ICH!!!!!

[Doug]

Beautiful tank Daniella

[Seth81]

I am going through a battle of ICH as well. Mine all started with a blue hippo tang that I did not quarantine when I got him. He was fine for a week or so until he jumped out of the tank while I was trying to rescue him from the overflow. I did rescue him from the floor and he was fine for a day, then ICH took hold of him. My wife and I tried to catch him for at least two hours but couldn't catch him for the life of us. Two days later I noticed ICH on 3 other fish. I have already been soaking mysis and flakes in Kent Garlic and running a UV sterilizer (at proper flow rate).

I have corals and cleaner shrimp so unwilling to do tank wide hypo or copper.

So I went to the LFS and the guy there recommended this Herbatana stuff. It's all natural and reef safe. That was 8 days ago and the ICH hasn't spread past the fish that already had it. But the fish that did have it before are getting worse. I lost the blue Hippo tang yesterday, and I'm sure I'll lose the Flame angel today or tomorrow.

From now on I will QT everything with coppermine. As for what to do now... well I guess just hope UV + Garlic and Herbatana minimizes losses. I would consider moving my coral and shrimp to a seperate tank while I do hypo, but not sure what hypos effect is on my 210 lbs of live rock

[daniella3d]

The liverock and biofilter survive very well in hyposalinity but all pods will die, including aiptasia (good thing), feather duster, sea stars etc...they will all die.

It is best to treat in a QT and put a few pieces of liverock in there. The bacterias survive just fine and do their job in hyposalinity, so no worry about a cycle. Of course a skimmer will not work, so a small filter hang on tank like a magnum is usefull, especially with the micron filter to help catch those nasty parasites in the water.

This is why QT is so important because it may be a hassle to do a proper quarantine but it is FAR more of a hassle to have to treat fish once they are in the main tank full of rock and infected and suffering and dying. Having to deal with an infected tank is no better as each bout of stress can bring on a full level infection.

YOu got ich and it killed a few of your fish...you can imagine what velvet would do. All your fish would probably be dead, even if you treated them. It is that fast.

REally sad about your fish.

Originally Posted by Seth81

I am going through a battle of ICH as well. Mine all started with a blue hippo tang that I did not quarantine when I got him. He was fine for a week or so until he jumped out of the tank while I was trying to rescue him from the overflow. I did rescue him from the floor and he was fine for a day, then ICH took hold of him. My wife and I tried to catch him for at least two hours but couldn't catch him for the life of us. Two days later I noticed ICH on 3 other fish. I have already been soaking mysis and flakes in Kent Garlic and running a UV sterilizer (at proper flow rate).

I have corals and cleaner shrimp so unwilling to do tank wide hypo or copper.

So I went to the LFS and the guy there recommended this Herbatana stuff. It's all natural and reef safe. That was 8 days ago and the ICH hasn't spread past the fish that already had it. But the fish that did have it before are getting worse. I lost the blue Hippo tang yesterday, and I'm sure I'll lose the Flame angel today or tomorrow.

From now on I will QT everything with coppermine. As for what to do now... well I guess just hope UV + Garlic and Herbatana minimizes losses. I would consider moving my coral and shrimp to a seperate tank while I do hypo, but not sure what hypos effect is on my 210 lbs of live rock

[mrhasan]

Ich can be such a pain!!!!!

[Seth81]

I stopped using that Herbatana BS and just did a nice big 20% water change, turned up the flow on my UV sterilizer to the recommended flow rate to kill protozoa and every one looks much healthier (except I did lose my flame angel), only my rusty angel has a few spots on him, but every day the spots are getting fewer. I really thought I was going to lose my sail fin tang, phew!

[mrhasan]

Well like the saying goes "every tank is different from every other tank". Some find that herbals work while others don't. For example, ick attack is working great for me. My fishes are well recovered.

So it totally depend on the tank. If herbals didn't actually work, then those products wouldn't have been on the market for years. It does work but not in every tank.

Originally Posted by Seth81

I stopped using that Herbatana BS and just did a nice big 20% water change, turned up the flow on my UV sterilizer to the recommended flow rate to kill protozoa and every one looks much healthier (except I did lose my flame angel), only my rusty angel has a few spots on him, but every day the spots are getting fewer. I really thought I was going to lose my sail fin tang, phew!

[daniella3d]

And probably still infected. Ich has a cycle and I suspect that when ever the snake oil remedies work is probably because the ich cycle come and go, or it was not ich to begin with.

You may see ich again eventually if you create a stress to your fish.

Originally Posted by mrhasan

My fishes are well recovered.