Removed carbon...now ich!

[Hudsonvalleyreefguy]

I recently removed carbon from my reactor. I always run carbon but took it out. Now two of my tangs have ich (a few days later). Any advise would be helpful. It’s a 90 gal mixed reef set up for a year.

 

[EmdeReef]

Sorry for your problems. Could you post pictures?

Ich and carbon would be unrelated.

If it is ich then you would have to remove the fish and treat. It’s also somewhat possible to manage ich in a tank. Please see below link for more:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

 

[ngoodermuth]

The only correlation between carbon and ich, would be if the water quality changed significantly and lowered the fish’s immune system allowing a latent parasite to re-surface in an active outbreak.

You can attempt to manage ich, there are several threads here with advice if you choose to do so. Adding UV, and boosting fish nutrition with live and fresh frozen foods, for example.

Or, you can treat and be rid of it. For this, you will need a bare-bones QT tank and copper or CP (depending on the species of fish involved) All fish that share the tank will need treated, and the display left fallow (fishless) for 76 days.