Welp. After over a year, I've got ich...

[Shawn]

So. Two tangs with ich. And since it's noticeable, it's already in my tank. I'd like to know how y'all treat it. I know the BEST is to quarantine and run fallow for three months. I can't do that, regardless. I've read a lot of info regarding different ways to feed/entice fish to ea

 

[hzheng33]

i curbed the onset of an outbreak using poly lab medic cuz like you I couldn’t get all the fishes out. Some claim it’s snake oil and some claim it’s not reef safe, but in my tank I lost only a few corals that may have already been on the way out

 

[bhodges82]

Metro and focus on frozen food, feed plenty. Ich isn't that bad for healthy fish.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[lmm1967]

2 choices - try your best to manage ich - or try your best to eradicate it

I know I've had it in 1 of my tanks - and I routinely transfer things between tanks which means I most likely have it in all my tanks. I don't have any fish that are known to have serious issues with ich and I don't plan to add many fish.

I am however, serious contemplating going through a regimen to try to eliminate ich - and any other potential parasites.

The guy that runs https://humble.fish/community/index.php?forums/ has a lot of info on his forum.

 

[sharis100]

QT and use CP for 10 days

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

After having a few outbreaks, I agree with the QT and CP treatment. CP is absolutly the best way to handle ich imo. The only fish I have lost when using CP in qt for ich were due to me allowing the ammonia to build up or letting the CP get too high. Just make sure to keep the CP in the proper range. A copper test kut can help with maintaining the proper range. Too much CP will harm the fish while too little will not kill the ich. Also, I had best success with doing wc's every couple of days using the proper amount of CP in the wc water. Prime helps the ich spots to heal rather than getting infected after the parasites drop off.

I have been somewhat succesful with keeping larger fish in the DT, using garlic, vitamin additives, extra wc's for water quality, uv, and prime or similar. My experience leaving infected fish in the dt is very hit or miss though, with more fish dieing than being saved. I have lost a lot of fish this way.

Copper is the hands down the ultimate treatment for ich imo, but I can appreciate the challenge of catching the fish.

Also, I did everything I could to make my sysyem ich free on this system and my last one, both sysyems still ended up with ich at some point. I am not a firm believer that any system can truly be ich free but understand it may be possible. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Shawn]

After having a few outbreaks, I agree with the QT and CP treatment. CP is absolutly the best way to handle ich imo. The only fish I have lost when using CP in qt for ich were due to me allowing the ammonia to build up or letting the CP get too high. Just make sure to keep the CP in the proper range. A copper test kut can help with maintaining the proper range. Too much CP will harm the fish while too little will not kill the ich. Also, I had best success with doing wc's every couple of days using the proper amount of CP in the wc water. Prime helps the ich spots to heal rather than getting infected after the parasites drop off.

I have been somewhat succesful with keeping larger fish in the DT, using garlic, vitamin additives, extra wc's for water quality, uv, and prime or similar. My experience leaving infected fish in the dt is very hit or miss though, with more fish dieing than being saved. I have lost a lot of fish this way.

Copper is the hands down the ultimate treatment for ich imo, but I can appreciate the challenge of catching the fish.

Also, I did everything I could to make my sysyem ich free on this system and my last one, both sysyems still ended up with ich at some point. I am not a firm believer that any system can truly be ich free but understand it may be possible. Just my 2 cents.

I'm reading that you can't use CP on hippo tangs

 

[Shawn]

I got a powder blue last weekend - he's a little skinny, so I'm worried about him. The blue hippo tang is super fat and healthy so I hope he pulls through. Either way I'm going to try @bhodges82 's method for a few days. I know the white spots will fall off and the parasite will go to the substrate and try to do it all over again. The rest of my fish don't have any signs of ich. Either way, I'm selling some XR30s so I can turn that money into a full QT system. It's something I've been putting off. No more. I might just go fallow for 6 weeks if I can get these lights sold today and buy everything I need for a QT/tank transfer system.

Also - thank you everyone for your feedback and help

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

My 4 inch blue hippo made it through cp qt a year ago just fine. I later added a 2nd larger one and they both are healthy and well in the DT. Both also pulled through the lastest outbreak in my DT just fine. I had several self inducedq problems at the time that were stressing the fish a lot, which was the cause of the outbreak.

I setup a large QT (240 lol) in the worst of the last outbreak, i lost 13 fish in all. The remaining fish appeared healthy by the time I was ready to move them, so in the DT they stayed.

I have a few QT's if you want to borrow one. I am in the Canton/Holly Springs area.

 

[kimxd]

Much easier to manage ich than to eradicate it. One silly mistake and you can get it again. Too much work for me. I have had my fish for over 2 and a half years now, they all "have ich" but none died, including expensive wrasses and tangs.
There was a day in which I saw a bicolor blenny I had be infested, I swear he was fully white because of the ich, I tried and tried to get him out of my tank to treat, couldn't catch him. So I decided the destiny would decide whether or not he'd live. I started feeding a little heavier on the frozen food and, one day he was fully normal, not even a single spot. After that, I decided I woulndt make any effort to eradicate ich ever again, I am convinced they can fight it off on their own as long as they are healthy.

@hzheng33 can attest about the bicolor blenny as I gave it to him...

 

[jd22]

I have had a couple outbreaks and my hippo tang has responded well to a mixture of metro, kanaplex and focus via food. The spots are usually gone the next day and I continue for about 3 weeks. This has "eradicated for extended periods before. When I moved I added a flame angel and there was another large outbreak which the hippo again pulled through but the flame was lost. I'm no longer buying the dwarf angels as I don't think they do well in capitivity and I don't think I can get them the nutrients they need to be healthy in the tank. The latest one only ate mysis and I don't think that was good for him. He could not fight off the infection and died. In short, I would medicate and keep everything as stable as possible and ride it out. Most people who switch to QT end up with dead fish because of stress and/or ammonia poisoning.

I should also add that the Hippo and angels are usually the ones who show signs, no one else does.

 

[Tanster2]

Much easier to manage ich than to eradicate it. One silly mistake and you can get it again. Too much work for me. I have had my fish for over 2 and a half years now, they all "have ich" but none died, including expensive wrasses and tangs.
There was a day in which I saw a bicolor blenny I had be infested, I swear he was fully white because of the ich, I tried and tried to get him out of my tank to treat, couldn't catch him. So I decided the destiny would decide whether or not he'd live. I started feeding a little heavier on the frozen food and, one day he was fully normal, not even a single spot. After that, I decided I woulndt make any effort to eradicate ich ever again, I am convinced they can fight it off on their own as long as they are healthy.

@hzheng33 can attest about the bicolor blenny as I gave it to him...

You are correct, many fish will develop ich in their lifetimes and I don't think it's possible for a tank to be completely free from ich forever. Ich becomes a problem when fish become stressed. Ich may be present in your fish at any given time, but the stress causes their immune systems to weaken and thus they become susceptible to further infection. In their current healthy state, fish have great resistance to ich, so in the meantime it's important to eliminate any factors in the tank that might be causing stress or other diseases in fish. Ich definitely doesn't kill fish alone. Good quarantine and improving the overall health of the system along with medication if necessary should typically be enough for infections that aren't too severe.

 

[Adam]

If you're not going to go fallow on the display then Metro and Focus are the best bet. Thaw & rinse enough food to last 2 days and add the two components to that food. After that add vitamins to thawed food after rinsing. Repeat this every week for a month or so, even if you don't see any on the fish. All of the parasites will fall off the fish pretty quick after the 1st day. Repeating this for a few weeks will ensure that the gills are clear.

 

[CJD18]

My 4 inch blue hippo made it through cp qt a year ago just fine. I later added a 2nd larger one and they both are healthy and well in the DT. Both also pulled through the lastest outbreak in my DT just fine. I had several self inducedq problems at the time that were stressing the fish a lot, which was the cause of the outbreak.

I setup a large QT (240 lol) in the worst of the last outbreak, i lost 13 fish in all. The remaining fish appeared healthy by the time I was ready to move them, so in the DT they stayed.

I have a few QT's if you want to borrow one. I am in the Canton/Holly Springs area.

What sizes of QT's do you have?????

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

What sizes of QT's do you have?????

2x10, 1x20, 1x 27 with 10 sump, 1 biocube 32, 1x120 that serves as a makeshift sump for my 240 that I took off the main system recently.