Good ol Ich

[clearskys]

Hi all, its been a while since my last post, but things have been a little crazy 'round here.

Recently I aquired some fish from a friend who was shutting down his tank. He told me that the fish had a bout with saltwater ich. And that he had been medicating with copper for some time now. So me being the by the book reef keeper,I interrogated my friend as to how long he had been medicating, was it actually at theraputic levels, and did he know that waterchanging reduces copper levels? And of course he replied with the friendly YEP.
Well with much skepticism I reluctantly took the fish home. Now at the time I had not had a hospital setup, because I had no intentions on any new fish, nor had I any problems with disease for almost two years. So when ich broke out I set up a Med tank and spent many hours chasing fish around the rock trying many various, quite comical methods of capture. Finally a little treat inside an acrylic hang on box made quite the snare. Well with proper meds the fish are doing very well. My question is the length of time there should be no host in the system so ich wont come back. My belief is at least a year. Of course every pet shop "guru" HA!! has some sort of theory on how long those little suckers will lay dormant with no host???

Help

[Spanky]

My belief is at least a year.

ROTFL mine too! Sometimes I think the only way to never have ick, is to not put any fish in the tank.

General consensus is 6 weeks without a host. I'd go 8.

Spanks

[TerryB10]

The longest recorded time period for a tomont to hatch is 72 days. However, the parasite quickly loses the ability to produce viable theronts after two weeks. The longer they take to hatch the less ability they have to find and attach to a host. Leaving the display fishless for 30 days is usually long enough, six weeks if you want to be extra cautious.
If you want to prevent getting ich into your display in the first place or from getting it in there again then quarantine all new fish in hyposalinity PRIOR to adding them into the display. Do not do this with sharks or rayfish.
Terry B

[aquaticsdeptleader]

uv sterlizer?

[TerryB10]

Not.
Terry B

[Spanky]

Originally posted by aquaticsdeptleader
uv sterlizer?

Works for us!

Spanks

[TerryB10]

UV lights work much better when placed between tanks in a multi-tank system. In this set up ALL the water must pass through the UV before it can get into the next tank. In a single tank setup all the water does NOT pass through the UV unit before any free-swimming theronts can find a host. They can swim directly from the substrate upon hatching to a host fish without ever being exposed to the UV. This makes using a UV much less effective at wiping out ich in an individual tank than it is at preventing the spread of the parasites from tank to tank in a multi-tank system.
Terry B

[Spanky]

Works for us!

LOL

[mojoreef]

I have heard alot of peoples views that the use of hyposalinity is not a perfered meathod for the treatment of ICH, and in actuallity tends to stress the fish to the point to where the wounds on the fish due to the damage inflicted by the parasite will cause the fish to sucumb quicker.

[Spanky]

Works for us!

ROTFL

[triggereel]

I found a fish with the terrible Ich problem would usually get rid of the problem themselves if
-they are properly eating right(maybe feed slightly more)
-the water conditions are in check
-not being picked on by other inhabitants
-no temp swings more then 3 degrees during a 24 hour period
-any treatment in a seperate tank stresses the fish more
including fish water dip.
the fish might be gone of the ich problem right away but it will likely get it back since the problem is in the system and the fish will still be stressed out.
-Remember that a UV kills good and bad!

I do not use a UV and I just make sure my fish is eating and they come out of the ICH sickness.
The problem I feel would be that the fish isnt eating then you have a problem.

[gregt]

Terry's got a point. If the UV is not properly sized, then it won't kill ich. A properly sized unit with the proper amount of flow will work like a charm.

Ok, this might not be properly sized, 150 watts of HO UV might be a bit much, but don't tell my corals since they are growing out of the top of the water.

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[TerryB10]

Mojoreef,
The comments that you made make me think that you are confusing hyposalinity therapy with a freshwater dip. They are not the same thing.
Terry B

[aquaticsdeptleader]

uvs effectivness in a one tank system may not be as good as in two but removeing any howerver small amount of nasties from water column = for me

[Casey]

wowee from Gregs pic the uv is way to big and the pump way to small