Can starfish get ich?

[lemmy_k]

I just transfered all my fish to a new tank and they are all getting ich. I am thinking of using the old tank for a hospital, doing the hypo treatment and leaving all the rock, hermits and starfish in the main tank to keep it running. Think it will work?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Sounds good to me. Here's a great article on hypo...

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

Don't forget to leave your main fishless for 6-8 weeks to rid yourself of the ich. But don't forget to "feed" the bacteria in your main during that time.

And as far as I know, starfish can't sustain ich.

 

[lemmy_k]

I talked to a knowledgeable kid at my LFS and he says it's a "fish only" parasite. Started dropping the salinity tonight and will move my rock and starfish to the quarantine tank tomorrow.

 

[MT79]

Inverts don't do well in hypo. I'd definitely get the star out of the tank asap.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I talked to a knowledgeable kid at my LFS and he says it's a "fish only" parasite. Started dropping the salinity tonight and will move my rock and starfish to the quarantine tank tomorrow.

I'm confused. Move your rock and starfish to the QT?

I assumed you would move your fish ONLY to the QT, and do hypo there. Then you'd leave your rock/sand and inverts and starfish in the main and let it go fishless. The hypo will kill the ich on the fish in the QT, and the fact your main tank is fishless for 6-8 weeks will kill the ich in the main.

Don't do hypo on anything but fish - they won't make it.

 

[lemmy_k]

Yeah, I get confusing sometimes. I am gong to set up a tank and put the rock and starfish in it and treat the main tank. It seems easier than catching all the fish since I would have to move the rock to get them anyways. At least this way, we don't have an empty tank in the living room and a bunch of nice fish in the garage.
Did that clear it up?

 

[JoshsReef]

I wouldnt do that, I would do it the other way away around. You want to keep what will be your main tank as stable as possible. You dont want to rish disturbing your sandbad, bacteria, pods, worms, or anthing else you have in there already.

 

[cmor1701d]

Easier does not = better. Do the hypo in a QT tank. Yes, that means partially draining the tank into a tote, moving the rock to the tote, capturing the fish and moving them to the QT, then putting the rock back into the main.

The article that Kurt linked to is the one to follow.