ick is b.s.

[zheka757]

iv gave up on trying to get ick out of my system. after 2 different attempts one was TTM and tank being fishless for 3 month. ick came back after about a month into getting fish back in.
second time I did hyposolinity for 2 month on my fish. and i bleached cleaned my entire tank. ( poured a jag of pool chrorine in my tank abd had that in there for a week) once my tank was cycled put fish back in.... and sure enough a saw some spots on my blue tang.
startibg to belive ick is not treatable. and trust me I read just about everything on ick. this is almost a year long prosses that I have being trying to get ick out of my tank.

[tjm9331]

I hate to say it but something had to have gone wrong in both of your treatments cause Ick is very treatable by one method or the other so long as which ever method you choose is followed to a T

Did you add any new comers that could have reintroduced the parasite?

I had a battle with ick last year, I treated the fish I had with Cupramine and left the tank fishless for 72 days. During the ordeal I lost 3 fish, so towards the end of the 72 days I started TTM on a couple of new residents, put all the fish back in the tank and haven't had an incident since (I am knocking on wood as I write this though)

So trust me when I say ick is definitely beatable, you may have just had a couple rounds of bad luck.

[Daddyrawg]

Originally Posted by zheka757

iv gave up on trying to get ick out of my system. after 2 different attempts one was TTM and tank being fishless for 3 month. ick came back after about a month into getting fish back in.
second time I did hyposolinity for 2 month on my fish. and i bleached cleaned my entire tank. ( poured a jag of pool chrorine in my tank abd had that in there for a week) once my tank was cycled put fish back in.... and sure enough a saw some spots on my blue tang.
startibg to belive ick is not treatable. and trust me I read just about everything on ick. this is almost a year long prosses that I have being trying to get ick out of my tank.

what size is your tank? Blue tangs are ick magnets

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[Tyler438]

I believe I have beaten ick as well with copper treatment. FIsh were allowed to back in DT as of Sunday but I decided to cycle dry rock in the tank while it was fallow and it's taking longer than I thought.

[zheka757]

display tank is 350 gallon. total water valume is 500 gallons. and no, have not put a single new thing in the tank.

[Uncle99]

Ick is completely treatable.
Something wrong in your process.
Ick can not live in your DT without fish for more than 72-76 days.
Ick can appear to be gone on a fish, but not, and then reinfect the tank.
Just cause you don't see them, doesn't mean they are not their.

Under a Cupramine (copper) treatment, Ick Starts to diminish 4-8 days, can't see by 14, but you still need to go another 30 days to be sure. Many continue to hold and feed until the DT has completed its time.

And during this time and while in the DT, feed well, and if someone is causing stress in the DT, that must be resolved as well.

[Uncle99]

Originally Posted by Tyler438

I believe I have beaten ick as well with copper treatment. FIsh were allowed to back in DT as of Sunday but I decided to cycle dry rock in the tank while it was fallow and it's taking longer than I thought.

Good Work!

[Tripod1404]

How far apart was your DT and qt. Ich can move between tanks that are in close proximity.

[albano]

Originally Posted by Tripod1404

How far apart was your DT and qt. Ich can move between tanks that are in close proximity.

Don't think that I've heard that before...any links to that study?

[Tripod1404]

Originally Posted by albano

Don't think that I've heard that before...any links to that study?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...44848606001785

The study I linked is done with velvet, but it shows these protozoan parasites can get aerosolized and move between tank in water droplets. I also read several references of this happening with ich in different forums.


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[zheka757]

Originally Posted by Tripod1404

How far apart was your DT and qt. Ich can move between tanks that are in close proximity.

the quarantine tank is right next to the display tank, 2 feel lower then the display tank. but i dont see how this would be an issue. and im saying this because. i did my hyposalinity in folloing order:
1 i lowered the main tank solinity to 1.008 (one week process)
2 the fish was in main display for 4 weeks in hypo.
3 transferred all fish to quarantine tank with salinity of 1.009 with auto pop-of.
4 drained my main tank water and poured tap water, added chlorine to bleach and kill every living thing in it. chlorine was in water for one week.
5 drained and air dry all rocks/send for 3 weeks.
6 got the tank running ageing in one month with seachem stability.
with that said even that the tanks are right next to each other. the main tank was filled with chlorine for one week and for 3 weeks was drying.

There is one thing.... maybe 2..
in my display tanks sump i had about 40 mangroves in there, i transferred them with my fish to quarantine tank. i also transferred protein skimmer from display tank to quarantine tank. when display tank was cycled i took out my mangroves and put them in fresh water for one week. then put them back into sump of display tank. and as far as skimmer took it apart and cleaned it as best as i could and put it back in the sump also.
so maybe there is a chance here. but i dont see how.

second possibly thing and most likely is the liquids that i being pouring in my tank. one was seachem stability. and the other one was purple algae in the bottle, by ARC reef. i called the arc reef company, they said that they grow all their algae in their labs with no fish or invertebrates. at that time i took his word for it. now im not sure. ether way my statement about ick is: ICK IS B.S.

[homer1475]

I don't know, had an ich outbreak when I was a newbie, TTMed all my fish, left the display fallow for 74 days, TTM all new additions, and haven't had an ich outbreak in 3 years since.



Your methods are at fault, thats why you still have ich. Tanks must be at least 6 feet apart, and none of the equipment you use in your QT should ever touch your display. You might want to have a read up on the stickies at the top before you call known practices B.S.

[Uncle99]

Originally Posted by Tripod1404

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...44848606001785

The study I linked is done with velvet, but it shows these protozoan parasites can get aerosolized and move between tank in water droplets. I also read several references of this happening with ich in different forums.


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100% agree!
In one case, according to an OP, after weeks in treatment, the fish jumped back into the DT.

Only the 3 methods are known to work. As well as being close, you made changes to the process.

[zheka757]

Originally Posted by homer1475

I don't know, had an ich outbreak when I was a newbie, TTMed all my fish, left the display fallow for 74 days, TTM all new additions, and haven't had an ich outbreak in 3 years since.



Your methods are at fault, thats why you still have ich. Tanks must be at least 6 feet apart, and none of the equipment you use in your QT should ever touch your
display. You might want to have a read up on the stickies at the top before you call known practices B.S.

did I call any treatments b.s. ?

[reefinmike]

I’m in the same boat and it’s so frustrating. I half assed my way back into the hobby using beautiful rock from an older system. Before transferring i monitored the rock daily and killed any aiptasia waiting a month since seeing the last one. Sure enough tiny ones appeared in the display once all set up and going good. I also learned how bad vermetid snails were and ich popped up so i decided to do it right. Tore the tank down, fish went in hypo for 9 weeks, rock and sand was bleached for a week, ran in freshwater a week then sun dried a week. All corals were broken or chopped off the rocks to transfer a minimal amount of dead skeleton/rock and was put in a qt where i monitored daily for aiptasia and vermetids. Corals and inverts were re-introduced 4 weeks before fish due to dangerously low ph(another mind boggling high co2 issue) and dino outbreak. Within a couple weeks i noticed hydroids and flatworms everywhere and bryopsis starting up. Never seen any of those prior to treatment. Last week i added fish before doing a temp & ph regulated fw dip and what do you know- my bar gobies are scratching and have ich.

Extremely frustrating, in the meantime i even had set up a coral qt and two fish qt systems. Whats the point if I already have hydroids, bryopsis, flatworms and ich? Never noticed any of this before but it all started when i ran an outside air intake to my skimmer to boost ph from 7.7-7-9 which set off an ich outbreak and then all this other lovely stuff. I’m tempted to keep this tank dirty and set up a new tank sterile from the start and only add things that have been in qt for several months.

At this point i’m frozen. I’m afraid to ever add anything new to my tank. I feel confident the uv can keep the ich in check, two flatworm exit treatments didn’t do much but they do seem to be dwindling. The bryopsis doesn’t seem to be growing any and the hydroids... well i may just let them be. They seem relatively harmless.

[zheka757]

Originally Posted by reefinmike

I’m in the same boat and it’s so frustrating. I half assed my way back into the hobby using beautiful rock from an older system. Before transferring i monitored the rock daily and killed any aiptasia waiting a month since seeing the last one. Sure enough tiny ones appeared in the display once all set up and going good. I also learned how bad vermetid snails were and ich popped up so i decided to do it right. Tore the tank down, fish went in hypo for 9 weeks, rock and sand was bleached for a week, ran in freshwater a week then sun dried a week. All corals were broken or chopped off the rocks to transfer a minimal amount of dead skeleton/rock and was put in a qt where i monitored daily for aiptasia and vermetids. Corals and inverts were re-introduced 4 weeks before fish due to dangerously low ph(another mind boggling high co2 issue) and dino outbreak. Within a couple weeks i noticed hydroids and flatworms everywhere and bryopsis starting up. Never seen any of those prior to treatment. Last week i added fish before doing a temp & ph regulated fw dip and what do you know- my bar gobies are scratching and have ich.

Extremely frustrating, in the meantime i even had set up a coral qt and two fish qt systems. Whats the point if I already have hydroids, bryopsis, flatworms and ich? Never noticed any of this before but it all started when i ran an outside air intake to my skimmer to boost ph from 7.7-7-9 which set off an ich outbreak and then all this other lovely stuff. I’m tempted to keep this tank dirty and set up a new tank sterile from the start and only add things that have been in qt for several months.

At this point i’m frozen. I’m afraid to ever add anything new to my tank. I feel confident the uv can keep the ich in check, two flatworm exit treatments didn’t do much but they do seem to be dwindling. The bryopsis doesn’t seem to be growing any and the hydroids... well i may just let them be. They seem relatively harmless.

I agree. very frustrating! I dont know how big your system is. but I'm messing with 500 gallon system here. I put my heart into it to get ick out of it. and when I saw ick second time I felt like ick is "slapping in my face and laughing"

[CrayolaViolence]

Originally Posted by reefinmike

I’m in the same boat and it’s so frustrating. I half assed my way back into the hobby using beautiful rock from an older system. Before transferring i monitored the rock daily and killed any aiptasia waiting a month since seeing the last one. Sure enough tiny ones appeared in the display once all set up and going good. I also learned how bad vermetid snails were and ich popped up so i decided to do it right. Tore the tank down, fish went in hypo for 9 weeks, rock and sand was bleached for a week, ran in freshwater a week then sun dried a week. All corals were broken or chopped off the rocks to transfer a minimal amount of dead skeleton/rock and was put in a qt where i monitored daily for aiptasia and vermetids. Corals and inverts were re-introduced 4 weeks before fish due to dangerously low ph(another mind boggling high co2 issue) and dino outbreak. Within a couple weeks i noticed hydroids and flatworms everywhere and bryopsis starting up. Never seen any of those prior to treatment. Last week i added fish before doing a temp & ph regulated fw dip and what do you know- my bar gobies are scratching and have ich.

Extremely frustrating, in the meantime i even had set up a coral qt and two fish qt systems. Whats the point if I already have hydroids, bryopsis, flatworms and ich? Never noticed any of this before but it all started when i ran an outside air intake to my skimmer to boost ph from 7.7-7-9 which set off an ich outbreak and then all this other lovely stuff. I’m tempted to keep this tank dirty and set up a new tank sterile from the start and only add things that have been in qt for several months.

At this point i’m frozen. I’m afraid to ever add anything new to my tank. I feel confident the uv can keep the ich in check, two flatworm exit treatments didn’t do much but they do seem to be dwindling. The bryopsis doesn’t seem to be growing any and the hydroids... well i may just let them be. They seem relatively harmless.

I've taken to keeping fish that will take care of these pests naturally. Malunaris wrass (female) a aptasia eating file fish and a copper band butter fly. My tank got over run with aptasia, within a month of putting the file fish and butterfly in there it was all gone. I got both fish when they were teeny tiny so they took to eating the stuff without a hitch. The female wrass hunts the rocks and kills any kind of varmints.

[reefinmike]

Crayola- i may just go that route with this tank and not stress over eliminating all pests and parisites. Its a 90 gallon and i started it up 6 months ago it has been out of commission for nearly half of that. Currently i only have 4 bar gobies, a yt blue damsel, a bangaii Cardinal and two platinum clowns. I would also have a large yellow tang and nice sized midas blenny but my well intentioned fw dip killed them. I’m honestly fine just adding a couple pest control fish and calling it a day.

The terribly slow process of proper qt on all corals and inverts is what kills me, especially when it comes to an already compromised system. I’ve been wanting a clam and some cheato for many months and to do it properly i would have to qt for 2-3 months and even that wont rule out chances of bring along a pest algae, anemone or hitchhiker. I got hydroids, bryopsis and brown flatworms in my new setup even after minimizing dead coral skeleton/rock to about the volume of a golf ball.

I will continue to establish and set up my coral and fish qt’s with the intentions of setting up a disease/pest free sps only system some time over winter. It’s just such a shame the tank has so many issues after all the work i put in. This time i will start from sterile dry rock, ttm qt all fish along with copper treatment. All corals will be cut off at the base, dipped and qt’d for three months then dipped again. I am happy to have the vermetid snails and aptasia gone(fingers crossed) and feel the pests i have are tolerable for a meh mixed reef.

[Uncle99]

Ick becomes more problematic when fish are weak or stressed.
Sometimes this hobby can be the ultimate in frustration, but it's not a bird cage, it's humans trying to duplicate the sea in a glass box, remember, so many try, most fail.

It did take me about a year in total to be diease, hitchhiker, cyno, GHA free, but once there I gave learned to use the utmost caution at anything entering the DT.

An old timer taught me, keep your water perfect, make you DT peaceful, don't overload, and feed well, a variety of foods....when fish are relaxed and strong....Ick does not materialize.

[zheka757]

So, 3 weeks later... now im confused if i actually did see ich! I mean it was white spot on my hippo by his gill for about 7 days. and he was trying to scratch himself on rocks/sand. so i thought it was ich. well that was one spot and no new spots on any of my fish since to this date.

[Uncle99]

It would not be one spot for both Ick and velvet, it would look like someone tossed fine salt or sugar, so lots of dots, velvet are perfectly round, Ick are oval.

Three weeks no spots, (lots of spots) your clear, good ending!

[tkeracer619]

Oh yeah, it sure does suck. It is treatable though!

If it helps you feel any better, I'm not new to all this, and I'm fighting the same fight. At some point it happens to us all. The hope is that it happens in a QT where it is easy to treat and NOT in the display...

[Sk8r]

One thing helpful to know, apart from treatments: treatments that strip a fish's slime coat (some dips, etc) can leave them momentarily vulnerable for recurrence if there is ich to be had swimming about. Low alkalinity can cause a problem with the coat. 8.3 is a good middle of the road reading. Maintain it at that level. Plus fish like tangs and rabbits and angels do not have as much natural protection against the pest as do, say, blennies and other fishes that move about the sandbed, where the pest lives 'between fish': they are specially vulnerable to it. So be extra careful with those species. They can import it.

[Icewing726]

+1 for just living with it. If you have to get a tang get one that has a higher tolerance to ich. Anyway, I'm gonna go hide before I get flamed to death for not promoting quarantine.