ich help!!!!

[Marcquez08]

So I am in the process of cycling my new 55g tank. I have 50lbs of base rock with a few pounds of live rock. I have a Domino Damsel in my tank and I started to notice a white spot on his fin and not I noticed a few smaller spots on his other side. I am terrified that he has the ick and I have no idea what I should do and where it even stemmed from.

Anyone PLEASE help!!!! =[

Ill post a picture of his fin.

 

[Marcquez08]

His fin has a white spot not a great pic but the best I could do.

 

[Marcquez08]

So far I put him in another than to get him out of my display tank but not sure the best course of action with my display tank.

 

[phoenixkiller]

Follow directions on how to treat ick. If he truly has ick, raise water temperature, add salt, ect. Google "How to Treat Ich/Ick" You will find plenty of information.

 

[Marcquez08]

I see a lot of articles of how to treat the ick on the infected fish. However, I am just not sure what to do with my display tank ( I am cycling the tank).

 

[militaryminded1]

If you do not have any inverts Coppersafe will work wonders

 

[mr_X]

Don't raise the water temperature. You can't raise it enough to matter and not kill your livestock. Don't add salt either for the same reason. Remove the damsel and treat it with hypo (if you intend to keep it) in a separate tank. keep cycling the tank and don't put any livestock in it until it's done cycling.
do not add any copper based meds to the display. it will wonderfully ruin your tank for any inverts-ever. that means copepods, amphipods, iospods, anemones....

 

[Marcquez08]

Yea I definitely wanted to avoid any copper based meds. At this point since I won't have any livestock in the tank should I start to just add pure ammonia (assuming I find some) as the ammonia source to further the tank in cycling? Or Shrimp? So it is possible for the parasites to die off and in a sense continue on as this never happened? Lol

I am assuming the damsel has ick. He only have one spot on his left and two or three on his other side, but he seems to be acting weird, and so breathing heavily so I'm sure he for sure has the ick.

 

[mr_X]

He's probably suffering from the ammonia spike a new tank brings. I would remove him and check ammonia levels. make sure their is a reasonable amount of ammonia available and wait.

 

[Marcquez08]

The ammonia level was about .25-.50 the nitrites actually showed up for the first time at about .25 (purple) and nitrates about 30, so I'm assuming my cycle is well on its way.

As for Oreo..... RIP =.[

 

[mr_X]

Leave the fish carcass in the tank to raise the ammonia more.

 

[Marcquez08]

Well I disposed of the fish. I figured since it had ick that would be a bad idea to leave him in the tank. Is it a possibility that my tank may not actually be infested? He only had a few spots and he didn't die in the tank.

Do you know how long a tank needs to be empty before the ick can actually die off?

 

[mr_X]

I believe it's about 3 or 4 weeks.

 

[Greenpillow]

Well I disposed of the fish. I figured since it had ick that would be a bad idea to leave him in the tank. Is it a possibility that my tank may not actually be infested? He only had a few spots and he didn't die in the tank.

Do you know how long a tank needs to be empty before the ick can actually die off?

6-8 weeks

 

[Marcquez08]

And that is w/o using medications?

 

[carey]

If there are no fish in the tank you start the 6-8 week countdown. As long as there is any fish in the tank it will just keep going and going.

 

[FTMMWS]

If there are no fish in the tank you start the 6-8 week countdown. As long as there is any fish in the tank it will just keep going and going.

+1 ,leave it fallow(no fish) for 8 weeks

 

[Marcquez08]

Is that without the use of medications?

 

[Marcquez08]

Alright cool, which is fine since it is cycling and I should not have had a fish in there in the first place.

 

[don_chuwish]

Good luck, you at least had your ich scare a bit earlier in the tank maturation than I! Sounds like you're not really sure if it was ich, but might as well assume it was. Now you can just do a fishless cycle and be ready to go in 8 weeks. Couple of articles I've found that I really like:

Curing Fish of Marine Ich

Marine Ich - Myths and Facts

- D