Cryptocaryon irritans

[guardian]

Hi, my reef tank is having problem of saltwater ich. Actually, they had killed all my fishes one month ago. There was no fish in my tank for a month until a week ago I bought a powder tang and a queen. Oh my got, they gone today wighout any white spots on bodies but breath rapidly.

Please teach me how to fix it.

 

[Terry B]

Rapid breathing can be caused by an number of things including Amyloodinium, stress, or toxins in the water. Cryptocaryon irritans usually does not cause rapid breathing in the early stages, although it can if enough parasites are present in the system. If you are not quarantining all new fish for several weeks BEFORE placing them into your display then you are running a very high risk of re-infecting the tank all over again. A fallow period of 30 days is usually long enough to starve ich out of a tank, but you can bring it right back again by adding un-quarantined fish.
If you have not yet had long term success with easier to keep species then I cannot recommend trying any tangs or angelfish. In the hands of a novice these species end up dead more often than not.
I suggest starting with a LARGE water change using well aged and aerated saltwater. Check all the water parameters, especially the pH, ammonia and nitrite levels.
If you tank does not contain any inverts, live rock, or live sand then you can treat with hyposalinity right in the display. Do not treat sharks or rayfish with hypo. You will need a LARGE lab grade hydrometer or better yet a refractometer to monitor the salinity (not SG) on a daily basis. The pH must be checked daily and add a buffer as needed. Hyposalinity consists of maintaining the salinity at 16ppt or less for a minimum of 3 weeks, 30 days is better. I suggest a salinity (not SG) of 14ppt. The main thing to do is try to confirm a diagnosis before beginning treatment and improve the water conditions. Please report any more details that you can think of. Each bit of information is a tool that I can use to help you.
Terry B

 

[djangoboots]

Terry, is there any hope in using reef safe ich treatments such as "no ich" maded by fishvet? I am having an ich outbreak in my 125 that does contain inverts and some LR. All fish are still eating but they are becoming more irritable. I started treating with no ich 4 days ago. I am not sure what else I can do. My quarantine tank is not big enough to hold all the fish for treatment or else I would just trying catching them all and letting the ich in the big tank die out.
thanks, jessa

 

[Terry B]

Jessa,
I am sorry to say that IMO, none of the so-called reef safe medications are consistently effective. I certainly would not bet the lives of my fish on any of them. This is just another reason why quarantine before placing fish into a reef aquarium should not be considered optional. You probably would have avoided this situation if you had quarantined.
I recommend keeping a cycled quarantine tank running at all times.
Fish will generally continue to eat normally until the infection becomes advanced. Unfortunately, you have painted yourself into a bit of a corner. Sorry, but there are not any easy, convenient ways out of your situation. There are some things that you can try, but the odds are not in your favor that they will work. The only I can suggest that MAY work that is easy to do is to feed the fish garlic soaked foods for several weeks. A powerful UV can help, but it is not a reliable cure either.
The only treatments that are consistently reliable require treatment in a separate aquarium. Copper, hyposalinity or the transfer method are the only treatments that can be depended on to work. Maybe you should consider getting a large food grade Rubbermaid container to use as a quarantine tank. Just add a heater, some PVC pipe for hiding places and something for water circulation and biological filtration. BWT, no ich treatment works on every phase of the parasite. Even the best treatment takes time to work by interrupting the parasites life cycle at one stage or another.
Terry B