possible ich outbreak

[Slumlord]

I'm still not even sure how this happened. There hasn't been any additions to the tank in like 3 weeks, everyone was healthy and happy and then......BAM. Even before I see the signs of ich my yellow eyed tang just dies over night and now everyone is covered in white spots.

I'm pretty sure it's ich, I took a photo just to make sure. I guess my next question is what can i do to possibly save the other fish. I don't have a QT, but then again I don't have any corals. Just fish, crabs and some snails. Oh and live rock.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[joeman]

Hi,

From what I understand 'Ich' is always present in a tank - just part of the rich bacterial life cycle. If water quality is good and the fish healthy then their immune systems can keep an outbreak at bay. I don't know what else could cause a massive outbreak, but the only time I had one was when my Nitrates rose without me realizing... (all had been good so I had reduced my water testing down to about 1/mnth) not sure how long the fish had been subjected to sub-optimal conditions, but their immune systems were probably knocked out.

I did a 30% water change twice in 3 days and within the next few days everything had cleared up (specifically my Hippo who is really prone to Ich).

The fact one of your fish died might be an indication (or the cause) of poor water quality, so I would suggest checking your Nitrate levels (Ammonia & Nitrite too) then performing large water changes. I don't think Ich alone can kill so rapidly, so I think it is just a visual signal that something else is not quite right...

Your real challenge is figuring out what caused the water quality issues (if that is the problem)... do you use Bio Balls?

 

[yote]

I'm agreeing with Joe.You've got something causing your fish to stress.
Since you have live rock,you CAN NOT treat the ick in your tank.
My suggestion is to get yourself a 10gallon tank and a bottle of cupramine.

Inverts cant get ick,but the treatment will kill them.So you'll have to move your fish to the Qtank.

 

[hibye]

so get qt tank fill it up put salt level around 1.017 ,put ich treatment in and feed em formula 1 marine pellets they are enriched wuth vitimins and garlic

 

[Bifferwine]

Yep, you will kill all your live rock if you use copper in your display tank. And you won't ever be able to keep inverts in it, since it gets into the substrate. So treat in a quarantine tank.

 

[Slumlord]

Well all my fish died by the time I got home from work except one tomato clown :( I've done a 30% water change yesterday and another one today.

I did manage to stop by the pet store and pick up some Ich Attack, it claims to be 100% organic. I'm hoping it won't kill my live rock.

I ran some water tests and everything is at 0, so hopefully things will improve, I'm gonna just let it run with the one fish and the inverts for anther few weeks to make sure everything stable.

Thanks for all your feedback, I appreciate it all.

 

[Doc]

don't add it if you already haven't. There is really no point now. If all your fish are dead, but the clarkii, not worth the stress it will put on the inverts. Let things run their course in your tank and wait several weeks before adding anything else. Again, don't dose any meds.

If your fish were healthy yesterday and dead today, that does not sound like Ich to me, but more like Oodimium or marine velvet. that is a DT killer. Oodinium can work in about 24-48 hours to kill all fish in your tank. Could be that, in which case, Ich meds won't do a thing. Just let it go. Sorry for your loss, we have all been there.

-Dr Marco :sfish: