I just placed my fish back into my DT after 9 weeks of letting it sit fallow. I had an Ich outbreak so, I moved my 2 Percula clownfish and black and white Heniochus to qt. The only things left in the dt were 2 turbo snails a horshoe crab and a skunk cleaner shrimp. Nothing else was added once I removed the fish. I had them in copper for 6 weeks before I started to remove copper from the qt I then left them in there for another 3 weeks. After 9 weeks I moved them to the dt and within 3 to 4 days the heniochus had white spots on its dorsal fin again. I am so confused and about to give up. I have been told many times that if you let the system sit fallow for just 6 to 8 weeks it will kill the Ich cause it doesn't have a host. Well I left it for 9 weeks to be safe. I also measured the copper levels everyday with 2 different kits just to make sure there was the right amount of copper in the qt. How can they have ich again? It should be all dead by now. I bought a UV sterilizer and I am soaking their food in Garlic Gaurd everyday. The heniochus doesn't look good. Not sure he will make it. Nothing seems to rid my dt of the ich. I am about to either pay someone to fix it or give up! Any advice would be appreciated. Here are my tank parameters, ph 8.3 - 8.4, sg 1.024, no nitrites, no ammonia, nitrate 40ppm( I know it is a little high), Alkalinity about 3 meq/l. It is a FOWLR tank 40 gallon breeder. Thanks for any advice!
Ich issues!
- Thread starter duke594
- Start date
wontonflip
I failed Kobayashi Maru
Sorry to hear of your ich problems. Sounds like you did everything by the book, though. A lot of us have ich in the tank, but we don't do anything but keep our parameters healthy, and feed high quality food and usually the fish fight them off. There are some who religiously qt all fish before putting them in the tank, and have had no ich problems. I know others have also had better luck doing the hyposalnity treatment -- lowering the qt's salinity to 1.009 for a few weeks before slowly raising it.
I don't know how the ich survived the copper treatment though. At this point, if you try to qt again, you will stress your already-weak fish even more. If it were me, I would just leave them be and hope they fight it. If, knock on wood, they don't survive, I urge you to just keep your tank fallow again for a few months, and run the uv light to get the free-floating ones at least. Try to hang in there!
I don't know how the ich survived the copper treatment though. At this point, if you try to qt again, you will stress your already-weak fish even more. If it were me, I would just leave them be and hope they fight it. If, knock on wood, they don't survive, I urge you to just keep your tank fallow again for a few months, and run the uv light to get the free-floating ones at least. Try to hang in there!
little_fish
Moderator
First of all, you are getting ich because your fish are stressed because they are in a tank much too small for them.
Im sorry that you are having ich issues again, especially after doing to treatment by the letter, but you need to address why your fish got ich in the first place - too small of a tank.
Im sorry that you are having ich issues again, especially after doing to treatment by the letter, but you need to address why your fish got ich in the first place - too small of a tank.
wontonflip
I failed Kobayashi Maru
Small tank aside, either way, if the copper and the fallow-treatment HAD worked as it sounds like it should have, it should have killed the ich already, regardless of stress, right? Cuz you can stress your fish out, but if eliminate ich from the fish AND the tank, you'll just have a stressed out fish with no ich.
But yeah that heni should be in 50g or more.
But yeah that heni should be in 50g or more.
Smitty
Reef pro
Sorry to hear about your troubles...try to hang in there.
All the fish seemed fine when in the qt. There was no evidence of ich or any other disease on the fish when I moved them. They didn't seemed stressed out either while in the qt. I just lost the heniochus. The power went out for like an hour and a half today and it finished him off. Everything restarted in my tank just fine but, apparently that was all it took.
wontonflip
I failed Kobayashi Maru
Awwww....sorry to hear. But don't get any more henis. They really need a larger tank.
What fish would work well in my tank? I kinda want a bigger fish than the clown fish. Will a flame angel work or something like that? I dont want to get another fish my tank is to small for. The LFS told me the heniocus would be fine but, I guess they were wrong. I was thanking about getting a pair of purple firefish and a diamond goby in a month or so once the UV light has some time to work. Thanks for any advice.
little_fish
Moderator
With a 38 gal tank you are limited to only adding two more fish. But all of the fish you have mentioned would be good for your tank. I personally would add the flame angel and goby because the firefish are known jumpers.
