coralreefer Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Seems like I am seeing a lot of members fighting/losing fish to ich in the last 3 months or so, posting on these boards. I have lost a Scopas, my big blue hippo is trying to hang on to life and my little yellow is now showing signs. This is like swine flu in people...I've gone years without it and now it is back again... Is it just me or doesn't it seem like lots of us are seeing it lately? DrMerle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I have, I lost an Atlantic tang and my hippo has been fighting it for about 2 weeks. I think the hippo is going to win the battle! he is eating again and gaining weigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I have not had any ich problems. My fish have always been pretty health I think. I have also noticed that a lot of people have been having problems. Could it be because we are just coming off of the summer months when people typically do not spend as much time on their tanks? If you drop one of these in your sump for 3 months, it will clear your ich right up! My fish have never been healthier! My corals on the other hand though... DOH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I have lost one to ich and three to the big carpet in the sky. I hope you dont lose the hippo tang, thats a really nice fish. And of course I have to root for the yellow tang since I miss the little guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 So far no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I guess i have been lucky i have never had an outbreak of ich in any of my tanks in the last 19 years... Course on the other hand in a 120g tank i only have 3 fish and other tanks in the past i have never had more then 10 fish together. Maybe an overcrowding is weakening some fishes immune systems due to stress and they are catching ich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciao Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Does a UV sterilizer eliminate the problem of Ich or is the UV sterilizer more for algae problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy-S Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 My new tank is about 4 months old its 200 gallons and has 21 fish with three of them tangs, redsea sailfin, regal and chevron no ick here and in my last two tanks that were 330 and before that 180 gallons nether one had ick outbreaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayTheSavageFraser Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Yep, been battleing with it!! Lost one Powder blue tang to it so far. And now my catalina goby and my coral beauty are trying to kick it!! Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 the best thing to do if you have ich in your tanks is to take out all of your fish for 6-8 weeks, basically the life cycle of the ich, if they cant find anything to cling to in order to reproduce, they will slowly die out, and this takes, on average, 6-8 weeks, and while this is going on, you can, if you have a QT tank set up, quarantine all of your fish for the 6-8 weeks at hyposalinity, which means you need to slowly, over a period of 3-7 days, take your salinity from 1.025 down to 1.009, and keep it there for 3-4 weeks before slowly, over the same 3-7 days, bring your specific gravity back up to 1.025, this will in effect kill all of the ich organisms on your fish, and if you have qt'd all of your fish, and basically qt'd your DT as well, you should, as long as you continue to QT all new additions, have no problem with ich in the future, this is a much safer, and much more effective approach than using rid-ich or any other brand of chemical. just my .02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 the best thing to do if you have ich in your tanks is to take out all of your fish for 6-8 weeks, basically the life cycle of the ich, if they cant find anything to cling to in order to reproduce, they will slowly die out, and this takes, on average, 6-8 weeks, and while this is going on, you can, if you have a QT tank set up, quarantine all of your fish for the 6-8 weeks at hyposalinity, which means you need to slowly, over a period of 3-7 days, take your salinity from 1.025 down to 1.009, and keep it there for 3-4 weeks before slowly, over the same 3-7 days, bring your specific gravity back up to 1.025, this will in effect kill all of the ich organisms on your fish, and if you have qt'd all of your fish, and basically qt'd your DT as well, you should, as long as you continue to QT all new additions, have no problem with ich in the future, this is a much safer, and much more effective approach than using rid-ich or any other brand of chemical. just my .02 Great advice. This is the route i took about a year ago when my fish had ich. Haven't had a problem since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gradth Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Between velvet and an ich, I have had my battles over the last year. The last bout was a few months ago and I lost a few fish. I have learned the value of QT'ing fish, learning as much as I can before I buy(very guilty of that) and trying to not impulse buy. Im am pretty much done stocking my reef with fish, but if anyone else joins they will go through a QT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beckie Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 O.k. I'm not trying to get the qt or not to qt going again. Many fish like hippos & blue tangs are prone to get ick when moved or stressed. Lets say you qt the new fish for 6wks. Then add to your display/reef tank. Pow fish gets ick. To treat or not to treat is the question I have. Beckie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate213 Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Great advice. This is the route i took about a year ago when my fish had ich. Haven't had a problem since. X2 I got a bad outbreak of ich almost 2 years ago in my DT (Powder Brown tang was the worst). Took everything out and did the hyposalinity thing. My DT was fish free for 8 weeks. Now ALL new fish get QT and the hypo treatment. I havent had a single case of ich in my DT. There are many articles on hyposalinity and understanding the ich lifecycle. Im a 100%believer in this treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
talkalot82 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I haven't had a problem with ick in two years. I discovered the illussive quarantine tank. and the rule to never add pet store water to my display tank. when I had my out break it took me two days to caught my angel and two clowns. I lost one of my clowns. He was so bad I youthanised him. I did a fresh water dip, which Id normally wouldn't do but I thought my clown was a goner then I put them in a 5 and 1/2 gallon tank with mal. green in it. The clown and angel lived. For twelve weeks nothing went into my display tank. never had a problem since... Also a good Idea is to always make sure your tank stays at a stable tempture. In the summer if you have to, put frozen soda bottle in it to cool it down. and in winter use a heater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Had a ICH problem before. I raised my tank temp to higher then most of you and added UV sterilizer...no problems since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downhill_biker Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 the best thing to do if you have ich in your tanks is to take out all of your fish for 6-8 weeks, basically the life cycle of the ich, if they cant find anything to cling to in order to reproduce, they will slowly die out, and this takes, on average, 6-8 weeks, and while this is going on, you can, if you have a QT tank set up, quarantine all of your fish for the 6-8 weeks at hyposalinity, which means you need to slowly, over a period of 3-7 days, take your salinity from 1.025 down to 1.009, and keep it there for 3-4 weeks before slowly, over the same 3-7 days, bring your specific gravity back up to 1.025, this will in effect kill all of the ich organisms on your fish, and if you have qt'd all of your fish, and basically qt'd your DT as well, you should, as long as you continue to QT all new additions, have no problem with ich in the future, this is a much safer, and much more effective approach than using rid-ich or any other brand of chemical. just my .02 This is true. The only proven methods of killing ich is treating all (100%) of the fish in your system. This needs to be done with hyposalinity or copper, and like you said, 8 weeks. The 8 weeks isn't to kill the ich on the fish, it is a fallow period to kill the ich in the display. As said before, without a host the parasite will not survive. The only problem is....if you get frag from someone, or from a local fish store and it has ich, even if none of the fish in the tank are showing it, you may have just added ich, right back to your aquarium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 In my opinion the battle on ich with QT and a fallow tank is a waste of time. Like downhill said it will get back into your tank. If you keep a healthy tank the fish will live with ich and rarely be affected by it. And if the tank is stocked properly the fish will naturally fight it off. If a fish is being overwellmed by ich then I am not saying its a bad idea to QT that fish but its probably a weak fish and will not be able to live in your system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Yep, been battleing with it!! Lost one Powder blue tang to it so far. And now my catalina goby and my coral beauty are trying to kick it!! Clay That powder blue tang is a bad species for ick....I wish you luck. I have found that if I feed my fish with vitamins on the food and a varied diet they survive better. I havent had a outbreak in about 4 years or so. Its a bad feeling when your tank is battling it I know. Look at wetwebmedia for lots of good info on dealing with it. They have a lot of info on it. Hope everyone gets rid of it!! Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanktop74 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I have been battling it for months now. The only ones in my tank that have it are my tangs. Everyone else is happy as can be. I have been treating with Marine max, as I don't have a big enough QT tank for all my fish! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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