Son of a Gun!!

[specialk]

Hey all. So I'm in full panic mode. (have been reading and reading to gain even more knowledge on this as well so this is not my first thought on this) Have a 55 gallon, no ICH problems before. Had a 90 gallon mixed reef, no ICH problems before. Recently upgraded to a 125 that has been up and running for about a month. Used all established live rock, best new sand I could get, and waited to see if tank would cycle... never did and a tested parameters non stop to make sure I was good. Last week just finished my first 10-15% water change. Water parameters have been and are perfect. No issues there. I do not have a ton of corals by any stretch, and do not have a large fish load. In fact all I did was move my fish from my 90 into my 125 and have only added one kole tang to the system. (Atlantic Blue tang, Hippo, small kole tang, (the only new fish I added to the tank) 4 anthias, 2 clowns and a blenny.) Have about 7-10 lps corals and about 3-4 sps frags. So I did not overload it or anything. Water temp has been around 76-79 at all times. Also running a sterilizer, although did not get that hooked up to the new 125 until about a week or 2 after it was running, as I had to wait to get it off my 90 after I broke that down. About a week ago I started noticing small ich on some of my fish, and have since lost 3 anthias, and the others look terrible. I am not sure what to do here as catching them and putting them in a hospital tank is going to be tough as they obviously are gonna be a bear to catch without toppling everything in my tank. I am lost here and don't know where to go from here with my situation .. I welcome and would appreciate all help and advice from this great forum of experts! oh:

 

[jedimasterben]

Well, I mean you already know the issue and how to fix it.

 

[socal619]

sorry to hear bro, went through this as well. im done with tangs because i lost my clowns, blenny, 2 anthias, 2 tangs to ich. once they stop eating there goners

 

[specialk]

Catch em all and put them in a hospital tank? Or is there anything I can do to rid the water of all the larvae and gunk that is already in them? I guess I am not sure how to clear the water...? Is there even such a thing...? Am I going to have to wait awhile before adding more fish or anything I need to do to the tank to get it more "healthy" in the 4-6 weeks time that I am QT'ing any new fish I may decide to add?

 

[specialk]

sorry to hear bro, went through this as well. im done with tangs because i lost my clowns, blenny, 2 anthias, 2 tangs to ich. once they stop eating there goners

Thanks man .. Yah sucks... the one hope I do have is my Atlantic is a PIG, HUGE and FAT and he is still eating ... so I am hoping he is gonna fight it off. Just want to make sure I do the right thing now in making sure the main DT will be good in the future .. I am just not sure if there is something I can do to "rid the tank" of the gunk that's in there now or something along those lines

 

[jedimasterben]

There are dozens of 'reef-safe' alternatives, but absolutely zero of them work. Take them out and treat them with Cupramine for 21 days or chloroquine phosphate for 28. Leave your display tank fishless for 72 days.

 

[gettaReef]

Unfortunately you will have to rid the tank of fish for the ich to die out. Ich will very likely stay in your system and impact any new fish you add unless you run the tank fishless so the ich can die off. This is the case bc ich will stay alive in your tank, even w a UV, as long as there is fish in your tank as it only needs a host to survive. So you must remove the fish only, no need to remove coral or inverts as ich will not host these. You must have the tank fishless for 90 days (I think, I forget exactly how long) so the ich will die out. To avoid this in the future it is strongly recommend to quarantine any new fish, especially ich prone fish like tangs. Some people say between 30-60 days, just make sure they are obviously healthy. Then add the tank water slowly to the Q or slowly acclimate them to your display when ready. For ich prone fish like tangs, you must make sure they are always happy and healthy, with a nutritious diet. Even if a new tang was quarantined and didnt appear to have ich, if it gets too stressed in a tank it could break out with ich as most likely the fish already has been exposed to ich at some point. As for your fish now, I would put them in a hospital tank with plenty of space and to make them as non stressed as possible. Then do a copper treatment (your best bet). Do not do a copper treatment in your display as this will kill/effect corals and inverts. If they get better, you must continue to QT them. I know this really sucks and is a huge hassle. People who have had this done as usually huge advocates for Quarantining any new fish. I don't see any way to solve the problem without removing the fish....sorry

 

[specialk]

There are dozens of 'reef-safe' alternatives, but absolutely zero of them work. Take them out and treat them with Cupramine for 21 days or chloroquine phosphate for 28. Leave your display tank fishless for 72 days.

Done. Working on that right now... ugghh.. thanks bro

 

[specialk]

Unfortunately you will have to rid the tank of fish for the ich to die out. Ich will very likely stay in your system and impact any new fish you add unless you run the tank fishless so the ich can die off. This is the case bc ich will stay alive in your tank, even w a UV, as long as there is fish in your tank as it only needs a host to survive. So you must remove the fish only, no need to remove coral or inverts as ich will not host these. I don't see any way to solve the problem without removing the fish....sorry

Ugggh... gotta love this hobby... such a love/hate relationship with it. Understood though ... I always (well that's obviously not true as I just this one time did not as it came from another friends tank that was "healthy") QT my fish. I took a chance based on it coming from another friends tank that was "no problems/healthy" and it looks like it bit me in the behind! So basically, all signs point to the ich coming from that kole tang that I added in my tank, and either from stress by getting bullied (which I did not see a lot of) or the previous tank, this is where the ich came from and got started?

 

[gettaReef]

Yeah I'd bet on that being the cause. I could have been from the kole tang being picked on or it didn't agree with the parameters, or a combination of things. And the tang could have been as healthy as could be in your friends tank. Fact is that it got stressed and had at one point been exposed to ich which never actually leaves the fish and unfortunately the ich came out and spread. Sucks big time but its all part of the game. To me its all worth it for Tangs. I love my powder blue and purple tang!! Good luck

 

[specialk]

Yeah I'd bet on that being the cause. I could have been from the kole tang being picked on or it didn't agree with the parameters, or a combination of things. And the tang could have been as healthy as could be in your friends tank. Fact is that it got stressed and had at one point been exposed to ich which never actually leaves the fish and unfortunately the ich came out and spread. Sucks big time but its all part of the game. To me its all worth it for Tangs. I love my powder blue and purple tang!! Good luck

Yah in fact now that I am thinking about it, the yellow eyed is the first one I noticed it on, so that's exactly right. And yes tangs are the entire reason I got into this hobby ... I love them. ( I also understand why some do not though) So I will just be on my best behavior and take ALL steps to ensure this does not happen again. The one good thing is that I have MTS so I have another small 55 that is a clownfish /anenome only tank that I can focus more on now and get that palace even better ... lol ... ahhh this hobby. Don't know what I would do with out it!