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Ich problem help
- Thread starter brian91
- Start date
If you can sacrifice few live rocks from your main tank then I would add a few in the QT and used canister filter with some cycled media in it. I had used Seachem Cupramine in QT when I had the issue. It works for sure and Seachem claims that all of the copper could be removed through carbon and/or Seachem Cuprisorb. However, I never added the live rocks that I used for QT into the main tank (didn't want to take a chance and kill my corals). Cupramine doesn't kill live bacteria in the media balls or live rock (as per Seachem). I also experienced it because I had 5-7 fishes in a QT at one point and the ammonia levels didn't rise. Cupramine seem to be a better product than other copper products. It is very easy to dose and maintain the levels. You might need to buy their test kit. I would keep the fish in QT for at least 3-4 weeks. Don.t mix other products with Cupramine. I learned my lesson and never bought a fish again from Petco in last decade. Good luck!
jah-hoeva
Non-member
The preferred copper is Copper Power with a Hanna Copper tester as of late.
A lot of great info here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-and-diagnosis.771/
A lot of great info here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-and-diagnosis.771/
I don't have much of personal experience with Ich X or other copper products. Seachem Cupramine worked well for me and I found it very easy to dose and maintain the levels plus the promise of being able to take the copper out with carbon. In terms of your main tank, you will need to keep it running without any fish for 6-8 weeks. Many people suggest 12 weeks so that there is no unhatched ich eggs left in the tank. You fish are probably in the worst shape now but they will start feeling better in a day or two as you start the treatment. Good Luck!
Yes, I agree with this wholeheartedly. I am using this combination as we speak. If you don't have the Hanna checker, it's going to be difficult to have confidence you are at the proper copper level. And the gap between therapeutic dose and fatal dose is small.
UV is not going to fix the problem.
The entire supply chain seems to have horribly infected fish at much higher rates than in the past. Lots of gram negative bacterial infections now, and also Uronema. These things will kill your fish very, very quickly. Uronema is particularly bad because it can live in your tank for years without a host. So unlike ich, you can't just leave your tank fishless for 11 weeks and get rid of it.
I recently had a pintail fairy wrasse die within hours of taking it home. It had no symptoms at the store and was eating well. A few hours after pickup, a large white spot developed on its flank, and within a couple more hours it was dead.
I now QT immediately with Copper Power, Metroplex, Kanaplex, Furan-2, and feed frozen spirulina brine soaked in Focus and Metroplex for the first two weeks. Then switch to a sterile tank for another two weeks, while treating with General Cure.
This is HotRocks method over at R2R and it is working very well for me.
I've always prophylactically treated in QT and I've never had any fish that had disease in my display since I started doing it.
The reason I am QT'ing now is because my two Hooded Fairy Wrasses died...one after having it for 6 years, the other after 7 years. Do proper QT and your fish will live a long time.
I recently had a pintail fairy wrasse die within hours of taking it home. It had no symptoms at the store and was eating well. A few hours after pickup, a large white spot developed on its flank, and within a couple more hours it was dead.
I now QT immediately with Copper Power, Metroplex, Kanaplex, Furan-2, and feed frozen spirulina brine soaked in Focus and Metroplex for the first two weeks. Then switch to a sterile tank for another two weeks, while treating with General Cure.
This is HotRocks method over at R2R and it is working very well for me.
I've always prophylactically treated in QT and I've never had any fish that had disease in my display since I started doing it.
The reason I am QT'ing now is because my two Hooded Fairy Wrasses died...one after having it for 6 years, the other after 7 years. Do proper QT and your fish will live a long time.
UV will help. feed fish garlic soaked foods. if the clowns host an anenome they can survive an outbreak.
the fish will stress if you move them. i ve had success with uv sterilizer and garlic oil soaked frozen food. ive seen clowns survive an outbreak that were hosting an anenome. im sure QT works some people are big on it.
the fish will stress if you move them. i ve had success with uv sterilizer and garlic oil soaked frozen food. ive seen clowns survive an outbreak that were hosting an anenome. im sure QT works some people are big on it.
Just finished ridding my fish of ice from a tang bought at petco 
, he didn’t make it but was able to save the rest of the fish.
I took them out, put them in a qt tank and treated with cupramine, testing with the Hanna checker. From all the research I did this semester to be the best way to go and worked quite easily.
Now the hard part, I allowed my DT to go fallow for almost 2.5 months to be sure the ich was not able to host and survive in the display. The corals were left in the display and I actually kept adding to it while the fish were on vacation
The fish are now back in the display tank and look happy, the qt now have new fish in it that will be quarantined and treated for a month or so before they go in the dt.
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, he didn’t make it but was able to save the rest of the fish. I took them out, put them in a qt tank and treated with cupramine, testing with the Hanna checker. From all the research I did this semester to be the best way to go and worked quite easily.
Now the hard part, I allowed my DT to go fallow for almost 2.5 months to be sure the ich was not able to host and survive in the display. The corals were left in the display and I actually kept adding to it while the fish were on vacation
The fish are now back in the display tank and look happy, the qt now have new fish in it that will be quarantined and treated for a month or so before they go in the dt.
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Respectfully, UV will help in the sense that it might slow the death of the inhabitants. A UV will not cure ich on its own. The lifecycle of ich and how it replicates are well studied and well known.
And since UV won't actually cure the problem, I wouldn't bother going through the hassle and expense of setting it up.
QT does work. When done properly you are almost certain to never have an issue in your display tank. My display tank has been disease free for nearly a decade.
I understand some people will be willing to take a gamble and that's fine. QT done properly is almost certain to keep your display disease free. Any other way is just a matter of time before you're screwed.
And with Uronema increasingly present in the supply chain, once that gets in your display...have fun, because it's over.
So to summarize, proper QT is almost certain to be successful in keeping your display disease free. UV may help suppress an outbreak, but it will not cure it.
Lots of anecdotes of people saying UV "cures" the ich, but those people always seem to be replacing dead fish after a year or so that would normally live 5-10 years or longer.
Yes, UV sterilizers work. Nobody said anything different. The question is will UV sterilizers cure a tank of ich and the answer is an unequivocal no. The OP needs a good answer that distinguishes the difference.
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Yes a UV sterilizer will not cure you're ick problem in your main display but they are definitely worth adding as additional equipment. He needs to set up a proper quarantine procedure. If he can afford it then having a UV sterilizer on his main display will definitely help him in the long run.
Free garlic foods and fresh if you can. Keep the fish fed well. Garlic entices appetite and a healthy fat fish can fight off the parasite better than a hungry sick fish can. The copper will kill the parasite but will also stress the fish a bit. I have given into the idea of ich is present in most systems so keep the fish healthy by feeding them well and they can keep the parasite in check.
If you are going the copper route then remember to keep your display fish free for 72+ days to make sure the parasite goes through it’s life cycle and won’t reinfect your fish when you place them into the display.
If you are going the copper route then remember to keep your display fish free for 72+ days to make sure the parasite goes through it’s life cycle and won’t reinfect your fish when you place them into the display.
