ICH in Display Tank Help?

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A

amoahkuc

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 3, 2008
35
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Portland, Or
Tank Set up:
-200g Pentagon Display with 90lbs of Live rock
-30g sump/refugium
-40W Lifeguard UV Sterilizer
-Dart Pump (2000 gph @ 0 head height)
-2 Korallias (3600gph each)
Tank Inhabitants:
-Powder Brown Tang (5" and the only one with ich)
-Grey Bamboo Shark (14")
-Marron Clown (2")
-Sailfin Blenny (4")
-Long tentacle anemone
-6 Chromis (1")
-10 Hermit crabs
Water Conditions:
-Temp = 82F +/- 2 degrees
-Salinity 1.024 sg
-Nitrites 0ppm
-Nitrates 1ppm
My problem is, I quaratined the tang for about three weeks and I did not see any signs of ich on it. I placed the tang in the main tank and I started to see evidence of ich on it. I sterted soaking its food in garlic and the white spots seem to just cycle about every three days, as in they will go away for three days and then come back for three days.
Everytime (2 times) I tried to catch my tang and place it in the quarantine tank the stress alone accelerates the disease enogh to where the fish passes. Is there anything else I can do? I am curently going to try and drop the salinity to about 1.020 and see if that helps, but that is the only thing I can think of. Any help with this and anything that I can do in the future to prevent this cycle would help. Thank You
Chris
 
Now that the parasite is in the display, it's not going to go away if you don't do one of two things.

Empty the tank, of all live stock and let the tank run fallow or start hyposalinity.

Problems with both...having places to keep the livestock, individually in quarentine and, problems with the stress of hypo on certain fish and inverts.

Salinity has to be strictly maintained at 1.009 - 1.010, for extended periods of time to have any effect.
 
Probably the most common disease among fish is ich. But, what do you really know about this organism?

Ich is short for the name of a ciliated protozoan of the genus Ichthyophthirius. Ich is usually present all the time in aquaria in small numbers, just like germs are in the air we breathe. However, when a fish suffers from extreme stress, such as a sudden drop in temperature, its resistance is lowered and it becomes vulnerable to diseases. Ich outbreaks also occur after the introduction of new fish to an established aquarium.
Ich is free-swimming until it attaches itself to the skin of a fish. Under a microscope, the organism is easily seen and identified, even under low magnification. It looks like a round, rolling mass. According to John Gratsbek, et al, in the book Aquariology, The Science of Fish Health Management (Tetra Press), ich is one of the few fish parasites completely surrounded by cilia. The organism's U-shaped nucleus is often visible under a microscope.
Once the free-swimming ich reaches a fish, it attaches to the outer layer of the skin of the host fish. The ich organism then forms a tough outer shell, or cyst, while it feeds on the fish's bodily fluids. This encysted stage, called a theront, grows large enough to be seen with the naked eye. Each theront appears as a tiny white spot on the fish. Severe ich infestations make fish appear as if they are covered with salt. After the theronts grow to a certain size, they break through the skin and drop off the fish. As they fall, they attach to the bottom or sides of the aquarium, or to plants, gravel, decorations, tubing or any other stationary object. Theronts then begin their reproductive stage, and are then called a trophozoite, also known as a trophont. The attached trophozoites then begin producing the infective, free-swimming stage. Hundreds more free-swimming ich organisms, called tomites, can arise in less than a day and a half, and they in turn re-infect the fish in your aquarium.
In nature, ich is not much of a problem. There are large numbers of fish to which tomites can attach. And with the greater amount of water volume, it's likely that many ich organisms do not even find a host. However, in a closed system like an aquarium, ich re-infects the same fish over and over, resulting in severe infestations. That's why it can be such a problem.
While ich is encysted on the fish, no medicine can affect it. But once it's free-swimming, it can be killed. Since the life cycle of ich takes at least three days at 80 degrees to complete, ich must be treated for at least four days. I prefer to treat for a week.
Although many aquarists use rather harsh chemicals to kill off Ich, I prefer more natural methods:
  • Ich dislikes warm water, so I immediately bring the water up to 85-88 degrees.
  • Since warm water cannot hold as much oxygen as cool water, I also increase the aeration by adding air stones. Another reason for added aeration is that ich infects the gills of fish as well as the outer skin. We only see ich on the skin of fish, and assume that's what's making them so sick. But my personal belief is that gill infestation by ich is the main cause of suffering and death in aquarium fish. I believe this damage to the delicate gill tissue suffocates fish, which either kills them outright or leads to lethal secondary infections. An increase in dissolved oxygen brought about by vigorous aeration may mean the difference in life or death to your fish.
  • Along with a temperature change and added aeration, I usually add about one teaspoon of canning and pickling salt per gallon to the water to help the fish recover from the stress caused by the disease by reducing osmotic pressure, enabling the fish's own immune system to fight back. Salt is also harmful to ich.
  • Water changes are extremely important in fighting ich outbreaks. Using a gravel washer, I do a 50 percent water change on a daily basis. This eliminates a great number of trophozoites and tomites from the aquarium.
  • While I prefer not to use chemicals to treat any disease, developments over the past few years have left me little choice. The ich we contend with today are particularly virulent strains because, in my opinion, so many hobbyists, and, more importantly, pet shop owners/employees, have used chemicals and antibiotics instead of good hygiene to treat disease. What I refer to as hygiene is simply hard work: i.e. water changes, heat, added aeration and salt. When that is insufficient, I use Rid-Ich, which is a commercially available medicine consisting of zinc-free malachite green and formalin. I've found this to be highly effective in treating ich.
If your fish recover from ich, they may not get it again. There is evidence that fish become resistant to ich after they survive the initial infection, so fish which recover from an ich infestation should be less likely to contract the disease at a later time. However, I would still recommend a three-week quarantine period for all newly purchased fish
 
I tried Formalin before with bad results. I'd rather try and go the non-chemical route. I think my best bet is to just drop the salinity of my water to about 1.010 for 6 weeks. My only concern is of the babmoo shark and the anemone. I can ask my local fish store to house them both, but in re-introducing them am I just adding ich back into the system?

Because I don't know I will just do it with them both in the tank and just monitor them both very closeley. Secondly I think I am going to setup my Quarantine tank at a sg of 1.010 and quarantine my future fish (copper band butterfly and hawaiian trigger) for 6 weeks and then slowly (3 days) raise it to the same sg (1.024) of the display.


Like I said I'm doing this because I don't know any better so if someone has any better information that would help greatly
 
In my experience, once I started doing biweekly water changes and had my tanks at a stable 80 degrees, I never have had one problem with ich. Good filtration and water perams. will prevent any ich problems. I even admit adding new fish without Q/ting them and not seeing any sign of ich or any other parasite for that matter.
 
Long Story Short.

Only way to get Ich out of your tank 100% is to get all the fish out of the tank for 6-8 weeks.

Ich needs a host to complete the life cycle. Fish are the host.

Live rock, corals, inverts, etc... can only host the parasite for a few days before it needs to find a fish.

You have to QT all fish in a seperate tank and treat with a copper based med for a full 2 weeks. Let the tank run with no fish for 6-8 weeks to ensure that all stages of the Parasite have died. Then you can put the fish back in. After that you must QT all new fish, live rock, inverts, etc... before you put them into the tank or you will run the risk of introducing Ich back in.

I have read that keeping the temp lower around 75 degrees and lower salinity around 1.020 will keep most parasites out of the tank.
 
Saltwater fish don't get ich, they get crypt. :) The lifecycle is much slower, among other things.

There is no ridding yourself of crypt in your display without removing ALL fish and treating them separately for at least a month, preferably with quinine sulfate (www.nationalfishpharm.com). Let the main tank run fishless for 2 months. Don't (ever) use copper if you can help it...in fact, I've never had a reason to use copper. Quinine sulfate is infinitely superior!
 
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