any ich symptoms. I tried to catch the wrasse, but have not had any luck.

I have done a ton of reading and research on ich and I am one of those people that think it’s impossible to FULLY get rid of ich in fish tanks. I think a fallow period will remove he ich, however I believe it is impossible to not re-introduce it when adding another fish unless being able to run a highly involved, labor intensive and expensive QT system.

It has been about 3 weeks since I lost all of my fish and in the next few weeks I want to try and add a pair of clowns.

Does anyone have any tips or advice on how to do this? I am worried the i will have another ich outbreak as soon as I add those clowns. Is there something I should be adding or doing to my tank prior to adding the clowns?

Any help would be great. Thanks!

 

[SoreninKL]

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/190324/

 

[HotRocks]

If you can catch the melanarus and QT it with the 2 new clowns treat with copper or CP, allow your DT to be fallow for 76 days while the 3 fish are in QT, you will be safe. Your melanarus probably developed immunity. But ich is still present if a single fish is present. QT tanks don't have to be expensive at all. I bought a used tank of craigslist that I use for QT. All new equipment off Amazon for the tank. I have right around 200 bucks in mine, and it's a 40b. You could go with a much smaller setup if you only need it for 3 fish.

 

[Humblefish]

Sounds more like velvet that wiped out your tank: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

 

[NakiFantaki]

Sounds more like velvet that wiped out your tank: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

I thought the same thing. But the fish all died over a 2 week period. I know velvet kills all fish pretty quickly. I’m pretty sure it was ich.

 

[NakiFantaki]

If you can catch the melanarus and QT it with the 2 new clowns treat with copper or CP, allow your DT to be fallow for 76 days while the 3 fish are in QT, you will be safe. Your melanarus probably developed immunity. But ich is still present if a single fish is present. QT tanks don't have to be expensive at all. I bought a used tank of craigslist that I use for QT. All new equipment off Amazon for the tank. I have right around 200 bucks in mine, and it's a 40b. You could go with a much smaller setup if you only need it for 3 fish.

That was my original plan, but I cannot catch this wrasse! I’ve tried everything. Next on my list is a line and hook, but I don’t want to injure the fish.

 

[NakiFantaki]

If the wrasse has built immunity, does that mean that he will ever contract it?
If I go ahead and put the clown in a a few weeks, are the doomed to get ich?

 

[HotRocks]

If the wrasse has built immunity, does that mean that he will ever contract it?
If I go ahead and put the clown in a a few weeks, are the doomed to get ich?

Yes the fish still needs to be treated, as it is still hosting the parasite and allowing them to continue their cycle, even if not showing signs. Only way to break the cycle and be sure you have gotten rid of it is to treat all fish that were exposed to ich, allow Display tank to be fallow (Remain fishless) for 76days, and then QT all new fish, to keep from re-infecting. I would not recommend adding a new clown.