Ich without fish?

[chasesng]

So let me get this straight.......if i think i've got an ich problem, hyposalinity is one of the three recommended procedures.

I must remove all my fish from my DT so the ich will have nothing to host on/in. With nothing to host on, the ich will perish after 4 weeks.

The ich can NOT host on corals, zoa, inverts, tubeworms, etc.

The fish will go in a hospital tank where i will keep them at low salinity during the same 4 weeks.

And i cant do the hyposalinity treatment in my DT because the inverts cant handle such low salinity.

Any other sugestions before i undertake this process?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/fish/111270-marine-ich-steve-norvich.html

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/fish/39191-ich-information.html


Try these links.

 

[chasesng]

I've reviewed those links as well as several others. Was just looking for an abbreviated confirmation.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Ok. Pretty much spot on.

 

[KathyC]

So let me get this straight.......if i think i've got an ich problem, hyposalinity is one of the three recommended procedures.

I must remove all my fish from my DT so the ich will have nothing to host on/in. With nothing to host on, the ich will perish after 4 weeks.

The ich can NOT host on corals, zoa, inverts, tubeworms, etc.

The fish will go in a hospital tank where i will keep them at low salinity during the same 4 weeks.

And i cant do the hyposalinity treatment in my DT because the inverts cant handle such low salinity.

Any other sugestions before i undertake this process?

Better to leave the DT without fish for 6-8 weeks to be 100% sure the ich has perished. 4 weeks is not long enough

No Ich cannot host anything but fish.

The low salinity you need to keep the fish at in the QT tank is 1.009 in order for the Ich to die

Correct.

If your fish are badly infected with Ich, I would suggest you use the copper treatment method and not hyposalinity.

Be sure to carefully monitor the QT for ammonia and keep the water as pristine as possible. be sure to heat & areate it.

Do let us know how things go or if you run into any issues!

 

[mbg75]

No fish in dt for 8 week min to be sure.
If u do hypo, u should use a Ato on the hospital tank. If too much Evap, the salinity will rise and ich will not die off.
If you do copper, get a safe alert for ammonia, as regular ammonia test don't always work with copper.

Also during this period u can't add anything to the dt, as ich can hitchhike in on frags and Inverts.

Really a no win situation unless u qt everything that goes in, always.

I had velvet go thru my tank. Only fish to survive is my bad a** tomato. I left it fallow for 8 weeks, but don't qt any frags. Guess I'm taking chances again.

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[chasesng]

yeah....its actually 4 weeks AFTER the last siting of ich on a fish. So when you add it all up and add a safety margin, we're committed to at least 8 weeks. I really dont want to have to do this again.

When i throw the fish in the qt hypo water....do i acclimate them first or just straight in? I was thinking i needed to acclimate but i suppose its like a less severe dipping that lasts longer.

 

[chasesng]

Began treatment today. Had prepared QT yesterday and had it running overnight. Unfortunately woke to find the infected Royal Gramma deceased. Transferred remaining five fish into QT. Had to pretty much totally break down rockscape to get them. What a mess. Managed to get layout pretty much back as it was originally, in the hopes that there would be minimal change in flow and lighting. Just saw starfish moving around so no known casualties at this point.

The hospitalized fish are in an 11gal AIO at recommended temp and salinity. Gave them a couple pieces of plastic tubing for shelter and thats it. Pretty barren.

Over the next two weeks, we'll be keeping a close eye on them with frequent water changes to avoid cycling. Then a couple extra days for good measure and i'll begin the gradual return to normal salinity.

Will be interesting to see how much feeding i need to do in the DT for the inverts. All i know at this point is i hope those f%$#@ parasites die a slow horrible death of starvation.

 

[mbg75]

Watch the ammonia levels if u didn't seed the qt with a sponge or rock.

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[chasesng]

keeping a close eye to avoid a cycle was the plan. i had read that, ideally, the QT should contain only the fish and a few pvc-type items for shelter. anything else might harbor parasites. i suppose the hypo salinity should kill them, but i'm trying to play it by the book.

 

[mic_1011]

theres a product by seachem called cupramine. worked wonders for my ick situation. it's a weaker form of copper and removable by carbon or cuprisorb!

 

[chasesng]

So last week i finished 4 weeks of hyposalinity quarantine at 111 ppt. The last 5 nights I have added salt solution to raise the tank about 2ppt each night. After tonight's treatment I'm now at 119 ppt. I figure another 10 days or so and i should be at 135 and match my DT. At that point the DT will have had just over 6 weeks of "emptiness" and parasites DEAD.

The three QT survivors (perc, goby, firefish) seem to be doing ok. They definitely notice when the salt solution gets added but dont seem distressed by it. Seems more like they're saying...."hey i remember that feeling".

The one thing i would do differently and for anyone else considering hyposalinity is..... bring the salinity down gradually. Maybe not as slowly as i am raising it now, but definitely not the shock treatment they got when i took them from the DT.

And i would also second all the other votes for a refractometer. I thought it would be more of a nuisance to use but i find it actually easier than a hydrometer. As for accuracy, the comparisons i've done show that my hydrometer is actually pretty accurate. Its just much easier to pull a little water out for the refrac than sticking the whole hydrometer in the tank.

 

[marrone]

When doing Hypo you're suppose to bring it down slowly, over a # of days.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/pests/99517-ich-cryptocaryon-irritans-part-ii.html

 

[mbg75]

I been reading up on the fallow period. 8 weeks is 97.5% possibility of parasite eradication in dt. 10 weeks is 99.9%

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[ixTCxi]

Can you do water change within that 8weeks for the DT?

 

[KathyC]

Can you do water change within that 8weeks for the DT?

Yes, you can & should for the benefit of the other critters in the tank.

Do be sure to discard the old water and not use it in your QT tank as you could reintroduce Ich to the QT.

 

[ixTCxi]

Yes, you can & should for the benefit of the other critters in the tank.

Do be sure to discard the old water and not use it in your QT tank as you could reintroduce Ich to the QT.

Thanks =). I can leave the inverts and corals in the DT right?

 

[KathyC]

Thanks =). I can leave the inverts and corals in the DT right?

Yup, as long as there are no fish in there for 8 weeks, you'll be good to go