ICH: How long should i wait??

[SMS76]

Due to tank move and adding another fish, i got ich in my tank. Unfortunately that new arrival didn't make it. I only have two clowns with rose and two green chromis in my 115G. They don't have any ich right now.
Any way i know the cycle of ICK and it takes while for them to get rid of them. Question i have is, for how long should i wait to add another fish to this tank?

 

[NateHanson]

Are you leaving the clowns and chromis in the display tank while you wait out the ich? In that case there will probably be a low level of ich present in the tank (it doesn't completely die off unless the tank is kept fishless for a few weeks - I frankly think most of our tanks have some ich present) but if there's not an active infection going on in the tank, and if the new fish doesn't have an active infection and is in good health, I think that's your best chance for the fish to stay healthy.

I'd probably wait 2-3 weeks to make sure the ich doesn't make a big rebound with your present fish before adding a new one.

That's too bad about your ich casualty. What kind of fish was he?

 

[SMS76]

Nate, Thanks for reply. New addition was Royal Gramma. I will wait around 4 weeks and may be add cheap fish to see what happens. Right now i am going to keep clowns and chromis to the display tank but not sure.

 

[joefitz]

If you've had ich in your tank and you still have fish in there, then your tank will likely always have ich. Many fish can live (apparently) healthy lives coexisting with ich, that is, they do not seem to be infected by it; however, in all likelihood the parasite is still living in your tank.

The only two ways that have been reliabily shown to be effective at eliminating ich in tanks (and yes, it is possible) are copper and hypo-salinity, neither of which are reef-safe.

The basic "recommended" process would be to remove all the fish from your tank and QT them for at least 6 weeks treating with either copper or hypo-salinity. The ich in your main tank will die without hosts to continue its life-cycle (which is roughly in the six week timeline). If your QT treatment was successful and the ich has been killed, at that point you can safely transfer your fish back into your display tank and it will be ich free (until you either add another fish or water from another tank).

So, either live with ich (I can't follow that process for my tank) and hope for the best or, if you can manage it, use one of the above treatments and really take care of it. If you do the latter, you just make sure you always QT every new fish you put in and you should also treat everything else you put in too (corals, etc) and in particular, make sure no water from another tank gets into your system (ich does live in the watercolumn for some span of its lifecycle).

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

 

[SMS76]

What do i need for quarintine (SP..) tank? Will just 20-30G tank, heater and one power head do with couple of days water changes? Also for any new addition, do i need to add any medicines, copper etc.. to make them free of parasites etc..

 

[NateHanson]

I think an inexpensive aquaclear filter with sponge block in it is a good addition to prevent ammonia and nitrite buildup. You can leave the sponge block in your sump for a week to seed it before putting it in the filter on the quarantine tank.