-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
How to treat Ich in Reef?
- Thread starter SteveReef
- Start date
Nope, there is no way to treat it in a reef tank. The only 2 treatments are copper and hyposalinity both are deadly to corals/inverts.
you'd have to leave the tank fallow - so you'd have to find someone with a QT to hold your fish...
otherwise i agree with matt. Why plan for disease when you could be planning to prevent it with a QT? Is it financial? The cost of QT is easily made up for compared with all the meds needed for a display tank.
otherwise i agree with matt. Why plan for disease when you could be planning to prevent it with a QT? Is it financial? The cost of QT is easily made up for compared with all the meds needed for a display tank.
I have to agree with the previous posts on the subject. Ich must be treated in a QT tank.
In addition, what ever you do, never ever medicate a reef tank. No matter what the label says, no matter what the advertising says, no matter what the LFS people tell you, no matter what others say, there is no reef safe medication for this disease.
You are far better off loosing all your fish and letting the tank fallow for a couple of months. I know this sounds tough, but medicating a reef will cause long term problems that just can't easily be fixed.
In addition, what ever you do, never ever medicate a reef tank. No matter what the label says, no matter what the advertising says, no matter what the LFS people tell you, no matter what others say, there is no reef safe medication for this disease.
You are far better off loosing all your fish and letting the tank fallow for a couple of months. I know this sounds tough, but medicating a reef will cause long term problems that just can't easily be fixed.
nope. In essence you are breaking the life cycle of the parasite by leaving the tank "fish-less". The life cycle that we (the keepers) notice are when the little things are piercing the flesh of the fish and their white bodies appear against the fish...SteveReef said:
Sometimes people report - "oh the white spots are gone - everything is ok". But in reality - the parasite just moved on to the next stage. After eating, it drops off into the sand and lays eggs. After a few, the eggs hatch to even more nasties that swim around.
This leads to the free-swimming stage. You can't see it - but it's swimming around in there looking for more fish to infect. If there are no fish - it will die.
You can see already this is complicated - because a med that kills the ones that are swimming will likely not impact the eggs, or even the ones already imbedded in fish. And something that can impact all three "stages" will likely just kill everything in the tank.
If it is financial - then I strongly urge you to deal only with a reputable dealer and ask THEM to keep the fish in quarantine or "on hold". Even then you're not guaranteed to be free of ich.
prevention is key.
You can set up a simple QT tank with a 10 gallon tank, air driven sponge filter, air pump and some small pieces of PVC pipe for the fish to hide in. This can be done for under $30. IMHO, $30 is a small drop in the bucket considering we spend hundreds of dollars on some of our livestock. Think of it as an insurance policy.
You don't even have to leave the tank up and running all the time. Keep the sponge in your sump to keep it cycled. When you buy a new fish set the tank up with new SW and add the sponge filter. Once your QT period is over take the tank down and sterilize everything. Put the sponge back in your sump to recycle it for next time.
An running a tank fallow will not harm your inverts or corals. Fallow just means that it has no fish in it. Of course the fallow period needs to be 8 weeks minimum.
You don't even have to leave the tank up and running all the time. Keep the sponge in your sump to keep it cycled. When you buy a new fish set the tank up with new SW and add the sponge filter. Once your QT period is over take the tank down and sterilize everything. Put the sponge back in your sump to recycle it for next time.
An running a tank fallow will not harm your inverts or corals. Fallow just means that it has no fish in it. Of course the fallow period needs to be 8 weeks minimum.
jceli728 said:
I prefer the cycled sponge as it makes the tank more stable. QT period should be at least 6 weeks. In that time period the fish is eating and producing waste, a cycled sponge filter will break down that waste before it reaches toxic levels just live the LR does in your display tank. With just a power head you have to do large daily water changes and/or add chemicals to stop the tank from cycling and we all now how stressful a cycling tank is on our delicate fish.
If for any reason the fish needs treatment while in QT I remove the sponge and just use the base part if the filter. All meds are toxic to your bio-filter no matter what the package says. Antibiotics kill bacteria, that is their job, your bio-filter is made up of bacteria. Killing your bio-filter will just lead to kore water quality issues. This is when the daily 50-75% are needed to keep it from cycling.
Thanks, for the info. most of the times that I ran my QT tank I used copper and held the fish there for 3 weeks always checking the water parameters and not over feeding the fish. Now I'm just wondering that if I hold the fish for a longer period of time in the QT without using copper would it eliminate any time of disease.
you should try and avoid any kind of meds if at all possible- copper included. I don't have studies of ornamental fish handy - but I was under the impression that elevated dosages of copper does cause issues to the fish. Let me go and refresh myself with some books from calfo and fenner...(be back later..lol).
Just keep them in the QT and watch for signs of disease or problems. Copper not needed if nothing is spotted. Also if you dose copper - you ruin the usage of the QT for inverts unless you use a polyfilter - and even then I wouldn't bother.
Just keep them in the QT and watch for signs of disease or problems. Copper not needed if nothing is spotted. Also if you dose copper - you ruin the usage of the QT for inverts unless you use a polyfilter - and even then I wouldn't bother.
How do you know your fish is diseased when you get it? And copper is not effective against disease it is used to treat certain parasites.
IF your fish is showing no outward signs then you have no idea what to treat for. QT period is for observation to make sure the fish doesn't show any signs of illness and is eating properly before adding them to your display tank. Treating fish prophylacticly can actually cause more long term harm than good. There bodies will build up a resistance to the meds and that makes it very difficult to treat them in they ever do get sick.
IF your fish is showing no outward signs then you have no idea what to treat for. QT period is for observation to make sure the fish doesn't show any signs of illness and is eating properly before adding them to your display tank. Treating fish prophylacticly can actually cause more long term harm than good. There bodies will build up a resistance to the meds and that makes it very difficult to treat them in they ever do get sick.
One thing I have learned about Ich is that it is also temperature sensitive. Once Ich attaches itself to a fish, it takes roughly 2 weeks <in fresh water> before it is ready for the next stage of development. In salt water however, the water temp is kept at a higher level and the ich can mature in about a week. All of the treatments I know of kill the ich while it is free in the water, they do not kill eggs or while they are attached to a fish.
You don'tneed a sump to set up a QT. A Qt is a completely separate system - never connect it to the display.
Also - I'm unaware of some illness that happens to clownfish when they age...??
In terms of what we talked about earlier-copper in high concentrations will cause liver and kidney failure humans. I believe in the ocean we're talking 3pp BILLION. So whatever the manufacturer tells you to dose - just follow the instructions - but don't be surprised if down the road the fish just "dies" for no apparent reason. Copper is probably already being used at the wholesalers, distributers and maybe the LFS - so the less we have to dose that to our fish - the better.
Good article on ich and copper - the author stresses prevention!
Marine Ich by Steven Pro
Also - I'm unaware of some illness that happens to clownfish when they age...??
In terms of what we talked about earlier-copper in high concentrations will cause liver and kidney failure humans. I believe in the ocean we're talking 3pp BILLION. So whatever the manufacturer tells you to dose - just follow the instructions - but don't be surprised if down the road the fish just "dies" for no apparent reason. Copper is probably already being used at the wholesalers, distributers and maybe the LFS - so the less we have to dose that to our fish - the better.
Good article on ich and copper - the author stresses prevention!
Marine Ich by Steven Pro
SteveReef said:
You can keep the sponge filter in a 5 gallon bucket with a small piece of LR to keepit cycled. Just feed the bucket a couple times a week to keep the bacteria alive.
No, it isn't a disease, I was referring to the browning of the dorsal fin as clownfish age (or so I'm told) I know ich is usually/always white but I wasn't sure me being a noob and all. When I bought my clownfish it was bright orange, and the top fin has since turned brown. Not completely but slightly.