Now I"ve done it!

[lsudiva]

I have a 46 gal bowfront with about 45 lbs of live rock. I had an Ich outbreak and did a lot of reading. Since I have a couple of anemones (I have a Condy and a rose), treating the whole tank with copper is out. I kept reading that if we made sure everyone in the tank was super well fed, the fish should kick it themselves. The problem with this being that I've way overdone it and caused my tank to spike. All 3 of the big no no's are, or have been present. I did a 20% water change and as of now my levels are this:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 20

I've also noticed the tank clouding up, so I'm pretty sure that I'm having a full blown cycle. I'm pretty sure that it's a bacteria bloom.

My question is this: should I do another water change today, or keep an eye on it and let it level out on its own?

I guess it would also be pertinent to add that I have a wet/dry filter that I've been slowly taking the Bio-Balls out. I should have enough LR to sustain the system, but I knew that new bacteria would have to build in the system from the removal of the bio-balls.

Thanks for your advice and info!

[chaffey]

what did you overdone your tank with ? feeding ?

best way is add carbon, change water, run wet skimate and keep your eyes on the anemome.

[Capt'n T]

Try soaking your food with garlic or something like selcon (sp?) Don't overfeed though it will cause all of your numbers to spike (nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, and phosphates). Maybe smaller more frequent water changes. May be try doing 10% every couple days for a week. Then test again or test daily. But the garlic extract should help. Hope it works out for you.

[lsudiva]

Not so much overdose, just overfed. I'm feeding a combination of different things: Nori, Rod's Food, Mysis and some formula 1. I've also mixed in some freshly cut up garlic (which I've read is supposed to help). Now I'm feeding much more lightly.

[druce]

no matter how well fed, your fish will never kick ick

ick stays in the tank - while healthier fish will fend off the effects of ick better, the only true way to get rid of ick is to break the lifecycle of the parasite.

this includes removing all fish from the display tank, treating them with a copper based medication and letting the display tank go fallow for 6-8 weeks

I battled ick off and on for over a year, at one point I thought it was all gone, only for it to come back in full force. The above method was the only way I was able to beat it.

[igotthatFIREman]

hypo works wonders.........

[druce]

Originally posted by igotthatFIREman
hypo works wonders.........

hypo will do good for the fish, but as soon as you put him back in the tank, you'll infect him again.

hypo only makes the parasite on the fish drop off - and there is some debate as to actually how effective hypo is.

[lsudiva]

This is all great info, but what I really need to know right now is should I do another water change? Will it hurt anything if I do?

Thanks again!

[druce]

doing water change won't hurt anything

it won't help get rid of ick - but it won't hurt anything

[lsudiva]

Awesome! Thanks a ton. At this point I'm trying to tackle one problem at a time, and since the water is so borked, it's top priority!

[UntamedBreez]

if the two anemomes are the only inverts your worried about see if you LFS will give you credit for them....

[DriftRtist]

hypo only makes the parasite on the fish drop off - and there is some debate as to actually how effective hypo is

Can you show me where hypo being effective is questionable? Where did you read this? I thought that hypo was supposed to end the icks life cycle by killing it when it drops off fish to reproduce.

[druce]

ich - the treatment of ich and the myths of ich have been covered on this forum site ad naseum

here are just a few links that I found by looking thru my history:
Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

thread 4

the mother of all Ich threads from the Fish Disease forum

My own thread discusses Ich treatment as well

I hope this helps.

[druce]

Originally posted by DriftRtist
Can you show me where hypo being effective is questionable? Where did you read this? I thought that hypo was supposed to end the icks life cycle by killing it when it drops off fish to reproduce.

Hypo has been pro-ported to work (I myself have never tried it). You have to understand that putting an already stressed fish in hypo may not be a good idea (once again your mileage will vary). Also - the hypo will only effect the cysts on the fish, and not those in the aquarium water column, so this is only a temporary fix.

If you have inverts or coral in the tank, going on hypo on the whole display tank is not an option.

[igotthatFIREman]

i have done hypo on my dt by taking out all inverts and live rock. i let the rock site for 6 weeks and after that icks life cycle dies with out having a host. and at 1.009ppm the ick will drop off after 4-6 weeks. it worked for me and i dont really believe it to be a temp fix. i plan on preforming hypo on every fish i get from now on and i believe that i wont get ick in my dt again this way.

[druce]

Originally posted by igotthatFIREman
i have done hypo on my dt by taking out all inverts and live rock. i let the rock site for 6 weeks and after that icks life cycle dies with out having a host. and at 1.009ppm the ick will drop off after 4-6 weeks. it worked for me and i dont really believe it to be a temp fix. i plan on preforming hypo on every fish i get from now on and i believe that i wont get ick in my dt again this way.

that method will work fine, it's only a temp fix if you hypo the fish and then reintroduce it back to an infected tank.

[igotthatFIREman]

but if you treat all your fish with hypo, and your whole system is fish free for 4-6 weeks, there will never be ick in your system. and thats what i did, so i should never experience ick again so long as i hypo every fish i put into my tank

[druce]

Originally posted by igotthatFIREman
but if you treat all your fish with hypo, and your whole system is fish free for 4-6 weeks, there will never be ick in your system. and thats what i did, so i should never experience ick again so long as i hypo every fish i put into my tank

yes - that system would work

since you are letting your display tank go fallow.

[Grins]

I agree with Druce, treat the fish in QT and let your tanks go fallow for 4+ weeks.