Very Discouraged Reefer...ick Crisis

[gtooutlaw]

ok this is the thing, my tank is pretty new, about 2 months old, just finished cycling 2 weeks ago. i already have an ick problem. i had it in my 20 gal amd started over in my new 55 gal, only to reoccur AGAIN!! i am so exhausted by this, ive tried medicatio, water changes, i dont know what else to do now....i have some corals in there now so i cant use the really deadly medication but i dont want to put anymore medication anyways, and i cant lower salinity cuz of the corals, and iver tiried to catch some of the fish but cat catch them all due to the rocks and caves......does anyone have any advice for me, ive heard something about foood with garlic. any anyone please help me. or if youve used any medication, WITH SUCCESS!! let me know what to do. i love the hobby and want it to be a pleasure not a chore. :(

[MonoSebaelover]

Welcome to Aquaria Central! The first thing about ich is you have to figure out what is the CAUSE then the treatment will come when the cause has been realized. You didn't give a lot of info about what fish have ich, how long they have been in the tank, what kind of filtration, live rock, water quality etc, so until you inform us about this there is no treatment method that can be suggested. So let us know some more things and we can help you better.

[Ken b]

gtooutlaw,

Your major problem is that the tank is still in it's infancy, so to speak.

The cause of Ich is usually stress on the inhabitants. This could be caused by any number of things. Bad water chemistry, diet, temperature, incompatible species, overcrowding, etc.

You definitely need to tell us about your tank and how it is set up, and what the inhabitants are, and how many. Are you striving for a reef, a fish only, or a marginal reef tank?

The maturation process for a tank takes a good year or so. Until that time you will battle algeal out breaks and other nuisances until the tank finally reaches it's balance.

[gtooutlaw]

ok, well that makes me feel alil better knowing that this is SOMEWHAT normal. the ick seems to have came from a yellow tang from the lfs, it looks to have spread to my two perculas the most and i put them in the qt tank and dropped the salinity and im pretty sure that stressed them too much and unfortunatley i lost those two. the tang right now is really covered in ich but my pj cardinal is spotfree, he looks really healthy. i have some live rock in a 55 gal, 5in DSB, an emporer biowheel hang on filter rated up to 90 gal, umm, what else, thats about it for now like i said its still new and im tryin to take it slow just in case somethihng like this was to happen. what treatment would you reccomend or medication. i did my first water change since i saw the outbreak and will do one again. anything i should buy to prevent this prob in the future?? uv sterilizer, cleaner shrimp?? ect.

[M-pire]

A quarantine tank would be the best way to prevent such an outbreak again. You would have to set up another tank with nothing in it really as the quarantine, where the new fish can stay for a few weeks to get rid of anything before you transfer them to the main tank. However, this isn't allways an option.

If you are willing to pay for an UV sterilizer I would put that money towards setting up a quarantine, but some may disagree.

I have always used green-x in the past, with success, but it stains everything...and I only used it in FOWLR, so I don’t know how it would do with corals.

I've tried the freshwater dip once and stuff did come off, but the fish died anyway...not sure if it was just to late or not, but I won't try it again.

[MonoSebaelover]

The number one problem is you are taking things WAY too fast. 4 fish in your 55 and it has only been post cycle for 2 weeks. The reason you got an ich outbreak is because you added a Tang WAY too soon. They require very healthy mature tanks and it is not advised to even think of putting a Tang in a tank under 6 months old. So for now, I would go ahead and don't use any chemicals (I hate using chemicals, I would rather go the natural method via Cleaner Shrimp or Cleaner Wrasses but I wouldn't add any more fish so go with a shrimp) and just add a Cleaner Shrimp and let him take care of the problem.
Also with the hyposalinity, you can't drop em very fast especially when they are that sick cause that will kill em. Just for future warning.
And I still want to know what water quality is, ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, pH, and salinity.
Anyway, hope this helps and hope the rest of your guys make it. BTW, OrionGirl has a really good quote and she said the only things that go quick in saltwater tanks are bad things.

[gtooutlaw]

ammonia-0.1 nitrites-0 nitrate-0 ph-8.2 salinity-1.023 temp-78

[MonoSebaelover]

My guess is that when you added the fish there was an ammonia spike which caused the ich outbreak. I would just adjust a Shrimp over to your tank VERY slowly due to the ammonia, but the best would be to do a water change then the next day add one. Then just let the tank sit for a month and let the fish ride out the ich and all should be well. Anyway, hope this helps and good luck.

[gtooutlaw]

ok man thanks, i just bought a skunk cleaner, ill p
ut him in tomorrow then

[MonoSebaelover]

Good luck and keep us updated on the progress.

[gtooutlaw]

i put that skunk cleaner shrimp in yesterday morning, the poor thing didnt even float to the bottom of the tank and the yellow tang was already tryin to get the shimp to clean him. today, i would say about 75% of the ick on the tang is gone. ive made sure to keep my temp stable now cuz i think that was the problem. btu all seems to be leveling out.