ick

[reeferaddict]

Ich is always in your system... there should be no need to QT all of this fish in your system. Fish that are stressed and not eating are prone to parasites.

If you CAN move any infected fish into a quarantine and treat with copper that would be great...

Andrew - that was the most polite flame I have ever received - thank you.

I agree that Cleaner Wrasses aren't for MOST systems, but I noted that this system seemed large enough that it may work well... one thing I DO know about Cleaner Wrasses is that they'll clear ich off anything in no time and the fish love it! I have 3 cleaner shrimp as well... but they didn't seem to do anything about the ich...

[andrewsk]

Originally Posted by reeferaddict

Ich is always in your system... there should be no need to QT all of this fish in your system. Fish that are stressed and not eating are prone to parasites.

If you CAN move any infected fish into a quarantine and treat with copper that would be great...

Andrew - that was the most polite flame I have ever received - thank you.

I agree that Cleaner Wrasses aren't for MOST systems, but I noted that this system seemed large enough that it may work well... one thing I DO know about Cleaner Wrasses is that they'll clear ich off anything in no time and the fish love it! I have 3 cleaner shrimp as well... but they didn't seem to do anything about the ich...

Ick can remain in some systems, that's true. The fish remain healthy and are able to fight off a low number of them, but as soon as any stress strikes, it can be deadly.

Letting the tank fallow for 6 weeks and treating all fish in QT guarantees that your system is ick free.

It's a gamble really. He could leave the Tang, add a cleaner and hope. But I would put money on what will happen is that in a week or 2 we get another panicked message that the Tang is dead and his other fish are showing signs of ick.

Then his fish are in real trouble.

Either way, very frustrating.

Do you not think fish need to be quarantined?

I will agree that a Cleaner Wraisse is very efficient and some people are able to keep them, just not most.

[i have crabs]

sorry my qt is still full for another few weeks or i would copper the little jerk for you,

[reeferaddict]

Originally Posted by andrewsk

Do you not think fish need to be quarantined?

No argument there, though I don't have a propensity to do it myself. My past experiences with quarantine have been miserable, even with a dedicated 33g QT system, set up with or without rock, PVC, proper lighting etc... What I do now is throw any new fish in my fuge and keep an eye on them for a week or so for any signs of parasites or stress... usually once they start eating and are strong enough to ward off parasites I'll toss them in the main tank... so far I've been lucky... touch wood... My approach would be totally different in a FOWLR setup, but in the reef I really try to use natural methods...

QT seems to be a 50/50 thing... some people swear by it... others think it's a waste of time... I'm still on the fence.

[phreezee]

Quarantining fish is a waste of time 100% of the time, if you don't also quarantine corals, rocks, etc.

Not too many people have the patience to quarantine frags for 6 weeks, and everytime you get a new one, the clock resets.

[christyf5]

Neon gobies work fantastically IMO. They have a higher survivability rate than cleaner wrasses and eat pretty much whatever you give them as well. If not, Kents Garlic Extreme will stink out your whole house but it does work

[OCDP]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Neon gobies work fantastically IMO. They have a higher survivability rate than cleaner wrasses and eat pretty much whatever you give them as well. If not, Kents Garlic Extreme will stink out your whole house but it does work

I am going to get a couple of these for my new setup.

Here's my tank on things.. I have had ick on and off but only to new additions. It's never spread to my other fish. I have added/replaced 3 fish in my tank and haven't seen it since.... a lot depends on a bunch of other factors when buying fish and introducing them to a system as well IMO.

I have only lost 1 fish to ick (flame angel) and well, that probably wasn't a wise purchase and I do regret it.. Anywhoo,

What I have used in the past for ick is garlic and and good, stable water paramaters. That does the trick for me...

Good luck.. try stuffing him with garlic. Look into the fish suggested, and also Polyp Lab just came out with a new med for getting rid of ick.. might be worth checking out. I am going to myself, polyp lab seems to have some good stuff.

[i have crabs]

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php