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Reef tank w/ ICH
- Thread starter Anthony
- Start date
There are no reef safe medications out there. Best thing to do is to take the fish out and treat in cupramine (hospital tank)......leaving the main tank fallow for 8-12 weeks. This ensures your tank doesn't have ich (8-12 weeks breaks the lifecycle of ich) and treating the fish gets rid of the ich on them. Other than that, it really is a gamble.....not sure if the UV is going to do what you're hoping it will do.
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I dont think a UV sterilizer is going to help you with Ich.. either you need to remove the fish and treat them, or just learn to live with them. Most tanks have ich present in them, as long as the fish are healthy the parasite wont attach onto the fish.
IMO If you are going to remove and treat the fish, you should do a good amount of research. You will need to QT each fish you get and leave the tank fallow for 8 weeks I think
IMO If you are going to remove and treat the fish, you should do a good amount of research. You will need to QT each fish you get and leave the tank fallow for 8 weeks I think
+1 only real way to treat it. And you'd need to properly quarantining incoming fish for that long also to keep it out of your DT...
do you have any other tangs?
jayinh
barnstead NH
dont waist your money on a UV, i have ich, a UV, ich meds for a reef, and 2 cleaner shrimp.....the cleaner shrimp do a better job than the other items mentioned combined.how many fish do you have total? can you get them all out and into a hopspital tank to treat? I keep my fish fat and well feed as i could not get all the fish out to treat DT and fish.
Topics about UV bother me. You will always see tons of people say that UV doesn't work or it works but very little and useless. I had a outbreak 3 times in my 125 FOWLR. Hooked up a 40 watt UV pushing 117 GPH through it. Ich disappeared within 2 to 3 weeks all 3 outbreaks. Don't think that is by chance. Most people that say UV is useless blah blah blah most likely haven't even used one. I will be honest when I had a 25watt hooked up to the tank, it would keep them in check but not get rid of it. When I used a 40watt all the fish starting showing less and less everyday till it was gone. Will it always be in the tank, obviously. But now I just run my 25watt 24/7 and haven't had a problem since. It's been probably about 2 years since my last outbreak. IMO 40watt will clear it up if the fish can hang on. I wouldn't remove them out of the system as it will just stress out the fish even more. I believe if the wattage is high enough on the UV it will help. Cleaner shrimp as mentioned before will also help. IMO you will kill a lot more parasites with a UV than a cleaner shrimp will. There is no way a cleaner shrimp can keep up with reproduction of ich. Good enough UV and cleaner shrimp I believe will equal success. My fish had it pretty bad also. Most people don't have a porcupine puffer, but they are almost just as bad as blue hippos and powder blues when it comes it ick. Mine was loaded. UV solved it for me with no cleaner shrimp, but I would get some. Didn't lose 1 fish all 3 times. A lot of people fail because they try to run a 8 watt UV on say a tank that is 75 gallons. That should be obvious that it ain't going to work. Like I said before get one that is good enough wattage and you should be ok. Good Luck!
I have never used a UV unit so I'll defer to you on its ability but treating in cupramine and letting the tank go fallow is tried and true. Will it stress the fish out trying to catch them....yes but I think treating the fish and leaving the tank fallow along with a proper QT treatment for new fish coming in is the best advice to give here. A UV on the tank is a nice "cushion" in the battle for ich but I wouldn't have that as my line of defense.....that's just my opinion though - like I said, never used UV to treat ich but i would have to guess that your statement of using under powered units probably is a big reason for fluctuating results.
Ick is frequently "managed" in systems, and this essentially due to various factors the infection largely gets to a low enough level that it's not seen until something stresses things out. Ick will often seem to disappear on it's own.
The problem with UV is that UV can only affect what passes through the unit (assuming the unit is powerful enough for the flow rate being employed). Moreover ick cysts settle on the substrate where there is little chance of ending up passing through the UV unit anyway. When the cysts hatch out into the free swimming stage it may have some impact but it's questionable how much. (Yes, I do have a 40W UV unit - collecting dust in the garage due to it's ineffectiveness).
Also, opinions vary, but most of the credible literature on ick points out that it's imbedded in the fish's skin and the cleaners are simply picking at the damaged and dead tissue assoicated with the ick, not the actual parisites themselves.
The problem with UV is that UV can only affect what passes through the unit (assuming the unit is powerful enough for the flow rate being employed). Moreover ick cysts settle on the substrate where there is little chance of ending up passing through the UV unit anyway. When the cysts hatch out into the free swimming stage it may have some impact but it's questionable how much. (Yes, I do have a 40W UV unit - collecting dust in the garage due to it's ineffectiveness).
Also, opinions vary, but most of the credible literature on ick points out that it's imbedded in the fish's skin and the cleaners are simply picking at the damaged and dead tissue assoicated with the ick, not the actual parisites themselves.
The first time I got ick that is what i did. I took out all my fish and brought them to my LFS which was nice enough to hold the fish for me for 10 weeks. My puffer got ick again within the first week of me putting them back in and the cycle started all over again. Just sharing my experience.
Response to John K
When my fish had ick and I used a UV the first, second and third time, I put the pump that was feeding the UV near the sand bed and in the main display itself as I believe it helps kill more cysts in their free floating stage. That is another reason it doesn't work as effective for people. People put them in their sump and stuff and in my opinion those free floating cysts have a lot better chance of attaching to a fish before they make there was down to the sump and get sucked up. That is what I did at first and didn't do enough for me to even notice a change. It's just my experience as stated before. I'm not saying a UV is a 100% effective in anyway. Just saying it worked for me all 3 times. I believe if more people did it the way I did, more people would have success. There are many factors why UV doesn't work effective enough in general.
@Brady.....did the LFS treat them with a medication? Seems like the fish may have brought ich back with them. There are many myths out there about what does and doesn't work.....from my readings it seems cupramine is above and beyond the best treatment.
Don't get me wrong here.....these forums are for talking about experiences....i'm just asking questions.
Don't get me wrong here.....these forums are for talking about experiences....i'm just asking questions.
Brady-
I can't argue with your experience, but I have to ask why you had to treat 3 times?
As for the LFS holding the fish, how were the fish treated at the store? Even if there was copper in the water, it's not uncommon for LFSs to keep a moderate level of copper in the fish only tanks, enough to keep the parisites at bay but not enough to eradicate them.
I can't argue with your experience, but I have to ask why you had to treat 3 times?
As for the LFS holding the fish, how were the fish treated at the store? Even if there was copper in the water, it's not uncommon for LFSs to keep a moderate level of copper in the fish only tanks, enough to keep the parisites at bay but not enough to eradicate them.
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Not going to name the fish store, but there is a fish store that me and the owner are pretty close. Yes, he always had a certain part of his system running with copper. The fish were in a 150 gallon tank. I got ick 3 times because the first time it was my porcupine puffer that had ick and couldn't see it (probably in his gills or something). Second time was that same puffer after going fishless for 10 weeks got it again after going back in my tank and was clear in a week in the fish store. So 9 weeks in the fish store didn't see it on any of the fish. Third time was from adding a regal angel that stressed out the tank. In my opinion ick is in every tank sitting dormaint. But that is another discussion. I just don't agree with pull all the fish out because I have 6 tanks and have had a outbreak in my 75 gallon a couple of years back went fishless for 8 weeks. Have a QT treated in copper. Fish looked good in QT. Put them back after 8 weeks bang ick. The reason I couldn't treat my 125 in my QT versus my 75 is because I have large fish in my 125 and can't put all of them in a 40 gallon breeder QT. My 75, fish were much smaller so it wasn't a problem. Again I have a close relationship with a LFS owner and he has never screwed me over in all the years I been in the hobby. He does a lot for me that he doesn't do for others. Just happy we can have a discussion and not argue tooth and nail like other stupid topics and forums. Feel free to ask any more questions. I will be more than happy to answer them.
jayinh
barnstead NH
FWIW i have a 36w UV on my 125 that runs 24/7 from day one( except when i had to replace the ballast)and yes it is in the sump area of the system as most do. IMHO i feel the UV doesnt do all much for the ich but then again i have never taken it offline so i could be wrong here, i didnt buy the UV but if i were to, i would use those funds for another solution.i tried some of the "reef safe" meds in the tank also....we all know those dont work either. i just live with it and make sure the fish are happy and well fed.
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