Ich cured itself?

[Frost_Hydra]

There was an ich outbreak in my tank, and I had to go away for the summer. So I gave a trusted friend the medicine and when/how much to dose it. Long story short they lost my instructions and decided that instead of contacting me and figuring out what to do, they wouldn't put any of the medicine in. When I left 7 of the 8 fish had some level of visible white spots. When I came back only 2 fish were left, one being the one that didn't ever show any signs. According to my friend, the 6 fish died within about 3 weeks of me leaving. meaning the remaining 2 survived for about a month and a half with nothing but food.

Because of this, I was surprised to come back to see my Blue tang alive (I've heard they are ich magnets). It was the first fish to show visible signs of ich, but now, there were no white dots anywhere to be seen. I know that ich can be on the inside of the gills where it isn't visible, but I feel as it would have killed the tang long before I arrived. I've been monitoring everything closely for the past 2 weeks and I still can't see any sign of ich anywhere?

Any ideas on what happened?

[lpsouth1978]

My guess would be that the ich is still in the system, just not in a stage that you can see it. A healthy fish can hold ich at bay until something happens (usually stress or illness) and then it shows itself. I would guess that now that there are only 2 fish in the system, and it has likely stabilized, the tang has been able to fight off the parasite for now.

Just my guess, but I would bet that once you add more fish, and stress, to the tank, you will once again see the ich.

[hkgar]

Even if the medicine had been continued you would most likely had the same results. There is no medicine that will cure Ick. Ick will NOT cure itself unless the tank goes fishless for 72 days (referred to as fallow)

There are only 3 ways to cure Ick, besides fallow, and your remaining fish need to be put through one of them.

3 ways to cure Ick

[hkgar]

You are relatively new to reefing and just be aware there is a lot of snake oil for sale in this hobby. Do not put anything in your tank without researching it, thoroughly.

[Oropher]

Originally Posted by hkgar

Even if the medicine had been continued you would most likely had the same results. There is no medicine that will cure Ick. Ick will NOT cure itself unless the tank goes fishless for 72 days (referred to as fallow)

There are only 3 ways to cure Ick, besides fallow, and your remaining fish need to be put through one of them.

3 ways to cure Ick

Hi.

I'm new in this hobby. Inherited 2 "healthy" chromis from a friend's mature tank for a month then i noticed some kind of spots. Is that an ich?

Anyway I setup a QT, then moved them to it. Gave them a freshwater bath for 3 mins then into hyposalinity QT (1.010). And now DT is empty but just LRs. I saw this as the opportunity to rescape DT, lol.

Do I really need to keep DT fish less for 72 days? Initially I was going to keep fishless for 4-6 weeks.

And while DT is fishless do I keep the fishes in hyposalinity QT all the time?

Cheers.

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[Frost_Hydra]

Originally Posted by hkgar

You are relatively new to reefing and just be aware there is a lot of snake oil for sale in this hobby. Do not put anything in your tank without researching it, thoroughly.

Yes, I've heard! thanks for the advice; but I always thoroughly research and look at reviews of products before considering purchasing them for any of my hobbies.

[Uncle99]

There is Ick spots, velvet spots, which can look similar. There are flukes.
Velvet spots are perfectly round and look like flour.
Ick spots are more oval and look like sugar.
If you fish is still alive after a couple of days it ain't velvet.

Ick can not be cured in the DT without going fallow for 72-76 days.
Fish can not be cured unless treated separate from DT by TTM, hypo or copper.

Ick does not cure itself ever, however some fish may have an immunity.

Always make sure you diagnos correctly before applying treatment.

Impossible to tell in the blue pic.

[Oropher]

Under the normal light it is very difficult to spot on.

This is the best pic I got.

Fish isn't scratching its body to rock or anything.

If they aren't infected by those parasites, I might consider it as a quarantine treatment in hypo before putting them again in DT. However it's gonna last for 72-76 days this time.

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[Uncle99]

Does not look like Ick or velvet at all.
I see one small dot, is that what your talking about.
How long has it had the dirt?

[Oropher]

Almost a week. And the the behaviour change, that one is mostly hiding. Use to be swimming around the tank along with its mate.

They are still so eager chasing food when feeding time.
And now in QT they are still showing the same appetite.

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[Oropher]

So sorry @Frost_Hydra, didn't mean to take over the convos.... but I guess we're all learning together. Cheers, mate.

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[Uncle99]

Been a week.
That rules out velvet and brook as fish would be dead. Velvet usually attacks the gills first and suffocates the fish in hours, maybe a day.

I can't see the pics well enough to establish the presence of Ick.

In a week, I would expect you to see what looks like 50-150 tiny white oval shaped dots that look like fine salt or sugar. The fish may scrape against things, have glassy eyes, not eat, be lathargic, I don't count hiding as a symptom.

If it's not Ick, then of course no need for fallow. If it is you should go,,72 days for 99.9% safe. 4 weeks would not work, 6 weeks, maybe, less time than 72, makes the risk for reoccurrence higher, but your choice.

Chromis is a schooling fish, not generally a pair fish. The rule of chromis is have 6, month later 5, month later 4.....till there is one or none.

May sound insensitive, but it's a 5 buck fish.

Make sure he has a hiding spot in your QT please.

QT treatment of Ick can stop when you see no dots at all + 30 days, then you can bring him back to normal salinity, but when increasing, no more than .002 per day, so that process might take 7-10 days.

[Joe0813]

unfortunately once ick is in the system it stays in the tank until you go fishless for over 70 days. I made the mistake of not QTing one fish and now I have it in my 180. instead of trying to catch 15 fish including fish that borrow and ill never get. I just feed good and keep stress low

[mmx01]

That is unfortunately sad truth...

I do have ich in my system and it started with oc. clowns. I did not treat with copper because I also have corals in the tank and no QT/HT but with UV and good feeding/husbandry ich stayed at the bay. Fish appeared happy with no signs of illness.

But upon addition of a YT, the fish got covered in white spots in a matter of hours. Fresh dip seemed to deliver a short term relief and afterwards all fish seemed happy for about 3 months. But then you want to change/add something and with addition of a powder brown I tipped the balance, he is all in white spots...

So unless you cure to the bone, every change, addition, stressful event serves as a trigger for the outbreak. Healthy, well fed happy fish can withstand ich but this equilibrium isn't stable, just a ticking bomb.

BR,
M

[Joe0813]

Originally Posted by mmx01

That is unfortunately sad truth...

I do have ich in my system and it started with oc. clowns. I did not treat with copper because I also have corals in the tank and no QT/HT but with UV and good feeding/husbandry ich stayed at the bay. Fish appeared happy with no signs of illness.

But upon addition of a YT, the fish got covered in white spots in a matter of hours. Fresh dip seemed to deliver a short term relief and afterwards all fish seemed happy for about 3 months. But then you want to change/add something and with addition of a powder brown I tipped the balance, he is all in white spots...

So unless you cure to the bone, every change, addition, stressful event serves as a trigger for the outbreak. Healthy, well fed happy fish can withstand ich but this equilibrium isn't stable, just a ticking bomb.

BR,
M

yep I am in the same boat. I know ick is in my system but I provide a stress free tank. problem is, I want to add an Achilles tang to the tank. which I know is going to be stressful. it will be completely impossible to catch my fish to treat them. so I have no ideas what to do. I can't treat with hypo in my display since I have corals and inverts including three RBTA's

[Oropher]

Originally Posted by Uncle99

Been a week.
That rules out velvet and brook as fish would be dead. Velvet usually attacks the gills first and suffocates the fish in hours, maybe a day.

I can't see the pics well enough to establish the presence of Ick.

In a week, I would expect you to see what looks like 50-150 tiny white oval shaped dots that look like fine salt or sugar. The fish may scrape against things, have glassy eyes, not eat, be lathargic, I don't count hiding as a symptom.

If it's not Ick, then of course no need for fallow. If it is you should go,,72 days for 99.9% safe. 4 weeks would not work, 6 weeks, maybe, less time than 72, makes the risk for reoccurrence higher, but your choice.

Chromis is a schooling fish, not generally a pair fish. The rule of chromis is have 6, month later 5, month later 4.....till there is one or none.

May sound insensitive, but it's a 5 buck fish.

Make sure he has a hiding spot in your QT please.

QT treatment of Ick can stop when you see no dots at all + 30 days, then you can bring him back to normal salinity, but when increasing, no more than .002 per day, so that process might take 7-10 days.

thanks, will go for 72-76 days; no shortcut. It's good for building the habit. After all we're here for good.

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[hkgar]

Originally Posted by Joe0813

yep I am in the same boat. I know ick is in my system but I provide a stress free tank. problem is, I want to add an Achilles tang to the tank. which I know is going to be stressful. it will be completely impossible to catch my fish to treat them. so I have no ideas what to do. I can't treat with hypo in my display since I have corals and inverts including three RBTA's

Move the corals and inverts to another tank.

[Rover88]

To beat the deadhorse.

Frost: You still have Ich. You need to go fallow in the display for 72-76 days, and you need to treat the fish. There is an incredibly small chance these two fish are 'immune' or one of the two is 'immune' to ich. More then likely with the death of the other fish they've grown less stressed and so the more obvious signs (outbreak on the body) have faded.

However it is very likely in their gills which is the easiest spot for ich to attach, due to the much more diminished or nonexistent slime coat there.

When you begin to introduce more fish, or they get stressed, or etc happens, it will simply flare back up again if you don't take care of it now.


For Oropher: Turn off your blue lights and use white lights only when you are trying to take a picture, it will really help you get a good shot. That single white lump looks sort of like how the ich looked on my gobies. Like a pimple. But its too hard to tell.

I hope you didn't just drop them /immediately/ into 1.010 hypo? Its best to bring the salinity down slowly over time. Certainly don't immediately drop them back into 1.026 when they are done, the fish need time to acclimate and adjust to the new salinity!

[Joe0813]

Originally Posted by hkgar

Move the corals and inverts to another tank.

If I move everything over to another tank how long do you do hypo? I've never tried it I've always used TTM

[Uncle99]

Spots diminish in about 7, may be gone in 14, go 7 more after last spot seen, then increase salinity daily no more than .002

So generally 30 days

Worked great for me, easy stuff

The ick spots explode cause of the low salinity

[hkgar]

Originally Posted by Joe0813

If I move everything over to another tank how long do you do hypo? I've never tried it I've always used TTM

Read the thread I posted for you in post #3. Everything you need to know about Ick and curing it is there. That's as close to a spoon as I will get.

[Joe0813]

Originally Posted by hkgar

Read the thread I posted for you in post #3. Everything you need to know about Ick and curing it is there. That's as close to a spoon as I will get.

Didn't even see the post. Thanks for the link

[Oropher]

Originally Posted by Rover88

To beat the deadhorse.

Frost: You still have Ich. You need to go fallow in the display for 72-76 days, and you need to treat the fish. There is an incredibly small chance these two fish are 'immune' or one of the two is 'immune' to ich. More then likely with the death of the other fish they've grown less stressed and so the more obvious signs (outbreak on the body) have faded.

However it is very likely in their gills which is the easiest spot for ich to attach, due to the much more diminished or nonexistent slime coat there.

When you begin to introduce more fish, or they get stressed, or etc happens, it will simply flare back up again if you don't take care of it now.


For Oropher: Turn off your blue lights and use white lights only when you are trying to take a picture, it will really help you get a good shot. That single white lump looks sort of like how the ich looked on my gobies. Like a pimple. But its too hard to tell.

I hope you didn't just drop them /immediately/ into 1.010 hypo? Its best to bring the salinity down slowly over time. Certainly don't immediately drop them back into 1.026 when they are done, the fish need time to acclimate and adjust to the new salinity!

Hi Rover.

I did give them freshwater dip before putting them into hypo QT. The idea is really to make a shock osmotic pressure. Those fishes are doing ok now for over a week in QT.

When bringing them back to 1.025, I'll acclimate 0.001 per day so it will take 15 days from 1.010 to 1.025.

Cheers.

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[tkeracer619]

Originally Posted by Frost_Hydra

I gave a trusted friend

Any ideas on what happened?

Lost the directions and didn't call you? Might want to consider how you define "trusted".

Like others have said. Gotta pull the fish a leave the tank fallow.