Ich Outbreak Aftermath

[Mitchqarcia]

ok so I had a ich outbreak (pretty bad one killed everyone) about 2 weeks ago and ever since I’ve been running a fish less tank(only my cleaner shrimp survived). Will continue to this for 2 months but my question is do I ghost feed so I keep my beneficial bacteria alive ? Do I do water changes ? I’ve pretty much have let my tank run on it’s own and my coral are perfect.


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[Adam]

Sorry to hear about your losses.
Was there anything else going on with the system? Ich doesn't usually kill healthy fish quickly, if at all. Highly stressed fish with lower immune systems are much more prone to dying. Velvet on the other hand will wipe a tank out quickly. They can be mistaken for one another sometimes, the key is velvet has a very small, powdered sugar look to it. Where Ich is closer to salt sized.

1. Velvet trophonts (and the correlating dots) are much smaller than ich. They range in size from 10-80 micrometers in diameter. They are also perfectly round. Ich trophonts are more oval shaped and range in size from 48 x 27 to 452 x 360 micrometers. Both start off small but then grow in size before dropping off. It has been said that velvet makes a fish look like it has been dusted with a fine powder, whereas ich is more like salt grains.
2. If you can count the number of white dots on your fish, then you are probably dealing with ich. If they are too numerous to count, it is most likely velvet.

Ich symptoms, mainly the trophonts, are highly treatable in a reef tank. Food soaked in Seachem Focus & Metro will kill the trophonts in it's gills and on the body and will not harm corals or inverts. This allows the fish to breath better and gives it relief.

With the fallow tank. Adding a little food every few days won't hurt. Just don't feed like normal, food breaks down much slower decaying than it does being digested. You can also dose pure Ammonium Chloride to the tank. For cycling Dr Tim's recommends 1ml/5gal. Dosing at one quarter that rate split into two doses a couple times a week will keep the bacteria active. So for a 20 gallon tank 1ml total. Two 0.5ml doses, one in the morning and one at night and do that every third day.

 

[Shawn]

I agree that if it killed everything you probably weren't dealing with ich unless your parameters were wilding changing constantly. Most likely velvet or brook.

However, go at least 76 days fallow - 90 to be safe in my opinion.

 

[Mitchqarcia]

okay thank you all for the info will focus on keeping my parameters in check and will extend the fishless cycle. And yes I think it was marine velvet because when my clown got sick he was was showing the exact symptoms and died a few days later :/


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