Ich’s the word (1 Viewer)

[decimal]

Against my better judgement, I took in some refugee fish not long ago. They had been the same DT for over 4 years and where perfectly fine. All my other fish went through full qt so they where clean. You know where this is leading of course and now, everyone has ich.

Trying to weigh my options. First, just let it roll. I am running ozone and plan to add UV. I feed rods with selcon and everyone is active and eating. I could just wait it out and see who makes it. Live with the ich and as long as everyone is healthy and fat, who cares.

Now, the second option I have, since this a relatively new system (2 months old give it take) I could reset. Take out all the fish and run bleach. Restart the system fresh. Problem there is I am not set up to medicate the larger (3-5”) fish and don’t have the room to stick everyone into a brute. That would have to be in the garage but it’s still too hot. Maybe looking for a chiller to borrow?

I’m sure there are many more options but these 2 seem to be the most feasible and/or desirable unless there is another alternative I have not considered.

 

[foos]

Do you have coral? If you do and can rehome them in a fallow tank, go hypo in the DT. I did that and it worked for me. I forget how long, I think it was 2 months hypo, then back to normal salinity for 2 days, then back to hypo for a month.

I think the ich cyst can go dormant in hypo and survive so when I brought it back up I had an outbreak again, but I dropped it back down before it could drop off the fish and go to cyst again and I had no issues after that. I had an Achiles and Powder Blue that fought, so if I had ich one of them would have shown signs.

I had some inverts survive when I did it, but if I remember no snails did. With tangs my algae stayed under control but you may have issues if snails are your only control.

 

[foos]

I think I remember reading some FOWLR people run hypo all the time, so may look and see what they do for cuc to keep the green furies under control. Basically you would be changing to FOWLR running hypo with a bump in salinity to get ich cysts to leave cyst form then back to hypo to finish them off before going back to reef salinity and adding coral back.

 

[decimal]

Oh I like that approach. Something I had not considered.

 

[foos]

The way I changed my tank to hypo is I had rigged up a hob overflow type setup that drained the sump into the tub and that was above the ato line, then I started to fill with rodi. Kept tank running like nothing was happening and basically did a slow water change with rodi and kept a close eye on the salinity.

 

[foos]

If you go this route, read up on levels, make sure your refractometer is calibrated, and you are confident you can read it. There is a small window where ich dies and fish live. You want to get down into that window, not below it. If you are above you can stunt the ich so it looks like it is working, but it never really goes away.

 

[Tangs]

I have Tangs and hardly ever get ick.. Put the tank temp over 80 for a few days or so

 

[decimal]

@Tangs u run UV or any kind of sterilizer?

 

[Erin]

Against my better judgement, I took in some refugee fish not long ago. They had been the same DT for over 4 years and where perfectly fine. All my other fish went through full qt so they where clean. You know where this is leading of course and now, everyone has ich.

Trying to weigh my options. First, just let it roll. I am running ozone and plan to add UV. I feed rods with selcon and everyone is active and eating. I could just wait it out and see who makes it. Live with the ich and as long as everyone is healthy and fat, who cares.

Now, the second option I have, since this a relatively new system (2 months old give it take) I could reset. Take out all the fish and run bleach. Restart the system fresh. Problem there is I am not set up to medicate the larger (3-5”) fish and don’t have the room to stick everyone into a brute. That would have to be in the garage but it’s still too hot. Maybe looking for a chiller to borrow?

I’m sure there are many more options but these 2 seem to be the most feasible and/or desirable unless there is another alternative I have not considered.

I took the remaining 7 fish and not one has any sign of ich...
and they are in a 60 gallon tank, not a large one like yours.

The 2 you took were very healthy ... and they weren't "refugee" fish -- you got a killer deal from someone in a bind, and I would have taken them all... you were under absolutely no obligation to buy them.

Sorry, I know this doesn't help solve your current problem, and I hope your fish recover; but don't paint the previous owner as the bad guy...

 

[Tangs]

@Tangs u run UV or any kind of sterilizer?

Nope...

 

[decimal]

Glad it all worked out for you. That was the most expensive “deal” I ever got and the hippo was not healthy. He was a hot mess with, as you said, beginning signs of hole in the head. His tail fin was destroyed and I am a dummy for putting it in my tank. I didn’t even mention you or the previous owner only that he had the fish for four years with no problems. How is that “painting the owner as a bad guy” why would you want to start some drama?

And none of this is “funny” but ok.

 

[BigRick]

Glad it all worked out for you. That was the most expensive “deal” I ever got and the hippo was not healthy. He was a hot mess with, as you said, beginning signs of hole in the head. His tail fin was destroyed and I am a dummy for putting it in my tank. I didn’t even mention you or the previous owner only that he had the fish for four years with no problems. How is that “painting the owner as a bad guy” why would you want to start some drama?

And none of this is “funny” but ok.

.....its was only a matter of time.

 

[Stickboy97]

How many fish do you have? a 40B will house quite a few larger fish for a short period of time with no issues while you treat them & allow the other tank to go empty (76 days I believe). Don't sleep on ich, I had it almost wipe out an entire tank of older fish and lost tons of $$$ a few years back.

PS I'm pretty close in the Kingwood area, I can offer some fish sitting if you need.

 

[RR-MAN]

Against my better judgement, I took in some refugee fish not long ago. They had been the same DT for over 4 years and where perfectly fine. All my other fish went through full qt so they where clean. You know where this is leading of course and now, everyone has ich.

Trying to weigh my options. First, just let it roll.

I would just let it roll - if you don't have corals go the old school route just raise the tank temperature.

Do the fish eat normal?

 

[decimal]

Like they have not been fed in a week but I am feeding rods w/ selcon 2x a day. I am not doing anything hasty. Temp is around 80. Everyone has pretty much cleared up except, of course, the Achilles. He still has a few spots but as long as it doesn’t get worse, I am going to continue as is. I guess that’s my pattern. Totally overreact, look at all my options, pick out a few… take deep breath, sit back and reassess.

 

[TriggerFan]

Lesson learned.... always QT everything that goes into your tank (including invertebrates). Some say I went "overkill" with my QT process, but I can gladly report that after I loss some fish, I always QTd, feed food with Selcon + Vitachem, used a UV and never lost a single fish since then.

P.S - I am considering a comeback to the hobby... We'll see.

 

[Erin]

Lesson learned.... always QT everything that goes into your tank (including invertebrates). Some say I went "overkill" with my QT process, but I can gladly report that after I loss some fish, I always QTd, feed food with Selcon + Vitachem, used a UV and never lost a single fish since then.

P.S - I am considering a comeback to the hobby... We'll see.

Hey, stranger!! Welcome back

 

[decimal]

Lesson learned.... always QT everything that goes into your tank (including invertebrates). Some say I went "overkill" with my QT process, but I can gladly report that after I loss some fish, I always QTd, feed food with Selcon + Vitachem, used a UV and never lost a single fish since then.

P.S - I am considering a comeback to the hobby... We'll see.

Yup. I added a UV and was already running Ozone so the 2 together are pretty impressive. I really am not set up to qt, it’s just not an option. I would have paid to have them qt’ed if I could have found someone though. So far I have lost the Achilles and the flame angel. I’m still kicking myself for being so reckless.

 

[Cody]

Lesson learned.... always QT everything that goes into your tank (including invertebrates). Some say I went "overkill" with my QT process, but I can gladly report that after I loss some fish, I always QTd, feed food with Selcon + Vitachem, used a UV and never lost a single fish since then.

P.S - I am considering a comeback to the hobby... We'll see.

You're alive! How have you been?

 

[Stickboy97]

Yup. I added a UV and was already running Ozone so the 2 together are pretty impressive. I really am not set up to qt, it’s just not an option. I would have paid to have them qt’ed if I could have found someone though. So far I have lost the Achilles and the flame angel. I’m still kicking myself for being so reckless.

Man a QT is simple and inexpensive to set up, all you need is a 20gL, a hang on filter and small light and away you go. Much cheaper than losing those fish. Good Luck! Ich sucks!