All fish dead after ick....

[davelin315]

Here's my take on it - it's very difficult to avoid having ich in your tank. This is one of the most common parasites in a marine aquarium. It has about a 4 week life cycle and cannot survive without a host beyond that time period. Really, you're best off letting your tank go fallow for 6 weeks, this should be enough time to kill off any residual ich. In order to get rid of it in fish, you have to treat any fish with medication. People have a misconception that ich can be cured on its own, not true. If the fish has it, it has it until you kill the parasite. Just because it doesn't surface doesn't mean it's not there. Good conditions and diet can help a fish fight off infection and keep the parasite dormant for the most part, but it does not cure it. Also, treating it is effective only by killing off the parasite, not by adding something like a cleaner shrimp. The parasite is internal and what you see on the outside is not the parasite itself. Cleaners can only remove what's on the outside, not what's below the skin of the fish, at least not without siginficant damage to the fish.

 

My take on it is that you have to do everything that is above to give your fish the best environment. Healthy conditions and proper feeding will help a fish to combat anything that it comes into contact with and a UV sterilizer is an ounce of prevention since it will help to keep populations in the water column down. Also, QT is not necessarily going to prevent all disease from entering your tank unless you aggressively treat the QT specimens for everything that they might have. So, in order to maintain the best environment for your fish, add a UV, keep the water clean, and feed good food.

[Triggerfish31]

Last night I created a rush delivery for my hospital tank. I also got a treatment called Rid-Ich. Are you familiar with this? I just recently purchased a UV Sterilizer but due to a pump malfunction it was not hooked up to the DT. Once I get the new pump I will get it running on my DT.

 

Hospital Tank includes: Canister Filter, air stones, heater, electric thermometer, light. I think that covers it for now. Do I still lower the salinity or should I keep it at 1.025?

[Triggerfish31]

Just got home to find only four out of ten fish alive. I am waiting on the canister filter, would it be best to get an power filter tonight that way I can move the rest of the surviving fish over so they have a chance to survive? The other filter will arrive tomorrow.

[MisterTang]

Both QT and UV are needed. Not all stages of ich are free-water-column (as far as I remember), and UV wouldn't help with that.

[Jon Lazar]

Not all stages of ich are free-water-column (as far as I remember), and UV wouldn't help with that.

 

You are correct that not all stages are free-swimming. There are two stages where they're susceptible to UV:

 

- When the parasites exit the fish after feeding (protomont stage; 2-8 hours long)

- When the parasites "hatch" and look for a fish to infect (theront stage; ~16 hours long)

 

The parasites spend about 4-5 days inside your fish, and about 7-8 days encased on the bottom of the tank. So they're free-swimming less than 24 hours per two-week cycle.

 

Jon

[FishWife]

Sorry for your losses! It's hard to lose fish.

[lanman]

Feeding with a Garlick extract seems to have worked for my ick problem I had. Some say it works while others doubt it but it worked for me. It seems to be a good precautionary method.

 

As far as I know - the objective behind the garlic is to enhance the smell and flavor of the food, so that the fish will eat, despite being sick. Well-fed fish tend to be healthier, and can survive an ich attack.

 

bob