Ich Outbreak on my Powder Blue

[Fishboy-from-NY]

Hello everyone, Please help. It seems like my Powder Blue seems to be flooded with Ich in the morning and towards the evening, he is complety healthy, Is this healthy & normal?

 

[ReefLady]

How much does the tank temperature fluctuate? Chillier temperatures will readily bring on ich symptoms.

Healthy & normal? No....the fish is infected with the Ich parasite, and should be removed to a quarantine tank and medicated. The main tank should be "fishless" for approx. 5-6 weeks, so all traces of Ich will perish.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

My temp in the tanks stays within the temp of 79-80 degrees, I have a chiller so their really isnt any temp flucuations. Also, I have a lot of fish in my 125 so do I need to take all those fish out too. Also, I hear that if a fish is sick all fish are somewhat sick so you need to treat the whole system.

 

[Biggen]

When you say "flooded with Ich" do you mean you see white spots on the fish? And what do you mean when you say "completely healthy" in the evening? Are the white spots gone in the evening?

Ich can't appear for a few hours and then disappear and then reappear in the morning. The life cycle of the trophont (parasitic stage that you see as white spots) is 3-7 days.


Did you introduce anything new into the system lately?


Moved to "Sick Fish/Coral" for appropriate comments...

 

[Michel]

You are right that Ich is less visible in the mornng and more at night because lights has an effect on them...
As far as the other in the tank yes they may get it but usually if not too infected they can fight...
Good variety of food soacked in garlic extract has helped in the past
I'm sure other will have suggestions also...
Good luck

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

No I haven't introduced fish in the tank for a while & they all just recovered from an ich Outbreak, its just the Powder Blue that have spots when the lights are off & when I turn them on after 5 hours, they seem to dissappear. Also, to answers Michael questions, I use Garlic extreme at least once a day with frozen food, 2-feeding Formula one & two- along with some spectrum pellets 3- feeding algae sheets.

 

[Biggen]

when I turn them on after 5 hours, they seem to dissappear.

Hmm. I wonder if, as Michel says, they are simply less visible when the lights go out. Again, ich won't appear as disappear in a few hours span. But I guess if one couldn't see them because of the lighting, it would seem that they are disappearing...

I would get that Tang out of that tank and into a quarantine tank as soon as possible. I am still hesitant to offer suggestions on how to rid the ich from the fish as I am not sure it has it. Although, you did say that your other fish just recovered from ich so it is definitely possible.

There are only two proven remedies for ich. Hypo salinity and copper. I would recommend hypo before copper, as you will have to monitor the copper twice a day to make sure you have a high enough dose to kill ich but not too high so that you kill your fish. If you do decide to go the copper route, make sure you keep copper levels under .25 ppm and over .15 ppm. Leave the fish in for four weeks.

If you go the hypo route, adjust your quarantine tank to a SG of 1.009 and leave the tang in there for 4-6 weeks.

BTW, you cannot use either of these methods in your display tank if you keep or ever plan to keep inverts. A QT tank is necessary.

Perhaps someone else will chime in with some other suggestions.

 

[fishfreek]

No I haven't introduced fish in the tank for a while

Richard this goes aganst what you told us in chat the other night. After pulling hairs you eventually told us that YES the PBT and the Purple tang both where purchased approx 3 weeks ago and soon after that all your fish had an ick outbreak. You also said that all the other fish have recovred at this point but the PBT is still suffering.

Also for the record as alot of the people giving you advice here where not in chat that evening please list the fish that you have and describe your setup as best you can.

 

[BigNEMO]

Can you use Copper (Cuprimine) and Hypo Salinity at the same time???

 

[Biggen]

Can you use Copper (Cuprimine) and Hypo Salinity at the same time???

No. Waaaay to much stress on the fish. Besides, each of the above methods WILL kill off ich by itself. Don't need to use both...

 

[gooyferret]

Fishboy it all depends on how healthy your other fish are IME and for example i had a white check tang...May he rest in peace. After the ich had got ahold of him he got it so bad he looked like a white white white cheek tang if you know what i mean. I also agree with the comment on not seeing the ich during the day. Some odd reason it is less visible on them. I also am fighting a case of ich with 2 fish. When the white cheek tang died i was very lucky that none of the others had got it and that was about 4 months ago. Mine recieved ich from fighting with one another so i had split them up recently. Anyway i also had 2 maroon clowns and a lawnmower blenny, which repeled the ich outbreak and never got it. I think it depends on the fish and how healthy the others are for if they get the parasite.
Go for a quarintine if you can other wise feed garlic and hope for the best.
HTH.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

Fish freek I said a whil which means no recently Yes, I know what I said in the chat room say about two days ago. Here is a complete list of the fish that are in my tank:

1 Bird Wrasse
2 Yellow Tangs
1 Purple Tang
1 Sailfin Tang
1 Humu Trigger
I Snowflake Eel
1 Watchman Goby
& about 8 three stripe damsels that survived the cycling about 5 months ago.

My tank spec 264 Gallons
Filters:
2-Eheim 2217 Filters
1-Amiracle 300 Wey/Dry
1-UV Sterilizor 25 Watts
1-Eco-Aqualizor
1-1/5 Amp Chiller
Pleanty of hiding space. I have enclosed a photo of my tank that you can check out in my gallery

 

[Michel]

What I find very strange is that you have a UV Sterilizor 25 Watts and still you have ich in your tank ???? Usually this would kill bacteria big time !
Hummmm !

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

I turned it off since I am still treating the tank with Cupramin

 

[Michel]

Well still what I do not understand is that it did not take care of it before !
Usually the UV does a good job

 

[fishfreek]

The UV is either hooked up incorrectly as far as the flow speed goes or the UV bulb is old or the UV chamber is dirty.

My point is that the ICK did NOT appear until 3 weeks ago (based on chat conversation) and the last fish's you addeed was approx 3 weeks ago. Hense the coroliation between the ICK first apperaing in the tank and the new fish.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

Thanks, fish freak I only had the UV for about 3 months and it installed after the Skimmer & Wet/dry so very little build up occurs. Would you suggest for me to turn the UV back on.

 

[Biggen]

Since you are using copper in the main tank you will never be able to keep inverts in that tank. You probably already know this and may be ok with it, but i just wanted to point it out incase.

Again, make sure you keep that copper level below .25ppm and above .15ppm. Remove the carbon and treat for 4 weeks.

FYI, be prepared for some possible fish loss even if you keep copper in the range above. It is highly toxic to fish and some just can't handle even the smallest doses.

 

[Michel]

Richard, In my pm I did suggest that 8O

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

Yes Michel, I understand-But I heard that if you turn on your UV during the time that you medicate your tank the solution will dissolve.