ich?

[kristylove4]

we just got a fish two days ago, a longnose butterfly, and i noticed today that he has ich. i dont want to take him back, i really like this little guy and our tang seems to have taken a liking to him (they school together, wherever the butterfly goes, the tang is not far behind). so how do i treat it? we have a ton of little critters on the rocks (anemones, crabs, snails, worms, slugs, corals -soft and hard-, star fish, etc.) so i dont want to kill them off. also ive noticed little white bugs on the glass that the butterfly eats, are those ich too or just little bugs?
also, what is the best way to get rid of aptasia? the guy we bought our rock from had kind of slacked off for the last few months before he sold it since he knew he was breaking down his tank and they got a little out of hand. i managed to get a few off (whole) with clamp type things if i can grab them before they suck in but theres some in holes that i just cant get. if i poke them with something will they die? or just...combust?
oh and one more question-our button polyps have some stuff coming out of them, it looks like jelly. are they dying? they still eat the blood worms (when they can catch them) and sometimes open up and its only a few here and there.
sorry for all the questions. can you tell im new haha?

 

[Star_Rider]

the best way to treat is to move the fish to a Hospital tank. you can they use hypo salinity method(lower the Sg ) varies in sg reading(1.009-1.010) ..but you need to use a refractometer to adjust as the float type may not be accurate enough.

hot water injected into the aptasia usually works( I have peppermint shrimp in mine)

 

[kristylove4]

im not sure what happened but when i woke up today the dots were gone. when we first brought him home i noticed them as soon as i put him in the tank. i thought maybe they were just air bubbles but they stayed for a few days so i thought it was ich, but now its gone completly.
as for the aptasia, how to i keep them from sucking down into their hole to inject them? i have two peppermint shrimp but they dont seem interested. how many shrimp does it take for them to level out the aptasia population usually?

 

[Reefscape]

You could try blasting the hole out with a syringe full of boiling water...had to do this a few times before...worked well i have to say....

As for the ich, yes, bubbles or sand grains is possible...Just keep a close eye on them, if it returns, then i would concider treatment..as mentioned above, hypo is a good solution, and you will find an article written on this in the marine article section..

Hope this helps..

 

[kristylove4]

i just looked at the fish again and he does have ich. i think in the 10,000 light i cant see it but in the actinic light i can see them very clear.
so, how do i treat the entire tank, not just the one fish? are there chemicals that are completly safe for a wide variety of critters? im just worried there is ich already in the water. i hate to add chemicals to my tank but im sceptical about just removing him. also, how effective are freshwater dips? im pretty mad that my LFS sold me a fish that wasnt healthy. and im very mad at myself for not quarintining him; lesson learnt there.
for the aptasia, wont it kill the other stuff around it if i sear it with boiling water? there is a fairly large cluster right next to my little flower things (im no good with names) and some mushrooms.
thanks for the advice guys.

 

[kristylove4]

yet another question (i hope its okay to ask on the same thread, i wont want to open a million new ones for all my noob questions haha). we were watching our tank tonight and noticed one of our hermits moved into a small piece of live rock, small enough for him to move around and all. is this normal? not sure if you can make it out in the photo. at first i thought it was a shell covered in stuff but its definatly a piece of rock. go figure, we buy them all these shells they can move into, different shapes, sizes, and types and he picks a rock of all things.
makes for a good chuckle at any rate.

 

[Reefscape]

i just looked at the fish again and he does have ich. i think in the 10,000 light i cant see it but in the actinic light i can see them very clear.
so, how do i treat the entire tank, not just the one fish? are there chemicals that are completly safe for a wide variety of critters? im just worried there is ich already in the water. i hate to add chemicals to my tank but im sceptical about just removing him. also, how effective are freshwater dips? im pretty mad that my LFS sold me a fish that wasnt healthy. and im very mad at myself for not quarintining him; lesson learnt there.

<<Always best to remove the fish, and treat them for hyposalinity in a quarantine tank. Please do review the following article.

A general guide to Hyposalinity

I really dislike adding any chemicals to the tank. Freshwater dips, are effective for somethings, however, Ich is not one to use for. Once the fish are removed to quarantine, the main display tank will be allowed to fall fallow, and any remaining ich cysts or free swimming will die as there will be no hosts for them.>>

for the aptasia, wont it kill the other stuff around it if i sear it with boiling water? there is a fairly large cluster right next to my little flower things (im no good with names) and some mushrooms.
thanks for the advice guys.

<<Done with care, its usually safe. Maybe provide us with a photograph, so we can identify what is next to the aiptasia before you commence removal.>>

Added some comments above..

 

[Reefscape]

yet another question (i hope its okay to ask on the same thread, i wont want to open a million new ones for all my noob questions haha). we were watching our tank tonight and noticed one of our hermits moved into a small piece of live rock, small enough for him to move around and all. is this normal? not sure if you can make it out in the photo. at first i thought it was a shell covered in stuff but its definatly a piece of rock. go figure, we buy them all these shells they can move into, different shapes, sizes, and types and he picks a rock of all things.
makes for a good chuckle at any rate.

Its certainly nothing to worry about. Sometimes hermits will go into hiding when its time for them to molt. This could be what its doing..or, it could simply be foraging for something to eat..

 

[kristylove4]

ok so we have our hospital tank set up, running, and all the fish are in it (we took water straight out of our show tank along with one of the side filters). its only a 20 gal but for a hospital i dont think i can go much bigger. ive been reading up on different methods (thanks for the link BTW). im torn between doing hyposalinity, doing a 50% water change daily, or just treating my hospital tank and allowing my show tank to 'clear' itself of ich-letting them all die off without a host. ive heard good results on all three. the water changes sound tempting because it clears a lot of the floating stages of ich out of the water. the hyposalinity sounds great but i dont have a refractometer (sp?) and im worried i will kill them all. we had quite a scare this morning, i woke up and checked the hospital and the heater stopped working sometime in the night and it was down to 69 degrees. over a few hours i raised it back up and nothing died *phew*. not sure why it stopped working but at any rate we got a new one and ive been monitoring the tank like a hawk all day.
ive also read that soaking their food in garlic kills parasites. is this true? effective?
this is such touchy buisness, i mean i dont want to kill off $120 worth of fish (nothing compared to what some have spent but still a pretty penny)
:help:

 

[7faces]

you can get a refractometer for around $40... its well worth the investment....
i havent dealt with the ick thing yet, but knowing my luck..I will. (im fighting aptaisia, and bubble algae in a month old tank and havent even added fish yet)
I plan on doing the hyposalinity method when i get it.. I,ve read alot about how well it works
letting the tank go fallow bites, but if its 100% effective, It's worth the time just for the piece of mind.