Quote:
Originally Posted by Lance
Dammit!  I knew I was looking for trouble and I found it. My new Harlequin Tuskfish has Ich and he's in the main tank.
I had been looking for an Aussie Tuskfish and a Chocolate Tang, and had put the word out to several suppliers. As luck would have it, two different suppliers came up with the two fish within days of each other. I didn't want to quarantine two large fish in a 20 gal QT at the same time, (figured that was asking for trouble) so I decided to put the Tang in the QT and the Tusker in the display. I was uncomfortable with this as I always quarantine new fish but Tuskfish are supposedly quite hardy, and I thought it was the better choice of the two, as Tangs are such Ich magnets. He looked great, nice colour, fat and healthy with no signs of disease. So now I have a $200 fish with Ich in my tank! In hindsight, I should have turned down one of the fish but I felt guilty refusing one after they brought them in specially for me.
There's far too many fish to remove and quarantine. I've just done a 25% water change and siphoned most of the substrate out. I'll run a diatom frequently and up the dosage of garlic and Selcon. He only has a few spots on him and none of the other fish show signs yet. Hopefully I get through this without any casualties and just live with Ich in the tank. What do you guys with large tanks and lots of fish do when Ich appears? I could hook-up a UV sterlizer I guess. If worst comes to worst and the Ich becomes a real problem I'll have to buy a larger QT and remove all the fish. Suggestions? Anything else I can do? |
Live with it. Healthy fish will not die of ich. I know so many people now with large tanks, many large fish and most have ich in the tank. I have had ich in my tanks for years now and never lost a fish excpet in QT.
My Tusk still has some ich but long as he is eating, not rubbing and acting normal, he is fine.
You will notice break outs will become less and less severe as time goes on. Eventually they just kind of show up for a day or two here and there.
I think your on the right track though. I would try to get the tank stocked relatively soon and then do not add more fish. Just let them deal with the ich thats there. If you keep adding fish, you will generally see flare ups each time the new guy goes in.
Good luck!