Tang with ich went fallow for 6 weeks and it came back
- Thread starter Gsxkid
- Start date
neptune
Well-Known Member
I had a sterile system... Went fallow and then QT everything using TTM for 3 years. After reading and some thoughtful research.. I started adding live black worms to my systems and feeding clams. The change in the color of my blue hippo tang was amazing! No ill effects on my fish at all. I am not as convinced as Paul B that it is the black worms OR the clams b/c I started enhancing their diet all at the same time. In retrospect I should have added one new improvement to observe the benefits.. BUT when you are making a change for the health of your fish.. I threw science aside and enhanced everything together. I also started supplementing with Selcon AND giving way more nori.
I am still QT my fish before they enter the DT... to teach them to eat worms, clams, mysis, and high quality flake. I also want to observe and ensure that they do not have velvet / ich so that if they do I have them in an environment where I can observe them better and treat them if needed.
Neptune
Good Luck.
I am still QT my fish before they enter the DT... to teach them to eat worms, clams, mysis, and high quality flake. I also want to observe and ensure that they do not have velvet / ich so that if they do I have them in an environment where I can observe them better and treat them if needed.
Neptune
Good Luck.
I say Paul B's tank defies all odds in terms of offering the fish a stable, healthy and deliberately diverse system that will maximize on their natural potential to fight off anything. That plus his sense of humor and I take everything with a respectful grain of salt. I don't doubt what he reports, but I do wonder how many reef keepers are actually likely to be able to replicate some of his positive results 
As for starting with a sterile system, IMO that's the way to go if you want to have an ick free system the easiest way possible. By that I mean it's far easier to treat the fish with some degree of confidence, vs what's involved in treating an infected (fallow) system. With fish in QT, 4-6 weeks time and you can treat with copper or TTM and then have a solid observation period to pretty much be sure they are clean. For an infected system you remove the fish and then need to wait somewhere between 10-52 weeks ( ? ? ), then put the fish back in as the test. Beating ick once it's established is a b**** but can be done. Starting clean and treating incoming fish is SOOOO much easier, and once you are pretty confident that your system IS clean it starts to seem much more reasonable to consider treating any incoming new fish.
As for starting with a sterile system, IMO that's the way to go if you want to have an ick free system the easiest way possible. By that I mean it's far easier to treat the fish with some degree of confidence, vs what's involved in treating an infected (fallow) system. With fish in QT, 4-6 weeks time and you can treat with copper or TTM and then have a solid observation period to pretty much be sure they are clean. For an infected system you remove the fish and then need to wait somewhere between 10-52 weeks ( ?
? ), then put the fish back in as the test. Beating ick once it's established is a b**** but can be done. Starting clean and treating incoming fish is SOOOO much easier, and once you are pretty confident that your system IS clean it starts to seem much more reasonable to consider treating any incoming new fish.
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bdaley
Well-Known Member
I agree with Nick keep the tank well fed and the tank stable and the fish should be able to fend it off, you will still see spots now and and again.
