ich?

[rokcrawla]

My domino damsel is covered in tiny white specks, Im thinking it may be ich, but I dont know too much about it. Hes also been hanging out in the feather duster alot which I thought was cool but I wonder if it has some sort of toxin that may be causing it? I dont want to misdiagnose. Anyway right now the tank is fish and liverock, but Im planning on removing the liverock to use in a smaller reef tank, I guess I should do it now before I dose it with medicine. The other fish look okay still. How long should I let the liverock be without fish in the new tank before I can add a fish to it and not worry about ich still being on it? Will the cycle of the new tank be sufficient to kill the ich?

thanks,
Josh

 

[Terry B]

The Domino damsel won't hurt the feather duster other than causing it to close so it cannot feed. That is a very aggressive species. Do not add medication to your display tank. You should only medicate in a quarantine tank or sometimes in a dip bucket. If you want to really learn about ich then read this link and then read the other four parts in the series.

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/aquarium_fish_1.html

You might benefit from reading some of the other articles to including the two part series on quarantine methodology in the same library.

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/quarantine_methodology_1.html

HTH,
Terry B

 

[srgetz]

How long should I let the liverock be without fish in the new tank before I can add a fish to it and not worry about ich still being on it? Will the cycle of the new tank be sufficient to kill the ich?

A minimum of 30 days without fish will kill the ich (on the rock and in the current tank), you can do a fishless cycle with shrimp which should consume the 30 days anyway...during this time the fish should be in QT with copper treatment....watch out for the bogus "ich cures" in pet stores, copper is the only proven medication to kill off marine ich.

 

[rokcrawla]

Is Rid-Ich+ ok?

 

[melosu58]

I did not have too good of results with rid ich. To me it looked like all I did was stress the fish out more

 

[quarryshark]

Is Rid-Ich+ ok?

I have heard it is not very good.
Try hyposalinity. You will need a good refractometer to get the spg at treatment level. Here is a link that explains the procedure.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

Or, use cupramine. It is a copper based medication that if very fish friendly. Just make sure you treat in a bare bottom (you can use PVC pipe for the fish to hide in) qt tank. Also make sure you get the proper test kit (seachems multitest for copper) to keep copper levels at treatment dosage.
Please do not use copper (or any med) in the main display tank or a tank that you plan on using for a display in the future. If you must use a future display tank, use the hyposalinity treatment.
To rid the system of ich, all fish must be removed and the display tank must be fishless for 4-6 week to allow the parasite to go through its life cycle and die off.
Let us know if you have any questions, we are happy to help.