ich a big issue in larger tanks?
Hi all,
I have a 55 gallon reef tank thats been running about 3 months now. I am finishing cycling/building a 340 gallon. My hippo tang seems to have ich in my 55, and I'm trying to decide what to do here. Should I buy a 3rd tank move the hippo there with copper? Should I put him in 340 gallon tank once its cycled and let him out swim the ich? Should I move all rocks/inverts/coral/sand to big tank let it sit for 76 days and treat copper in 55 gallon until the 76 day mark? Trying to find easiest remedy here. None of the other fish show ANY signs of ich; but my blue tang is showing some. Debating if larger tank will have enough water volume to make ich a non issue? |
ich a big issue in larger tanks?
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If one of your fish has ich, they all have it. From what I understand after 3-4 days of being on a fish, the ich falls off, makes home on the rock and sand, and then spawn where you get 100x’s more in several days and the process starts all over again. The other fish in your system most likely don’t show signs, because they are healthy and not stressed out, which has allowed their immune system to fight it off; or because the Ich has attached to their gills and is not visible. Regardless, if one fish has it in your system, they all have it and are exposed to it. Think of it like being constantly around sick kids at school.... 90% of the time you will be perfectly fine as a healthy adult because your body and immune system can cope, but a few days of stress and lack of sleep and you’ll be sick in no time. I am by no means an expert of fish treatment but I have both treated and had fish that had Ich. One thing to know, is that for some reason, Tangs are a lot more susceptible to having an Ich outbreak. Some people believe this is the result of their slime coat being not as thick as some of the other fish, which makes it easier for the Ich to attach itself to the fish’s skin. The only way to get rid of Ich in your tank, is to leave it empty for 2 months. This starves the Ich out. For treating Ich on fish, there are medications, hypo-salinity (harder to implement successfully and causes some stress to the fish, and also the ‘tank transfer method’. One thing I am certain of, is copper kills inverts and corals, so if you plan to dose your QT with copper with your snails and inverts inside, they will die. This is also one of the reasons why it is so extremely difficult to prevent and cure Ich; it can be on anything wet that you out into your system and while fish can be treated, it is significantly harder to treat corals and inverts. Some people honestly acknowledge that their systems most likely have Ich and work on providing their fish with healthy diet and little stress so that there is never an outbreak. Again, it is almost impossible to 100% guarantee that everything wet that is going into your tank is Ich free. Honestly, treating a new fish as if it has Ich when you first buy it is a LOT easier than once it’s in your system. I would say the vast majority of people have fish and thus systems that have Ich because of its reproduction cycles. Keeping your fish stress free, feeding them regularly will for sure help prevent an outbreak. BRS did a YouTube episode on Ich and marine diseases You should check it out. It’s gives a high level overview of many of the common diseases and cures for them which you might find beneficial. They reference to numerous threads on here that help educate, inform and advise on how to prevent, cure and live with marine fish and some of the diseases. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
How about i get a small 20gallon tank, put copper in move the tang to it let tang live there for 4weeks then move it to the big tank that has never had fish once it is ich free? Then repeat with other fish?
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And what do you do about the inverts? Ich is such a pain to deal with it’s too bad they can’t create a Reef and Invert friendly medications to dose the main tank with. |
I had a similar issue, too. Breaking down my 90 gallon & moving everything over to a new 180 gallon. I used some of the LR from the 90 to seed some dry sand & base rock. After tank cycled, all the fish transferred over slowly. Everything went perfect, well almost. A bought a few fish that were already quarantined, so they went right into the 180. Next day they were covered with ich. Pulled them & threw them in my old 90, which was still running. Apparently that was enough to get my other fish. The ich came & went on a few fish, then a few weeks later it came back on more fish. I had to pull all the fish & put them in the still running 90 & treated with cupramine for 30 days. I wouldn't take the chance of infecting your new tank, just treat all the fish. From now on, everything is getting treated before going into my tank, no matter where they come from.
If you use cupramine, raise the copper level up slowly. I took about a week to get to 0.4 & all my fish made it through fine, never stopped eating or anything. Good luck & yes this part of keeping fish sucks. |
.... this might get a little more attention if it were in the fish disease section.
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I do not think you can rid a tank of ich. Fish immune system is the best defense against ich. I don’t see fish in the wild with ich. Why is that? Fish eat live food which enhance fish immune system. In our reef tanks how can we feed live food? I use live mussels from the HEB seafood counter. The reason I say you can not rid a tank of ich is because of a 500G extended system that I ran. Nothing had been added to system for 18 months. Following an electrical failure which stressed the tank, ich was everywhere. That told me that the 60 day time period to break life cycle of ich parasite was not true. That was over thirty years ago. I do not quarantine. I rely on live gut bacteria from bivalves to enhance fish immune system. I have received Blue Tangs with ich spots visible thru shipping bags. They went straight into 25 year old established tank. Everybody eat raw oysters for first meal. Spots on Hippo disappeared in two days and itching/scratching lasted one week. |
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I’m not sure I understand these two statements... what are bivalves? Also, you feed new fish raw oysters after you add them to your system? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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Agree with one caveat. “Ich is less about the immune system”. I could not disagree more. First, what makes a healthy slime coat seperate from healthy immune system. Second, I have seen certain fish exhibit ich in slime coat but never show any other symptoms with spots disappearing. No other fish showed symptoms. Please explain that to me. Remember, I have been doing this for 45 years. |
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Live gut bacteria exist in shellfish with a hinge: bi-valve includes oysters, clams and mussels. |
Ive heard two sides to this. Ive heard you can eliminate ich and ive heard you can manage it with a healthy tank. Idon't know which way to believe anymore.
That's the reason i posted this here. Wondering if in alarger tank things will be more ocean like than a smaller tank and ich will be less of an issue |
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IMO all pet environments are not 100% comfortable for the species. I mean millions of years in the ocean, even with tank bred fish, still it’s not the natural environment it’s genetically adapted to. I think that this alone adds even the slightest amount of stress to the fish just simply not being in their natural environment. I’m sure larger tanks might be ‘better’ in the sense that it’s a little harder to have water parameters go off, compared to smaller water volume tanks. The more stable the tank is, that imo lessens the stress in the fish in itself. |
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While dilution can be an effective remedy against ich, I highly doubt that any home aquarium regardless of size will be effective. |
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I don’t think one year makes much difference in the life of a reefer. In the situation that I mentioned about receiving Blue Tang with white spots evident thru shipping bag from Divers Den. Remember Divers Den has quarantine > 60 days. Because the fish was on its side and breathing rapidly I released in into 25 year old display tank. Within two days ich spots disappeared. Within one week all itching and scratching stopped. No other fish in this twenty five year old 75G tank displayed symptoms. Here is a video of that fish in that tank. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FDt8QTAp0Cs Do I think ich has disappeared from this tank? NO, it is dormant and alive. I have heard the, “ich in the gills”. Ich hidden in gills in not a reality. It has been offered as a truism to explain a contradiction in dogma for ich treatment in reef tanks. I have read scientific papers on this issue. To fully understand one discrepancy is to look at the testing protocol and language. In discussing the different time frames for the different life stages of ich, one should examine in detail the language written about the dormat stage life cycle in substrate. Most mature in “ X amount” of days caught my attention. It only takes one to begin the cycle. |
My advice is to remove all of your fish, take them through TTM (tank transfer method), QT them in another system for a couple weeks, then let them into your large system, which is hopefully devoid of anything from your infected system. This is really the only way to ensure that you do not get ich into your new system. Say what you will about managing ich, etc but the best way to manage it is to keep it out altogether. TTM method is easy, cheap, involves no medication, and is highly effective when done properly.
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Are you expected to do and follow the same ttm with those also? |
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Was kidding on the one year .... |
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Your post should be highlighted on every reef hobbiest forum. Many mature reef tanks have dormant ich that may never show themselves until a strees event happens or a fish with a weakened immune system is introduced. When the stress event happens in the tank, I ask the question, does the parasite get stronger or does the host get weaker. PS: PaulB told me that he feeds his 44 year old tank with harvested clams from Long Island Sound, after he eats the flesh. They get the hinge meat. Coincidently, I went claming in L.I. Sound this August. My oldest brother and my youngest brother drove from Pittsburg to Patchouge on Long Island to visit extended family. On the second day there, our host took us claming close to Fire Island. I thought we had bad biting insects in South Louisiana. Horse flies near Fire Island got our Louisiana mosquitos beat. Anyway, for those not familiar with claiming, one method is walking on bottom moving foot left to right until you feel an irregularity on the sandy bottom. In vision this, three Cajun brothers barefooted, dragging their feet in the sand. Sounds like the lyrics to a song. Asymptomatic discribes not showing symptoms. Most importantly is why did established fish in a reef tank not show symptoms of ich when tank had the parasite in it. I say it is all about fish immune symptoms. Nothing effects fish immune symptom more than the food that they eat. As we learn more about the human anatomy, live gut bacteria in our intestinal tracts are the “microbial overlords” to every function in the human body. Why should it be different in fish? I say, if live gut bacteria are that important, then I will provide for this boost to immune systems. I would much rather feed oysters than chemicals from a bottle. |
I am sitting here researching. Ibeen feeding Nouri every day twice a day andrew feeding frozen food 3x a day. Is there something else i should be feeding the fish to help them fend off ich? My hippo showing spots again today not sure what i can do for him. Seems healthy and happy as can be.
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If you really want to keep ich out of your new display, which I really really recommend you try doing, I'd get a hospital tank of appropriate size for ALL your fish, and put them in there for no less than 6 weeks with continuous chloroquine phosphate treatment. There are huge threads on this treatment for ich. It's much gentler on fish and much easier to maintain proper levels, unlike copper.
The ich will disappear in several days after treatment, but cysts can remain and the only way to be sure of getting rid of it is to ride out the 6 weeks. |
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To answer the OP question, ich is as big a problem in a 1000g tank as it is in a 55g tank. Probably more so since there are more fish, time and money involved with large systems. Really sucks when you see all your hard work and money get sick, whether thats a 50g tank or one thats several hundred gallons. Inverts won't "host" ich but the free swiming stage can be in the water in the bag they arrive in or snail shells (really any hard surface.)Same with corals, except the cysts are on rock or frag plugs, not the corals themselves.
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