Ich Schtick

[Holly]

This morning I noticed my CB butterfly had two microscopicly tiny tell-tell white spots on one of its fins (so small I almost couldn't tell if they really were there or not at first). It wasn't being as active as usual.

 

The spots weren't there yesterday around 5:30pm. I know cuz I sat and watched the tank for a while before the MHs went off, and I always do a quick visual to check all my fish (as I've had a crash before that started with fish dying of Ich). It was darting around normally and ate a hardy meal of mysis.

 

This morning, it was like a totally different fish. After about 2+hrs of moving rocks and chasing him with two large nets (the floor is still wet in places lol), I FINALLY got him and moved him to the hospital, where he's now marinating in the good stuff. I also removed the carbon from the main tank and dosed it with a full dose of the organic reef-safe Kick Ich, as a preventative measure.

 

None of the other fish are acting different or have any spots yet.

 

First, is there anything else I should do? And secondly, what're the chances that I'm going to have an complete apocolype?

 

I hate waking up to white spots (scary)

[Holly]

A complete apocolypse*

[Lowman]

I would think the melt down scenario is a small chance. I have read that all tanks have ich, some say that ich can lie dormant in your substrate for months. I think you will be okay by doing what you did. Hopefully the CB will throw off the ich.

[Nyles]

Keep us posted on the copper b, if it continues I have some tricks.

[SeanF]

I would like to dispute the fact that all tanks have ich. I can be successfully eliminated and through proper quarantine and medication procedures you can keep it out of your aquarium. That being said most people won't do this.

[siskiou]

I've had a question about quarantining for ich: just observing the fish in QT for a few weeks doesn't necessarily mean they don't harbor the parasite, even if nothing shows, right?

 

Are you supposed to treat all fish in QT, just in case?

[SeanF]

If you want to elminate ich from you tank the first step is that you need to get all your rock in the tank and keep the tank free of fish for 30 days. Then any fish you are going to put in the tank need to be kept in a qt tank that is medicated preferably for 30 days also. My personal choice of anti parasite meds is copper but for some species you would need to use something different.

 

Then here is the step that most people don't have the set up to do. Every invertebrate that goes in the tank needs to be kept in a quarantine free of fish for 30 days. This means every snail, crab, coral so on and so forth. This last part is the killer for most people. This means you have to have a tank that is well enough established to support that acro frag you just bought for 30 days before you can put in the main tank.

[Holly]

My CBB is great! Within a couple of days after quarantine treatment, the two tiny spots were gone. He's eating well and pecking around happily. Nothing else ever appeared in my big tank.

 

After that first crash I had, I now live in mortal fear of infection and organics. I learned my lesson. I quarantine all new fish and treat them with meds as if they're infected.

 

I'm very relieved my CBB is OK; I really like him.

[mister crabs]

sean do you QT your fish when you get them in? the reason im asking is because if thats the case i can just buy from youexclusively and then i dont have to setup a QT tank....hehehehe

[SeanF]

I don't quarantine my fish per say but I do keep all of my fish in a coppered system so after a few weeks they will be free of parasites and all of my invertebrates are kept without fish in the tanks. So if you wanted to hope that things stuck around long enough to actually be there yes you could buy from me and not have to quarantine anything but things don't usually stay here that long.