Ich on my fish!?!?!?

[Bosnianblood69]

So my royal dottyback got ich and its in my main display what should i do? What can i do? And i had a firefish and it disapered? I havent seen it in atleast 3 days do you guys think ots dead?

 

[TheTodd]

Get a QT and treat with either copper or Hyposalinity. Nothing's else cures Ich. Also, leave your DT fallow for 6 weeks. That allows time for the Ich in there to die off due to not having a fish host.

There are several sites that talk about Marine Ich treatments, what works, myths and misunderstandings, etc. Read up and understand the enemy.

QT future additions prior to adding to your DT and you should never have to deal with Ich in your DT again. This is especially nice once you have several fish in there.

Not sure about the other fish...I've seen fish disappear for days and suddenly they are there again. Did you check around the tank for jumpers?

 

[Bosnianblood69]

I have a qt but didnt use it on that fish and ya i checked around for flying fish and it didnt fly out so idk where could it be.

 

[TheTodd]

If you have a QT, use it.

Are there other fish in your DT?

 

[Bosnianblood69]

yes theres other fish in my DT but they have been there longer then the royal, the problem is i have a bermuda triangle behind one of my rocks 2 shrimps and the firefish went behind and never seen them since then?

 

[tonedogz]

What size is your qt and how many fish are in your dt, if your qt can handle the other fish I would move them to the qt as suggested by Todd and leave the dt without fish for six weeks to be sure any ich in the dt are dead.Treat the others with the copper or hypo also as suggested because more then likely the other fish will come down with ich especially since there's ich in the main tank.

 

[Bosnianblood69]

my qt is a 10 gallon and i have 7 fish

 

[tonedogz]

Yeah thats not going to work unless the fish are really small

 

[TheTodd]

How is it doing and has the Ich spread to other fish? If they are all eating and healthy-looking, they might be able to fight it off. I would probably QT that fish if its not doing good, just to keep a closer eye on it and hope the treatment helps,

If the DT is not fallow, the Ich is going to be in there and other fish can host, so it could hit future, stressed additions. You never know how that is going to go...it's more of a "wait and see" sort of thing.

 

[Bosnianblood69]

ya the 7 fish are not going to fit in a 10 gallon the ich hasnt spread and all the fish are eating and healthy very bright in color too im starting to add some garlic into there food and my cleaner wrasser has dissapered too where are all these fish going?

 

[Bosnianblood69]

could it be that my anemone has eatin them all?

 

[Animal-Chin]

I don't know if this is a popular opinion but I've had ich a couple of times and just let the fish fight it off. I can't get the fish out of my reef without ripping it down so I've just over fed the fish to keep their amune system up and over water changed to compensate and keep the water clean. Its worked for me so far. Worst I've had is a wrasse skratch his head and cut it but it healed.

 

[TheTodd]

That can work and that is how you need to do it in order for it to work. The only down side is that there is likely always going to be Ich in the tank. It can be in there and not visible. When/if you add fish in the future, they can be stressed, which lowers immunity and they end up with it. Some fish can overcome and others will die. That's how it goes in the ocean, except the concentration there is much, much smaller than in an enclosed system like your tank.

 

[TheTodd]

could it be that my anemone has eatin them all?

I'm not sure that anemones will eat healthy fish. It's been years since I had one, but never had that happen in my old reef.

 

[Bosnianblood69]

Found out this rock i had that had alot of caves in it the fish would go in and get stuck and it was a little sharp and they would die so i took it out lost a firefish, cleaner wrasser, cleaner shrimp, and fire shrimp to that rock

 

[Wednesdaypackerish]

The ich is not going to just go away. unfortunately you will have to take all the fish out. And treat them with hyposalinity for about 4-6 weeks. Keeping them out of your display tank for this treatment time also kills the parasite in your display, as its life cycle is about 4 weeks in its self. Break the life cycle, kill the bug. (Just like fleas! )