ick..... help!!!!

D

Dat_Monkey

Hey ppl, my sis just bought me a yellow tang. And when i first got it, it seems to be fine ick free. So i stick the fish in the tank with out stickin it in A QT tank first. so now two i see lightly ick on the body of the tang, and i cant catch the tang out now since it is in my reef tank. so i think i'll have to treat the whole tank. what should i use to treat the tank and that is reef safe? Thx a lot :D
 
There is nothing you can do to treat a reef tank that is reef safe to remove or kill ich. You have to either 1) ignore it and hope for the best, feeding your fish well (with garlic) so that their immune system can fight it off, or 2) set up a quarantine tank and put ALL your fish in that setup for 6 weeks minimum until the life-cycle of the ich is complete. Your reef must remain fallow (fishless) for 6 weeks to avoid a new generation or outbreak.

Option 1 has a risk that if your tank's parameters ever get out of whack, all the fish can suddenly break out with ich. Option 2 is the wiser course, and you should always quarantine new arrivals for at least 3 weeks to avoid infecting your healthy fish.
 
Here is a method you can use with your QT.

I recently had something happen to me similar to this. The wierd thing is none of my other fish get the ich. It's always to new one. I'm assuming because they have a built up immune system. One thing I would like to know though is this, will the ich stay in my tank as long as my other fish are in the tank, even if they never show signs of ich?


Hyposalinity

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by jwtrojan44

NOTE: This procedure can not be performed in an environment containing live rock, live sand or inverts [including crabs, corals, etc.] If you have a strictly Fish-Only setup, then the treatment can be done within the display, otherwise, you will need to treat infected fish in a quarantine/hospital tank.

You will need: Refractometer or a glass hydrometer calibrated to tank temperatures, pH buffers, a tank or quarantine area for the infected fish that is adequately filtered.

Hyposalinity is a procedure involving lowering the salinity from normal tank levels to 14 ppt (1.009 Specific Gravity) over the course of 48 hours. This is done by doing a series of small water changes using fresh dechlorinated water. During the procedure, pH must be closely monitored as pH tends to drop as water become less saline. Fish are maintained in hyposaline conditions for three weeks after all symptoms are gone. Again, accurate measuring is essential, and the standard swing arm hydrometers are not going to work. A refractometer or large glass lab grade hydrometer calibrated to tank temperatures is needed. Once the fish have been asymptotic for three weeks, the salinity is then raised back to display tank levels over the course of a week. Fish can not tolerate rapid increases in salinity. Leave the fish in quarantine at display tank levels for another week.

Your display will now have been fishless for at least four weeks, sufficient time to allow the parasite’s life cycle to be interrupted. Crypto is an obligate parasite that requires a fish host. No fish=No host=No parasite. Ich is a fish-only parasite, it will not affect inverts.

Continue to monitor pH daily during the process and be prepared with buffers to address any pH problems. Also keep the water clean through proper filtration.
 
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