Ich

[Reefdiver77]

I noticed the larger of my 2 false clown percs keeping close to the bottom and breathing rather hard last night. This AM with the MH on, I saw the pinpoint white spots. Knew this had to be ich. I had a 29 gal empty on new stand in my aquarium. With only 15 min left before I had to leave for work, I rapidly mixed up 15 gal of saltwater and threw a powerhead in each 5 gal bucket. Ran by LFS on way home from work this afternoon. Got a hang on filter, therm. and heater as well as CopperSafe. Mixed more saltwater and filled the empty tank. Not the best scenario, but I did not have 24 hrs to wait to start treatment. After getting home, I noticed the other Perc and my Royal Gramma are both infected, as well. Started the pumpalso placed a powerhead with oscillating current attachment in the tank as well as a piece of liverock. No sand. Caught the 2 Percs but have not yet been able to catch the Royal Gramma. Will try again in the AM when the MH come back on. Placed the Percs in the treated quarentine tank. They seem to have adjusted fairly well. Temp and Salinity are the same as in the display tank. When reading info on the CopperSafe, it said not to use a carbon filter that has been in use for less than 6 days as it may remove too much of the copper. I had no choice since this was a new pump. Do I need to get a Copper Test Kit? How long will I need to quarentine? I have added nothing new to my tank in over a month. What caused the ich? What can I do to prevent it in the future? My Blue Dotted Watchman Goby does not seem to be infected. I have several different types of corals in my display tank and knew better than to put the copper in there. Any other suggestions? I am leaving for Florida on vacation on Friday willl be gone over 2 weeks. I have a friend of my son who has a reef tank who will be coming to my home every day to see after my tanks. Luckily he came while I was in the middle of setting up the new tank. I was able to run over everything with him about how I care for my tank, etc. I am still a little nervous, especially since the ich outbreak. However, I think everything is in good hands. TIA

[icarus999]

Try not to use copper, there are some other medications that can help with controlling ich like Chloramin T, copper on the otherhand while killing parasites can also cause the shortening of all life in the aquarium. It will kill of most inverts, corals and beneficial bacteria. For getting it out of rock, I'd recommend removing inverts and performing very fast individual freshawater dips particularly on sponges and corals, not quite sure about anemones though. But the fish, do what you can, if they seem to be in pain or are swimming on their sides or having a hard time breathing, they will most certainly die if this is ich. Make it easier on them and perform euthanasia with a sharp knife behind the head. Ich has a life cycle where there are spores or larval type organisms in water and once they mature, which can take up to a month, they will become infectious.
Sorry this happened to you. Ich sucks. Don't resort to euthanasia unless you get a second opinion. You could try cleaner wrasses too, they help with a ton of other diseases too. Hope you get this taken care of.

Get well soon!

[Andrew]

Copper would be the best way to cure ich. Its the most effective way.

[Reefdiver77]

I am the originl poster. I was able to catch the Royal Gramma last night and place him in the Quarentine tank. All seem well this AM, except the large clown perc, although eating and moving around, lays on his side most of the time. The smaller perc tries his best to keep him upright. Should I get a copper test to check the level of copper in this tank, which has nothing except a small piece of LR in it. No corals, etc. Afraid the new carbon filter may be taking out too much of the copper. TIA

[ironmanxl1]

try not to use carbon in the QT tank. Just get some biomedia from your main tank to put in the QT to avoid a cycle. I wouldnt' put LR in the QT either because the copper will kill everything on/in it and you cannot put it back in your main tank. Make sure you get a copper test too. I think you need to keep the level at .15. I was just dealing with an ich outbreak myself.

[ledford1]

Definitely get a test kit for copper. I might also suggest buying the same brand of test kits and copper if possible. Copper can take many forms and not every test kit measures for every form.

I have never used a pure copper medication. Instead, I have used Cupramine with success in the past. Cupramine is a safer form of copper.

If you are uncomfortable with the copper, you could also check out hyposalinity treatments. Lowering salinity to a certain point will cause the Ich to burst, killing it. Still, this treatment should last several weeks to ensure the entire life cycle of Ich has been wiped out.

I would also suggest taking advantage of the search function. A search for Ich should turn up many threads on this topic. This could help shed some light on the various facets to fighting Ich.

HTH

Good luck

[Steven Pro]

You definitely need a copper test kit to make sure the concentration is high enough to be effective without getting so high as to damage or kill your fish. Mardel (the makers of CopperSafe) recommend either a Hach or LaMotte test kit, I forget which one. But, it should be written somewhere on the paper insert that came with the medication.

And while you are testing the water, be sure to test for ammonia as well. Ammonia can proliferate in an uncycled quarantine tank can to the point were it is just as deadly as the parasitic infestation. If you are having ammonia problems, I would see if you can find some of Marineland's Bio-Spira for saltwater. If not, water changes are about your only other choice.

[modemfox]

That peice of liverock you put in the QT tank and dosed can never go back into the display tank. Oh, and i wouldn't call it live rock anymore.