Ich question. Please read

[Chuckytt]

Ok here is my question. Recently got a blue tang. Doing well but a couple of weeks after adding him I started to see white spots. Ooh no! Ich is my and four other aquariests (sp?) answer. Among chatting and doing our research, we came up with a question.
Ok here it is. Has been about a week and my blue tang is still doing well, acting normal and breathing fine. So far... If he makes it through is my ich out break taken care of after 6-8 weeks? Or is ich always going to be in my tank until I do a fish less cycle and pull out the 7 fish in there and treat them in a qt? If I do not do the fishless cycle, will any fish I add there on be supseptable to ich? Qt or not? Or will qt the fish help immunity to ich? Thanks for any questions

If outbreak occurs I will be qt all the fish and treating but is a lot of hassle and the tang was the last fish I was adding for a while. Thanks for any input!

 

[Bonz]

Well all fish carry ich from the wild. When a fish gets stressed the immune system of the fish drops and the parasite starts to take over. The white spots you see on the tang is little cysts that eventually fall off and the parasite will then reproduce within 72 hours and then look for another host. At this point ich is in your tank but i wouldnt worry about it unless a fish is stressed. As for the tang, Feed it seaweed at least 1-2 times a week because that helps their immune system a lot. Also, feed your fish garlic guard, vitamin c and put focus the food. This will help their immune system/ gut and color.

 

[melosu58]

Read these for some info on the parasite

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com


Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

 

[cmor1701d]

It's your thank, so you have decide which road to take. When I had an outbreak in my 125 I bought a 30 gallon to house my fish for the Hyposalinity treatment while the DT was fallow of fish for 8 weeks. I have to remove most of my rock to get the last two fish out.

I didn't lose any fish in the process and thanks to QT for all new fish and corals dips for all new additions the tank has been Ich free for 4 years.

 

[Chuckytt]

Yea that's my debate. Pull the rock, and get the fish out to treat. Or keep on keeping on if all is well... That's a poll right there. Thanks for the info fellas. (and not yelling at me). My tang dropped his white spots today, 3 days later... Still seems to be moving fine breathing normal and not acting stressed. Doing daily water testing and everything is perfect that I can test for and water changes 15% weekly. Did 2 10%changes this week

Question 2. Will ich hurt my inverts or anemone, or any corals? One again thanks AA!

 

[cmor1701d]

Ich will only infect fish. No worries on the coral, or inverts. Don't get me started on anemones in a home aquarium.

So, you know you have a ticking time bomb in your tank. You can take some time and remove it now, or you can wait till it goes off and kills all your fish. At that point you can leave the tank fallow of fish for 8 weeks, start with new fish in QT for a month and be at the same place. Oh, minus the original fish and little bit poorer (fish are expensive).

Read the articles on the life cycle of the Ich parasite. They drop to the substrate where the cysts grow for 3 - 7 days and then hundreds - thousands emerge and grow and wait for a fish to hunker down for the night. New infection and probably much worse.

 

[Chuckytt]

Ok so tore down the tank and got a 55 from a buddy to set up as a qt tank and do them all at once. I know big qt tank but it was free, and plan to go smaller once they go back to the dt. Once that is all done there is a lot of reading on fish with ich but not to much about corals and others carrying ich from the lfs to the dt. My taking of it if there coral and inverts ect should be qted for 6-8 weeks in another fish less tank. But not the same tank that was treAted with copper, and not the display tank? Am I correct or is there a shorter way around this?