ich killed everything

[bayside795]

HELP!!!

What I believe is ICh came on suddenly. Last night I noticed my lemonpeel swimming a little funny,my popcupine puffer lying still but still eating. I was planning on doing a water change today, by late morning my Powder blue had it all over him and the other two fish were dead. Within another half hour the powder blue was dead. I now know the Powder blue and puffer were very suceptable. I am just amazed at how quickly it traveled and I had no idea.

Is my live rock now ruined? Is the infection living in this rock waiting to attack once I start again? Do I have to throw the rock out? I am so confused?

Please advise!!! Thank you

[lisaFL]

I would just go out and go get some treatment for ich.
I am using Cupramine for my fish who has ich.
I read online that you can do a water change, but still use some treatment for it.
This is a good site for ich: http://fish.orbust.net/ich.html
Hope I helped.
Lisa

[bureau13]

First off, if it attacked and killed that quickly, then I question whether it was actually ich. It sounds more like velvet, which is a similar parasite but much more deadly.

Second, Cupramine, or any copper-based med, is the treatment for infected fish. When the parasites drop off they will die and be unable to reproduce. HOWEVER...you can't dose any type of copper med if you've got inverts, this includes your live rock. If your fish are all dead, you don't need Cupramine, you need to leave your tank fishless for 6 weeks or so. The parasites need fish hosts to complete their life cycle.

Once you are able to start adding the fish back in, THAT is when you need the Cupramine. Set up a quarantine tank and dose that according to the directions. Get a test kit (prefer Red Sea over Seachem for this, go read all the problems in the Seachem forum if you question this) and make sure your levels remain where they are supposed to be.

jds