Fish has ich

miataliker

Yeap i have two red crabs and a coral. What do i do now?

Jack Middleton

Set up a QT tank of about 60 litres with some cycled live rock (about 6kg will cost you £30 from a reefer breaking down)

Set it up and then introduce the fish and then dose a copper based medication. the fish will need to remain in this tank until the main tank has run fallow for 8 weeks.

foodgodess

I'm no expert but the information available to me says.If you have a quarantine tank option, use that fursure and treat them with the copper sulfate. But also read that not moving the little sickies unless you have to is best. You can limit the problem by lowering the salinity,do more frequent water changes and feed medicated and vitamin supplement foods. If it's really bad they might need a dip. What is your calcium and alkalinity? Just cause I know Pas will ask you and I'm sure help you out when he see's this

Pasfur

I would personally take a different approach to treatment. The firs thing I recognize is that this tank is only 4 months old, and you mention that you have lost a fish in the past. Did you loose this fish to ich? This is a very important question, because recent studies indicate that you need to wait a full 90 days after the last signs of ich before you can successfully declare the tank to be 100% free of ich.

For treatment, I would not move the fish. Given that you do not have inverts at this time, I would suggest quickly lowering the salinity to 1.013 with a water change and begin multiple daily feedings of a garlic enhanced food. I personally use Formula Two marine pellets by Ocean Nutrition. I find the effectiveness of this particular food to be outstanding for helping the fish to quickly boost their resistance to parasites.

I would leave the salinity at 1.013 until you see no signs of ich for 7 consecutive days. Then begin SLOWLY raising the salinity back to normal levels (1.023-1.024) over a period of 10 to 14 days. Continue feeding garlic supplements daily, and after 90 days without any signs of ich you will be home free.

I find that treating ich successfully is not difficult at all. Having the patience to do it properly is very difficult and is usually the reason for continued difficulties with ongoing outbreaks of ich.

HardCory

I completley agree with Pasfur. No copper, TONS of patience!

miataliker

So all i do is i change the water so that the salinity will go up?

mollies

no make it go down. to 1.013. Then after 7 days you will want to gradualy make it go to 1.022 or 1.024 over a 14 day period. I beleive that what pasfur ment.

miataliker

Sorry but how do i make it go do?lol

mollies

I believe you wil have to take some water out then add less salt then normal. But pre mix the water the day befor you add the new water to the tank. and you should check the salinity befor adding to the tank to. I have never had to lower my salinity. I hope im corect. Pasfur will addres the situation better tomorrow if that is wrong. So if you could wait till then?

Pasfur

You lower salinity with a water change. However, this will have a negative impact on your corals and possibly crab. We need to know EXACTLY what you have living in this aquarium. Every species of invert, coral, fish, crab, snail, etc, etc. What is in this tank?

At this point i hope you have picked up a garlic supplement. If you have, then at this point I suspect you are already seeing an improvement.

By the way, I am glad to see Jack Middletown posting the advice given above. The approach of setting up a hospital tank and adding copper based medications is a very traditional approach to ich treatments. You will find a ton of literature recommending this treatment. Unfortunately, it is an approach that I personally disagree with based on my personal experiences and conversations with hundreds of people on these internet forums over the last decade. There have been many recent published articles that agree with me. You would need to reference publications written in 2008 or 2009, such as FAMA and TFH, to support my point of view.

Keep in mind, treating for ich is not an exact science. There is not really a "right" answer here. The hobby is still studying these techniques. Major universities and still "discovering" how ich is best treated. I am just giving you my personal approach.