Marine ich

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fishfanatic80

fishfanatic80

Piranha
MFK Member
Feb 7, 2011
834
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Long island
I recently encountered a bad case of MI that killed off my four fish. Now im running that tank with just live rock and no fish. I was wondering how long id have to wait for the MI to kill itself without a host. I tried a multiple treatments that were suppose to be safe for live rock. I cant do hypo salinity or copper so i figured i could wait it out for awhile, that tank has been running without fish for a month now. Any suggestions on how to battle it or what my next step should be is much appreciated. Thank you
 
If it is just a FO tank...I think you can do hypo...you might lose some sensitive inverts in your rock though.

I have heard 90 days is how long it takes to run its course, do your research and there will be lots of different numbers. Some say it never goes away.
 
I believe Cryptocaryon needs to find a host in 1 month. I waited 3. 2 should be ok. Or just get a good UV sterilizer and you can add fish now. And no future ich. After I had 2 separate outbreaks this year I got sick of having a fishless coral tank, so I went that route. And yes, hyposalinity can kill your coralline algae and most inverts. It's also not very effective for cryptocaryon. It's not like salting a freshwater tank. If you don't want to do inverts though you could just copper treat it. Your BB will survive.
 
Thanks guys, im gonna add a bunch of inverts because im tired of having an empty tank and im gonna wait another two months to be safe before i add anymore fish.
 
Inverts should be fine...again, do some reading on MI...there is a lot of info out there, and I could waste my time typing it all up...but as mentioned there are just a ton of opinions out there.
 
leave the tank empty of fish for2 months and cryptocaryon will stop , until you introduce another stressed fish, i would quarentine all fish , hyposalinty is very good at killing whitespot and algaes and invertebrates, uv sterilizers only kill the free floatiing stage and are good at reducing numbers but does not eradicate cryptocaryon as does ozone, tank fishless for months kills the protozoan untill new fish is introduced
 
The reason the info about crypt varies is because various strains can be more tolerant of low salinity and Cu more than other. It's one of those things that will always be present in the tank. The trick to staying on top of it is good sterilization of the water in the water column (UV, Ozone) and keeping heathly fish. A healthy animal will be able to fight off a small colony with its own immune system.
 
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