ICH

[Guest tburrs]

so about a month after adding fish to a new 120 gallon tank my hippo tang is showing signs of ick. from what I've read on reef central and a few other places there are two options, treating w/ copper or lowering the salinity, both of which should take place in a quarantine tank. the only other tank I have is a 29 gallon, but I don't think three dwarf angels, a hippo tang, and a really mean damsel would do well in a 29 gallon tank. I also read angels don't do well with copper. so, does anybody have any suggestions? I got some "kick-ich" at the LFS, but from what I've read that has gotten very mixed reviews. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

thanks,

Travis

[lmeyer]

I agree, the 29 would be a bit overloaded. Do you have a sump? Could you isolate the sump from the show tank and use it as a hospital? Possibly put some of the fish in the 29 and some in the sump?

 

I've never used kick-ich, but never heard anything good about it. Have used copper with success in the past, but not lately. Everyone seems to recommend hyposalinity as the way to go these days.

[reelsteel]

I used a 25 gallon tank as a Q-tank and had the following fish in there: Yellow tang, lemon peel, clown, yellow tail damsel(mean), psedochromis(mean), lawnmower blenny, green Mandrin and some other fish I can never remember it's name(belongs to the basslet family). I put in different size T- pipes, so that they each had a place to hide. I kept all of them in there for 6 weeks during hyposalinty and only lost the mandrin(i think it ended up starving, I kept dumping pods in there for him but the other fish would get to them first) The 2 mean fish seem to calm down beacuse there was really no place to claim as their own so they had nothing to protect. They all came out of hypo great and are all back in the display tank. I went with the hypo and bought a ph monitor and a salinity monitor, takes all the guess work out of the equation.

Good luck

Doug

[reelsteel]

Forgot I only had a hang on whisper filter(it's a dual overflow) a sweeper powerhead and a little berlin airlift protein skimmer(that little thing could spit out some sludge) and a heater. Just made sure the salinity and ph were good and did water changes twice a week. Had for lights a 2x65 watt w/moonlights fixture, which made some algea grow which the lawnmower blenny loved.

[rocko918]

I also did hyposalinty in a 55 with 3 tangs, bicolor blenny, cleaner wrasse, watchman goby and a Mandrin. I did end up losing 2 tangs, bicolored blenny and the mandrin to my own fault. I kept up with the salinty but failed to watch the ph. THe ph was very low and it was too late for me. After i kept the ph up it was smooth sailing with no signs of Ich a month later. I had 2 power heads, 2 submersible filters and a heater. I also feed with garlic. THe garlic is a good start, start added fresh mashed garlic to your foods.

 

You will have to take all the fish out. Don't leave any of them in as the ich will still live. I would not do copper.

[Guest tburrs]

well after only one day of treating the entire tank with kick-ich the hippo tang has definitely improved. the blotches under his left eye has reduced by at least 50%. so, I guess before I go to the extent of moving the fish and treating w/ hyposalinity I will go thru the entire treatment cycle with the kick-ich and see what happens. I have read some reviews that the treatment actually works. granted I've read more bad than good, but lets hope I have some luck and it all works out!

[rocko918]

Are there any corals or inverts in the tank?

[Guest tburrs]

corals...there's only this small one that came on the live rock. inverts yes, probably 60+. kick-ich claims it is 'totally reef safe for fish, coral, inverts and macroalgae, as well as the facultative anaerobes and nitrifying bacteria essential to biologic filtration'.

[Guest AlgaeMaN]

All you need is a good UV and water conditions. If you don't have a UV the ich will return when you add more fish.

corals...there's only this small one that came on the live rock.  inverts yes, probably 60+.  kick-ich claims it is 'totally reef safe for fish, coral, inverts and macroalgae, as well as the facultative anaerobes and nitrifying bacteria essential to biologic filtration'.

34731[/snapback]

[reelsteel]

I don't think a UV sterilizer will prevent ich from returning. ICH will host on the fish and then drop to the sand bed or into the live rock, unless they pass through the sterilizer they will keep reproducing.

You will see a decrease in the ICH because it will cycle naturally. It will drop off and reproduce, and you will see double in a few weeks(can't remember the timeline for the life cycle). The chemical you are using may look like it's working(it may kill some) but they are hardy buggers and it only takes a couple to live before you may see them again in a couple months. I did alot of research and the EXPERTS all agree the fish need removed from the display tank and the fish need either cooper treatment of hypo salanity. Both treatments have their pros and cons. I'll look for the links I used, but RC has some good papers by Steven Pro, that talks about ICH. Good Luck, it's not a simple process. I had to tear down my entire tank to catch all my fish(took me almost 6 hours).

Doug

[rocko918]

I agree with Steel. If you want to make sure you get rid of it, take the fish out. If you want to chance it stick with what you are doing. It make work fine. I did the rid ick chemical on my 12 g nano and it worked fine. But i did not have any corals on it.