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Living with Ich. - Who's doing it?

asonitez

asonitez

I have fought Ich with every tank that I have ever owned. From a Small Solana to a 190 Gallon monster and 1 thing holds true. No Matter how long I qurantine, how clean my rock is, and how many chemicals I use... Ich makes its way into my tank. I know many people that have just "given up" and actually live with it. I'm at the point right now where I am hitting maximum capacity with my fish in my tank. The last inhabitants are making their way in today or tomorrow.

The last few that made it in were my Trio of Atlantic Blue tangs and Duo of Caribbean Surgeon Tangs. There is only the occasional chasing and nothing else but this morning I saw a spot. I thought I would see the SPOT on my Hippo Tang first. But nope. Saw one onthe largest of the Atlantic Blue Tangs. My Frag tank is empty and I just recently started gluing corals into my display...It won't take me much to remove the corals and put them in the frag tank and hit the display with a round of Crypto-Pro.

It is a taboo subject... but how many of you are "living with Ich"
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
Been doing it for 10 years with no issue. Biggest problem I had was several months ago when plumbing was done over and my uv wasn't as effective in the new setup. I had to plumb a properly sized uv to eliminate the infestation. Within days the fish cleared and all is good now. The key is running the properly sized unit for the flow rate through it. It also is critical that all the water entering the DT through the returns passes through the UV last. Many people run it on a loop through the sump or manifold and this just is not effective.

I have also seen that as long as the tank is well established, clean water parameters, filtration, etc that ICH is usually not an issue that will wipe out a tank. There is usually another factor that is reducing the fish's immunity to the ich. I fell people do more damage trying to rid their systems of ich rather then just create the proper healthy environment for the fish and let it run its course...
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
We have had it in our display pretty much since we set it up. As long as I keep on the uv bulb changes and keep feeding good food regularly, they shake it off. When we added our black tang back this summer, within a day it was covered in ich but it went away and now months later the fish has tripled in size and is a beast.

That being said, quarantine is the way to go and fish should be treated or bough from a reputable source. I will pay up for a fish that has been quarantined or is coming from a store that I trust. Also, ich is not always the problem as you have flukes and internal parasites that can be just as bad and you can't even see them. Am I going to rip my tank apart and go fallow? Nope, but I will treat with prazi and other meds for incoming fish. From my experience, which is just my experience, I also like Dr. Gs food as well to help with outbreaks.
 
NJ Lunatic

NJ Lunatic

Before Sandy hit I had no ich in my tank as far as I knew. My clowns were over 15 years old and never had visible spots, so that is not to say I did not have ich in the DT. I also had a purple tang and a flame angel. I have never run UV.

So now fast forward to after sandy and I have all kinds of good stuff happening since just about everything is new. Ich is definitely present in the DT. I have had one bad outbreak when I was restocking, but I got everything stabilized after that. I know I am living with ich in the DT and I always keep a close eye on everyone. I currently have 2 clowns, 1 tukka, 3 mandarins, 1 angel, and 1 damsel.
 
jgraz

jgraz

I know its in my tank as well. As far as I'm concerned its there to stay. Occasionally I see a spot or two on one fish or another but thats as far as it goes. Oddly enough I have not seen a single spot since the invert group buy last year when I purchased 2 skunk cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp. I never see any of them cleaning the fish, but maybe they are doing something, or maybe not. Im really of the school that healthy, well fed fish in a stress free enviroment with clean healthy water can and will fight off most sickness. Will it probably come and bite me eventually? Probably. But until then I'll just keep on keeping on.
 
Sunny

Sunny

NJRC Member
Article Contributor
asonitez said:
I know there are more if you !!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

OMG. Yes there are :D

I have ich all the time. But you have to understand that I have 11 tangs, 8 angels, 8 butterflies and more in my tank.
They all have an attitude all the time. So ich is there and if they all are happy, no worries ....

Sunny
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

I just got an outbreak in my new system. Fish were established from other systems but probably the stress of the new tank set it off. I have no plans for removing the fish as the system is too expansive. I do however plan on acquiring a UV system after talking with AO. By doing this I allow fish to get relief while establishing immunity to this strain. Also as time passes and fish may come and go, it may recent future outbreaks.
 
greybolt03

greybolt03

I've been running saltwater tanks for well over 10 years and have never had any major outbreaks I've seen spots here and there on my fish so I am sure it's in the tank. I don't run a UV only because I have no room for one.. But I do soak my pellets in garlic juice anytime I see spots and within a day they are gone and clean.. And I also feed heavy so my fish are fat and healthy which I think is the reason it's not affecting anything in my tank..
 
D

d5332

I have had to deal with it in the past, ended up taking all of the fish out at one point.

If UV's work makes me wonder why stores have ich problems themselves.

I have a 55 watt UV and I am not sure it its doing anything other than increasing the tank water temperature.

This issue has always confused me because to kill protozoa the water flow has to be slow as oppose to algae.

Just confusing, would like to try the inline application as oppose to the manifold port approach but by the recommended standard flow to kill protozoa I would need a 1200 watt UV because my return pump pushes 4000 gallons per hour, looks like a 1200 watt UV only costs about $7,000.
 
trivan

trivan

Doing a bit of reading, the effectiveness of UV on the prevention of Ick is questionable. It's largely based on the amounts of exposure the cysts have to the light and how much is needed to kill them. I haven't seen one "scientific" test done where one can conclude it works. A lot of people says it works for them, so that is important as well. Proof is in the pudding.
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
A month ago I noticed some ich spots on my black tang and PBT, after a few days it was progressively getting worse. I checked my UV to find that it was off, ends up the transformer blew out. After installing a new one and running the UV the fish are pretty much clean again. That's all the proof I need.

But I do agree in issue of high flow pumps an inline uv is just not an option...
 
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