Good news and bad news.

[Doc]

The good news is that my UV is up and working again. I finally got the chamber i have been waiting three weeks to get. I set it up tonight and am keeping an eye on it to make sure there are no leaks. I am a bit nervous as it is a UV that is outside the tank. I figure any Ich will be dead in a few weeks and it will be safe to add fish.

Speaking of needing fish. My emperor went to the big ocean in the sky. Moment of silence...It died the day before my new chamber came in. It looked like the Ich got him. I am going to wait a few weeks before I try another one. I also lost my dragon goby. I want to watch my other fish before I doom anymore to a similar fate. Sigh - gues it happens sometimes.

-Dr Marco

[VAreef]

I had an ich problem as well that claimed a hippo tang. I'm not an expert on it but after much research the only way to get rid of all ich is for an aquarium to be completly fish free for 6 weeks as the ich will die off from not having a host. The only way to prevent reintroducing ich is to quarantine all new fish in a salinity of 1.009 for 6 weeks before adding them to the main tank and also quarantining anything wet for the same time period. The ich cannot live in an environment of that salinity or in an environment with no host. Even with a UV sterilizer and an ich free tank adding anything without quarantine will reintroduce it and it can still survive.

Ich is normally present on fish and only visible when the fish is under some sort of stress. It was likely something else stressing the fish that started the problem.

[JellyMan]

Yes, VA your correct Ich is stress induced. Im sorry for your losses remember the uv will only kill the parasites which are not already attached to the fish. Good luck with you next fish!!

[adampw]

I know how ya feel. I lost 3 clown fish an a tang in the last 4 weeks to ich. I need to get a UV Sterilizer as well. Ich is nasty stuff.

[JellyMan]

You also need to find out what is wrong with your system, Ich is as mentioned stress induced fish live with it, the main issue is getting them on a feeding pattern and keeping them there. I suggest a couple drops of garlic extract, and soak there food in selcon as well. Once they stop eating it is all over good luck to you.

[adampw]

Yeah I dont know what is going on with my system. Something in there is causing stress. My water parameters were prefect as I mentioned in an earlier post. My guess is they were stressed from the acclimation (1hr drip). Anyways I fed them on a regular basis, and once I noticed they stopped eating I used entyce, but that didnt seem to work.

[Doc]

luckily, all of my other fish are eating and show no signs of Ich. They don't seem stressed at all and are happily swimming around in the tank. I don't think I have it overstocked---yet. I imagine overstocking will cause stress. There are plenty of hiding spaces - pretty sure it was the not eating of the emperor that caused his Ich outbreak, stress of moving in, and poof....he woke up dead. I will give the UV another two weeks or so and some good water changes and see if I can't kill another one - j/k

-Dr Marco