little_fish
Moderator
No, there are more bugs out there than ich. Ich is just the most common.
Need HELP!! Emergency!!
- Thread starter JohnnyDanger
- Start date
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Oh gotcha.. Well hopefully nothing else dies in my tank.. Thank the lord all my corals are okay!
Civicdemon
Go Big Or Go Home !
You said that the last fish you added a month ago was the first to die ??? Ods are thats the fish that started it all, One little change like a change in feeding times or even a new person sometimes strees them out and with that fish still being fairly new, he provably got stressed then passed it on to all the others. Did you QT him before placing him in tank.
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
No I did not QT him.. I'm setting up my 10 gallon tank for quarantine tomorrow.. Once all my fish are done dying or have beaten this disease, whatever it is, how long should I wait before adding new fish in my tank?? I would think it would be smart to wait a few weeks and let things settle down in there before adding new livestock.. What do y'all think??
Civicdemon
Go Big Or Go Home !
If it is ich you need to wait i believe its 7 weeks for it to die out of the system, and this is only if there are no more host in the water, meaning there cant be 1 single fish in the tank for 7 weeks.
The only thing that sucks about this is that you then have to treat each fish you get with hypo salinity or cooper in the QT tank for atleast 3 weeks Some do longer Just in case. And then add it to your DT.
i had a ich outbreak when i first started my tank, And i know that ich still lives in my system since my firefish never died and are still in the tank, i just keep all my Water in check and keep my fish happy and i havent had an out break for the longest XX's fingers. Everything in my tank is doing good, i do how ever run a UV steralizer in the DT with slow flow, witch i have read helps kill the bad stuff in the water and parasites.
So yeah if all your fish do die Your going to have to wait & weeks before adding a fish to be sure the ICH or parasite is gone with out a host.
then you have to Quarentien each fish for atleast 3 weeks and treat them before adding to the Display.
The only thing that sucks about this is that you then have to treat each fish you get with hypo salinity or cooper in the QT tank for atleast 3 weeks Some do longer Just in case. And then add it to your DT.
i had a ich outbreak when i first started my tank, And i know that ich still lives in my system since my firefish never died and are still in the tank, i just keep all my Water in check and keep my fish happy and i havent had an out break for the longest XX's fingers. Everything in my tank is doing good, i do how ever run a UV steralizer in the DT with slow flow, witch i have read helps kill the bad stuff in the water and parasites.
So yeah if all your fish do die Your going to have to wait & weeks before adding a fish to be sure the ICH or parasite is gone with out a host.
then you have to Quarentien each fish for atleast 3 weeks and treat them before adding to the Display.
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Good lord!! So if my fish do live, I would just have to be sure that any new fish I put in my tank are happy?? Would they immediately get ich when I put them in??
Civicdemon
Go Big Or Go Home !
No they would no get ich unless they are stressed, So as long as no fish is picking on them to much and they are eating good they should be fine. Or you can also pull your fish and place them in QT for the 7 weeks.
Civicdemon
Go Big Or Go Home !
Something must have happened to your tank when you were gone to strees your fish out, ither to much feeding or the person you left in charge droped something in the tank or put there hands in with out rinsing first. i Dont know but it could have ben they just missed you lol .
When i first got ich and lost fish it was the same way, i left for 4 days and left the fish in the hands of my mom and when i got back they where ok for 2 days then i seen the white spots. and then they started dying.
But now When i go i make sure i leave everythign ready for every day im gone. meeaning top off water, food for every day in difrent containers, everything i can think of.
When i first got ich and lost fish it was the same way, i left for 4 days and left the fish in the hands of my mom and when i got back they where ok for 2 days then i seen the white spots. and then they started dying.
But now When i go i make sure i leave everythign ready for every day im gone. meeaning top off water, food for every day in difrent containers, everything i can think of.
wontonflip
I failed Kobayashi Maru
+1 civic...it's also a matter of picking fish from a reputable LFS that sell only healthy fish. That way, when introduced, they'll be able to fight off whatever they catch in the tank. I've never had ich problems. Never qt'd either, but all the fish I've gotten were from 2 reputable stores with healthy stock. The one time I purposely bought an ich'y tang from Petco, it never once entered my dt. I had him in qt (didn't survive it)
dannydarko
Reefing newb
Dr. G's Antibacterial Rx is a good method of treatment for Ich and other parasites also. you treat the fish, not the water. my 60g has had 2 cases of ich that killed my fish off before i could get to my lfs since my closest lfs is more than 30 miles away. anyway, i bought Dr. G's just in case my 3rd attempt resulted in ich. my roommate's tank got it instead of mine though, and his Sargent Damsel looked like it was covered in white sponges at it's worst. i gave my roommate the Dr. G's and in the span of a week, his damsel was back to normal along with everything else in the tank. im not saying it's a miracle cure-all, but it worked in this case, so you might look into getting something like it for emergencies like what you're going through now
noy
Reefing newb
hard to say w/o pictures but if its white specks throughout the fish (usually starting at the gills/fins) it sure sounds like ich. sounds like you are at the point where the fish is fairly lethargic so its pretty far gone.
a quick 10 min freshwater dip will give them some relief and
you need to set up a hospital tank with copper/cupramine - they are a little far gone for hypo from the sounds of it.
leave your main display w/o fish for about 8 weeks - the ich will starve out.
if you haven't done a fw dip - set up a bucket or some container with tap water - use conditioner to get the chlorine out (like prime) - get a heater (or 2) to get the temp to the same as your tank temp. put the fish in for about 10 min. at this point you don't have to worry about stress sounds like its an emergency.
a quick 10 min freshwater dip will give them some relief and
you need to set up a hospital tank with copper/cupramine - they are a little far gone for hypo from the sounds of it.
leave your main display w/o fish for about 8 weeks - the ich will starve out.
if you haven't done a fw dip - set up a bucket or some container with tap water - use conditioner to get the chlorine out (like prime) - get a heater (or 2) to get the temp to the same as your tank temp. put the fish in for about 10 min. at this point you don't have to worry about stress sounds like its an emergency.
Civicdemon
Go Big Or Go Home !
I would not do a fresh water dip especially for 10 min. I attempted this when i had gotten ich and the weeker fish pretty much died with in a hour and.tje other with in the day. It was a bad.idea on my part and i would never do it again. Its like choking your fish to death. Dont Do It trust me. I regret it.
noy
Reefing newb
with great respect to civicdemon, i'm inclined to disagree. the fish seem to be at a pretty critical stage and the fw dips will give them immediate relief. you will literally see the white spots fall off the fish after the dip. I have done this sucessfully and have saved fish from ich before. My standard routine for all new fish is to give them fw dips for 10 minutes before putting them in a qt tank. I have never lost a fish to fw dips. Make sure the water is de-chlorinated and at the same temperature as your tank (this is critical or otherwise your fish will be in shock). When the fish are dipped - they will go right to the bottom of the tank and lie on its side (thats normal) - just monitor it and if the fish seem to be in distress you can always shorten the dip period.
Even with copper it will take 2 days to get to the requisite concentration to have effect. Hypo is even slower.
see the article below
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.php
wontonflip
I failed Kobayashi Maru
Any kind of treatment (or lack of treatment) is unpredictable. The two times I tried to treat fish with ich or parasites resulted in deaths. But like noy's experience, he had good luck with it. In the end, you do what you feel you need to. Either way, there is always risk of death whether you do anything or not. It depends on the individual fish and how weak they are, and how well they handle stress.
Civicdemon
Go Big Or Go Home !
Noy
Like wonton says i guess it would depend on the fish, theres many things to think about. Maybe your fish where already on the road to recovery. Who knws really. Im just saying i would not do it again ever. For one its only going to kill the parasite thats on the outside of the skin and ICH lives inside the fish scales so the fresh water would not even reach it. It will kill of any that have eggs and on the gills witch would give them relief for that but then the parasite will just reproduce again and come back out of the scales or reattach in the watter colum. In my Personal Experience, Just getting the fish to be Strees free and having you water parametters all in check is that best way to go about it. Also make sure you feed stuff with ither garlic extract or like i do, i soak there nori in Selcon 2 times a week to keep them healthy. But hey when it comes down to it its really the opps choice what is best and he will eventually find what works for him.
Like wonton says i guess it would depend on the fish, theres many things to think about. Maybe your fish where already on the road to recovery. Who knws really. Im just saying i would not do it again ever. For one its only going to kill the parasite thats on the outside of the skin and ICH lives inside the fish scales so the fresh water would not even reach it. It will kill of any that have eggs and on the gills witch would give them relief for that but then the parasite will just reproduce again and come back out of the scales or reattach in the watter colum. In my Personal Experience, Just getting the fish to be Strees free and having you water parametters all in check is that best way to go about it. Also make sure you feed stuff with ither garlic extract or like i do, i soak there nori in Selcon 2 times a week to keep them healthy. But hey when it comes down to it its really the opps choice what is best and he will eventually find what works for him.
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
I think at this point, I'm going to leave my remaining fish in the tank. SOME of the white specks have fallen off of the clowns and the tang is also showing little improvement in his behavior.. I'm just going to have to be extra careful in the future as to how I add fish into my system. I would really hate for this outbreak to happen again.. I'm also looking in to up sizing in the near future, so this system will not big up for much longer.. I'm also going to set up my 20 gallon as a QT for my new system..
reeftanker84
Reefing newb
if you have corals do not put copper in your tank! nor add any antibiotic as it will kill the bacteria in your tank and cause a cycle,fw dips work best for me and iodine for corals
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Yea I'm not putting anything in my tank.. I have way too much money invested in corals to play with any chemicals.. I'm taking this as a lesson and moving on from here.. I still feel awful about killing off most of my fish.. LAME
RollTide15
Reefing newb
Johnny I am dealing with the same issue as you right now. See my similar thread. I am taking a gamble by using this stuff my LFS recommended. They are SUPER cautious there so I know they wouldn't point me into something that was super unsafe. It is called QuICK Cure. It probably only kills one stage of the parasite but we will see. I am trying to get some advice as far as the garlic soaked food goes. I am also interested to hear who on here recommends Freshwater Dips. My Orange Clown has not eaten in 2 days, is losing color and her fins look puny too. There is a 50-50 chance I may lose her.
Civicdemon
Go Big Or Go Home !
You guys can try solking your food in garlic extract or if you have a juicer, trow some garlic cloves in it with a bit of RO/Di water to get some juic out of it. it will take alot of cloves but i have doen it in the past.
One thing i started doing after i had ich Is solking the food in Selcon. Iv read that is good stuff to use and i use it and my fish look great.
One thing i started doing after i had ich Is solking the food in Selcon. Iv read that is good stuff to use and i use it and my fish look great.
