ugh...ich

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boojumsnark25

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Aug 13, 2006
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Literally overnight, the entire tank has ich...the clowns have ich, the 2 tangs have ich, and the foxface has ich... The tank is a 125, and hyposalinity is not an option because the QT is not big enough for all the fish. Are there any in tank treatment options? Hyposalinity in the tank would kill off my coral...

Would primafix/melafix help?
 

Ace25

www.centralcoastreefclub. com
Oct 3, 2005
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www.centralcoastreefclub.com
I don't think it would really help much in your situation... which is a tough one.

This is just me, but if I was in your situation I would probably dose only 25% recommended dosage of both of those AT MOST. IMO it will help them because they will start scratching against rocks to remove the ich, sometimes to the point of injuring themselves. The melafix/pimafix will give a little help in recovery of those types of wounds, but will do very little for the actual ich outbreak.

There really are not a lot of options.. you can't QT, can't hypo, so your left with trying to let nature take its course, which is exactly what I do when I have small outbreaks... and I do about 2x a year. I can go months without any problems, not add anything new, and then for a week have a fish or two show small amounts of ich. I just make sure to soak all the food in garlic guard when I see that and make sure they are eating and acting healthy. In my case it has always worked... My potters angel and another fish started showing signs of ich about 2 months ago, about 5-10 spots total on the angel.. I put in a little medicine, removed carbon, made sure to feed with food soaked in garlic, and it went away in about a week. A month and a half now and I have not seen one spot on a single fish that looks like it could be ich.

The problem is, your case is much worse than mine was. Without other options like QT then unfortunately the reality is you may lose a few fish in the ordeal. I watched a fellow reefer go though that on his tank about 6 months ago.. almost every fish was 75% covered in ich, and he lost about 1/2 his fish from it, the others made it through and recovered.. all he used was Kick Ich to try and solve the problem though, and I have never seen that stuff work reliably or consistently.
 

cav

wayne
Dec 11, 2006
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Hull, UK.
For future reference it's not Ich your fish have it's marine whitespot.
Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifilis) is a freshwater fish disease.
Marine whitespot is caused by the parasite Cryptocaryon irritans, totally different in the way it acts and is treated.
 

boojumsnark25

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Aug 13, 2006
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I might be able to get them all into QT tanks...but if they're all showing stress and covered in spots, is there any hope in saving them?

What do i need to do special in the QT?

Also, there are white spots that are the same size all over the back and side glass of the tank...i wasn't aware white spot did this, have i diagnosed correctly?
 

cav

wayne
Dec 11, 2006
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Hull, UK.
I might be able to get them all into QT tanks...but if they're all showing stress and covered in spots, is there any hope in saving them?

What do i need to do special in the QT?

Also, there are white spots that are the same size all over the back and side glass of the tank...i wasn't aware white spot did this, have i diagnosed correctly?
Can you post any pictures. This may help more than a description.
 

boojumsnark25

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Aug 13, 2006
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No, I don't have a camera capable of focusing in on the specs...but basically, they're little salt sized white specs, about 1/8" apart, covering the yellow tang, and only a few on the foxface and clowns...also there are dozens of them on the glass.

One thing, could I treat with copper if I put the fish in the QT tank and treated them there? Or would enough leach back in to cause problems?

Also, since I can't do anything with the display tank treatment wise, if I try and make it a complete stress free environment as much as possible, would there be any chance of the fish just being able to fish it off naturally? I mean, if I left the tank fishless for 4 weeks to kill the ich off that way. wouldn't the live rock die off without an ammonia source?
 

largeweapons

Registered Member
Aug 21, 2008
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UV light is an option for you it stops the cycle of the white spot ie as they grow and fall from the fish they then spring up and start again . The UV interrupots the reproduction of the whitespot.
 
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