Opinions Needed

[SWFanAtiC69]

I havent had an ick problem well one that iv noticed in over 8 years, and now in my 125 my Beloved Niger Trigger has ick all over him. well it started out the Picasso did a lil bit, but most of you guys here know how hardy triggers are. Cant kill em usually if you wanted to..lol "NOT THAT I EVER WOULD LOL" So i figured just lets see what happend, While the picasso had it though the Niger was healthy as an OX. Well maybe not alot of times fish have ick you cant tell cause its in the gills. But newho now picasso looks fine and Niger is looking like crap. At first i didnt think he had it because they looked like scratches you know because his home is in a crevis of a 30lb piece of LR so i figure he was scratching himself going in and out? But now when i look closely i can tell that there are some ick spots on him and hes doing the ol rubbing off rocks and crap. So im all worried im going to put him in my QT Tomorrow and go the Copper route. The thing im wondering is Couldnt he beat this on his own, I mean arent triggers pretty freaking hardy? Dont know why im asking just like to hear what other people have to say, but i mean picasso and niger have never stopped eating through this whole thing. He eats like an OX. But like i said i havent had ick in about 8 years now, and at our fish store we always recommend the use of Copper "IN A SEPERATE QT TANK!!" but i know its good, or Hypersalinity iv heard is real good, just let me know what you guys think on the subject. Shouldnt i get all the fish out the ones that even seem fine, cause if not the ick is just gonna keep spawning and locating a host? Right? Thanks and ALOHA

ps. Please pray for my Trigger, im so upset Hes my little buddy!!!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

... Shouldnt i get all the fish out the ones that even seem fine, cause if not the ick is just gonna keep spawning and locating a host? Right? ...

Yup. And let your main tank go fishless for 6-8 weeks to kill off the remaining little buggers while you're treating all the other fish in a separate qt.

 

[SWFanAtiC69]

thanks buddy, i appreciate you taking the time to reply!! Thats exactly what im going to do too. Anybody else with any opinions or comments on triggers hardiness in general please write. Thanks again Kurt!!

 

[cmor1701d]

Yes, the HYPO treatment is far less stressful to the fish. It takes 6 to 8 weeks to complete so the timing fits in perfectly with keeping the main tank fishless. I had to go through this a couple of years ago in my 125. I got all the fish into a 30 for the 2 month period. I had to remove most of the LR to get all the fish out too. I put the LR in a couple of BRUTE 20 gallon totes with some tank water. Lowering the water in the tank made it easier to net the fish too. I thought I had lost my bicolor blenny. It was the only unaccounted for fish in the QT tank. As I was putting the LR back into the tank it jumped out of a rock crevice into the tote and was easy to net and put in the QT tank.

As I had so many fish in a 30 gallon I added a bunch of pvc elbows, 45's and short straight lengths of various sizes for hiding space. More importantly I did 2x daily 5 gallon PWCs for the first two weeks till biowheel had a chance to build up some bacteria. I continued with a daily 3-5 gallon pwc for the remainder of the hypo treatment to maintain water parameters. That also gave me a chance to vacuum the tank bottom.

Here is what I consider the definitive article on Hyposalinity Treatment

 

[amkelly]

im going to play devils advocate from experience before... i had a 125 gallon tank and one of the fish caught ick. i took all the fish out and lost nearly every fish i had. i dont like the hypo treatment nor would i recommend it. i think moving te fish around causes them more stress. whenever one of my fish gets ick i try to keep the tank well fed because if they are eating it will keep their immune system healthy. when i see ick i feed the tank a little more than usual. just something to think about, its not worth breaking down a huge tank like that trust me. let nature take its course, no sense in stressing out the healthy fish. also one of my fish had ick, it died.. and the ick never spread to the other fish

 

[SWFanAtiC69]

The thing about that though, is maybe you just got REALLY REALLY lucky... if you dont remove the fish then the ick just keeps on reproducing and finding a host on another fish, the fact that none of your other fish got it was a shot in the dark and is def good for you, but i dont think i wanna go with that method in fear of not being soooo lucky! thanks for sharing your experience something to think about!!

 

[melosu58]

Read these. Great articles for ick.

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

 

[SWFanAtiC69]

Thanks alot Melosu greatly appreciated.