Tank with Ich (I think)

[me1newman]

Ok well I am still Fairly new to all of this. I have a 75gal tank that I set up with LR and LS about 14 months ago. It cycled with just sand and rock for over 8 months before i put anything in it at all. Then i slowly started adding I started with snails and coralbanded shrimp. Then i added 2 Surp. Stars, and 2 Sand sifting Stars. Just in the Past 3 Months i have started adding Fish a Few at a time. I have 2 Blue Damsels, 1 Domino, 2 Clark Clowns (one big one little) an Anemone, And I dont know the name of this one but it is Little Long Pinkish Purplish colored fish (Dremel maybe not sure?), and Now i have put in a Yellow Tang about 3 weeks ago. Oh I forgot about the pink and Green Cucumber ( ok everyone can yell at me for this one I didnt know anything about it but had to have it in then, Came home and read about it on your site to find out probably should have waited till i knew more about saltwater... SO YELL AWAY)
This is what my tanks is like... like i said 75 gal, Emperor 400 Filter System, SeaClone SCPS 150 Protein Skimmer, Penguin Power Head 1140, And of course the Pump and Powerhead that came with the Protein Skimmer, My lighting is Jebo 260 watts 2- 65 watts day 12k and 2- True 03 antinic 65 watts plus 4 LED moon lights for night.
Well now here is the PROBLEM everyone will really be yelling about this ... I AM VERY limited on space and do not have a QT tank ... although after this i will find some way to have one some where !!!! but in the mean time i need help with my main tank I think my tank has Ich in it i have not had problems up until 2 days ago and i saw a couple of spots on my yellow tang (salt or sugar size spots) and now the little pink purple fish that i dont know what it is called also has it on him and they are BOTH COVERED IN IT this morning. what can i put in my MAIN tank since i didnt already have a QT tank ready for this mess this time. Is there anything i can do in main tank since i have LR and Corals ETC.
This is my tanks info also ... as of Feb 22, 2006
Salinity-30
specific Gravity-1.023
Total Alkalinity-300
Ammonia-0
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
High Range PH -7.6 added a little bit of Kent Marine PH Buffer
Phosphates -0
Temp was 77
Out of Calcuim test kit could not test for that !!!

and if there are also any other test i need to be doing now that i have fish in it can you tell me what they would be also

Melissa

 

[cmor1701d]

2 Blue Damsels, 1 Domino, 2 Clark Clowns...Little Long Pinkish Purplish colored fish ...Yellow Tang

There is nothing you can add to the tank to cure Ich without killing the inverts, ruining the LR/LS, etc.

You are going to need a 30 gallon to QT that many fish. You should probably move the Emperor 400 to the new QT tank to keep the biological filter going and cut down on the number of water changes you'll need. You want to treat all of the fish (but none of the inverts) in the QT tank using a Hyposalinity treatment. This will take about 8 weeks. You also need to heat the QT tank and leave it bare bottom. Get some PVC parts for places the fish can hide. Some elbows, 45s, straight pieces of varying lengths and sizes.
Keep 2 5 gallon buckets of s/w mixed and at temp ready for PCW's 1x-2x per day in the QT tank. If you move the filter over you might get away with 1x/day or even every other day. You must keep an eye on pH which tends to drop during Hypo QT and a careful check on Ammonia, and Nitrite at least twice a day. It can be done. I did it on a 125g last year.

How much LR do you have in the main tank?
How much LS do you have in the main tank?
You still need to feed the main tank during the Hypo process, but very little. You also need to add some filtration if you don't have enough LR (1½-2# per gal).

Get started with this and I'm sure others will chime in too and help you get through this.

 

[me1newman]

I have 65 Lbs. of LR and 60 lbs of LS and what is the PCW's 1x 2x a day..
also does that mean that i need to leave or move the cucumber. I really stress him cause like i said when i got him i didnt know that he turns stomach inside out and can kill everything else in the tank if something happened to him so i dont know if i should do anything with him or not.. He doesnt look like he has anything on him and he looks like he is doing good for now. BUT I Just really dont know as much about him as i should have when i got him
THANKS for all the help
Melissa

 

[DaLoach]

catching sick fish is always fun
since you cant treat the tank, adding parasite eating inverts like Lysmata sp. in pairs can help. should be a large enough tank to avoid conflict w/ the cb shrimp, maybe

the invertebrates (cucumber too) will be ok. if you notice it eviserate (releasing the stomach) then remove it immediately. they are good for the sand.

 

[me1newman]

adding parasite eating inverts like Lysmata sp. in pairs can help. ( WHAT IT THAT) is that the cleaner shrimp. Sorry have not learned all of the words for the stuff yet. And i have read a forum on here that said that the coralbanded shrimp will eat some of that off of the fish but it will not cure the problem
Now my next Question is I only see it on 2 fish in my tank the pinkish fish and the tang so if i remove them forever will that help my tank too or am i still going to need to do something with the QT tank.
And as far as the cucumber this one doesnt ever go in the sand it has been in the same place that i put it when i brought it home is the pink and green one for the sand to or just the walls. That is my understanding from a forum on here that said the yellow ones are more for sand and this one is more for the walls by the best water flow.

 

[DaLoach]

removing ALL the fish will not 100% gaurante its elimination. i dont know how long the life cycle is w/o a host. and then adding an un-qt fish can cause it to return.
temperature flucations can cause an outbreak in an unhealthy tank
yes the cleaner shrimp will help more than the cb shrimp, again is not the end-all to the problem.
a qt tank is highly reccomened, even its a temporary one. always good to qt new fish before adding to the main tank. a VERY good retail store will qt before sale.
i didnt see pics of the cuc's so i cant be sure, but most are detritivores (eats waste) some filter (wall) while others dig (sand), similiar to what the sand stars are doing.

 

[me1newman]

Some people have said stuff on here about a Freshwater dip is that Possible or not with all that i have in my tank Dont know how to add pics on here yet