Help with Ich problem

[kaylo]

For starters, I want to say I am an idiot and should have had a quarantine tank right from the start. But believe me, I am using one for every fish from here on out.

I got a couple butterfly's this week (raccoon and spotted) and added it to my tank with 2 perc clowns, 1 domino damsal, 1 algae blenny 2 camel shrimp.

This morning I noticed two white spots on the raccoon butterfly. I'm assuming its ich. I am now setting up a quarintine tank for the raccoon, but I dont know if its too late for the rest of the tank and its inhabitants.

Should I quarintine all the fish and try and make sure its not in the main tank or should I start with just the butterfly and keep an eye on the MT and the remaining fish?

I read an article that said a tank running with no fish for about 8 weeks should result in a 99.9% chance to get rid of ich.

Also, I dislike using any chemicals, expecially copper based. So what should I do to go about treating the ich fish? I was thinking of a fresh water dip before the quarintine and slowly dropping the salinity, but is there an alternative to using chemicals?

[stingythingy45]

[welcome]

Grabbing the racoon out of the tank now is probably not going to do anything but stress the fish.If this fish has it it has most likely already infected your display.
At this point I would probably finish getting you hospital tank set up just incase.But right now I would just observe the fish for any more signs of parasites.Also I'm not a big fan of freshwater dips as that stresses fish out also.

[aquaman2008]

Overall Kaylo I don't think removing the infected fish is the right approach. I would recommend dropping the density of your display tank by .02 points per day until you have a density of 1.010. This condition is called hyposalinity and will kill any and all external parasites in your tank and should not harm your fish. Although it can kill corals and other inverts so if you have a tank packed with live rock this could be a problem as the excessive die off may raise dissolved nutrient values in your water.

The hypo-condition should be kept for at least 30 days to insure eradication of all parasites. What is best Kaylo is to keep your qt tank at a less then average salinity. I always recommend 1.018 or so. This will discourage parasite outbreaks on new arrivals. Remember though when acclimating a fish from that density to your main tank to do a slow acclimation of at least 3 hours.

[kaylo]

Am I observing to make sure it's Ich or just to not stress everything by moving it around?

I was hoping to nip it in the bud before it got out of control. I figured getting it now before its compounded will increase my chance for success on ridding it.

[jhildebrand]

+1 to aquaman's response.

it'd be easier to get a little QT set up for your inverts with a piece of rock or two for them and then treat the main tank with hypo (if there's no corals) for 8 weeks or more. then, slowly bring the salinity back up to normal, then add the inverts back in. best way to avoid copper and extra stress on the fish. good luck...

[kaylo]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies.

I have 80# of live rock only in the tank (no corals). I think im gonna set up the 12 gallon nano cube I have for the shrimp, slowly drop the salinity and keep a close eye on everything in the MT.

Should I get some new LR for the nano? I'm guessing the LR from the 70g is ich ridden too, but I dont think it infects shrimp. Would this then cause it to die off in the other tank if it has no host?

[IchthyoloChris]

If it's an established, stable tank, IMO wait and observe. I've seen fish come down with minimal outbreaks of ich when first introduced but if left alone and unstressed, they get rid of it quickly. If outbreak worsens, then definitely consider the aforementioned treatment. If it is ich, tank is already infested but (again) if its stable, other fish will probably be fine. FYI - life cycle of ich is roughly a month, give-or-take some days depending on temp.

Chris

[jnewman]

I like the cleanner help (i.e. neon gobbies shrimp) adds a little more of the natural function of nature to your tank.

[kaylo]

I just picked up some kordon - Ich attack at a LFS. It's supposably 100% organic for salt/fresh water and is safe for reef, LR and aquariums with inverts. The owner is very knowlegable (i'm in there all the time) says he treats all his quarantined fish with it when needed.

I was wondering if anyone had used this or heard of anyone using it before. It sounds pretty safe, but i'm still hesitant to put ANYTHING chemical in my tank, even if it does say it's 100%organic.

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13483644#post13483644 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kaylo
I just picked up some kordon - Ich attack at a LFS. It's supposably 100% organic for salt/fresh water and is safe for reef, LR and aquariums with inverts. The owner is very knowlegable (i'm in there all the time) says he treats all his quarantined fish with it when needed.

I was wondering if anyone had used this or heard of anyone using it before. It sounds pretty safe, but i'm still hesitant to put ANYTHING chemical in my tank, even if it does say it's 100%organic.

there are three generally accepted methods of ridding ich

All involve a quarantine tank
hyposalinity
use of copper based medications
series of complete water changes coinciding with the life cycle of the ich(this is a very tricky one to master)

Since your tank has now been infected there is not much you can do to reduce the ich other then hope it goes away on its own and fortify the fish food with garlic products and vitamins to help build up their immune systems.

Adding chemicals ect to the display tank sho7uld be avoided at all costs--most of them do not work and end up causing other problems with the water chemistry that you don't want to deal with.

There is a lot of information on ich and the treatment of it on the Capn's Log book blog:


http://www.reefcentral.com/wp/?p=346

[ratziel]

For starters I want to say " Yes you are an Idiot" But that is okay , most people are. I have always had success with a good UV sterilizer ( I will not recommend a brand )