Flame angel just died from ICH - How do I treat my tank?

[Neptune555]

My Flame Angel just died of ICH inside of my display tank. What do I do now to ensure my tank is safe for new fish and my existing fish?

I purchased two new fish at the LFS an Anthias and a Flame Angel. Anthias died 4 days after entering new tank... (did not look like it had ich but it did have white marks/streaks on its body) My flame was doing great.. and then I noticed she was swimming funny.. and had two white spots on her. I tested my tank parameters to ensure they were pristine.. and they were. I did nothing as I was sure she would recover. The next day my flame was laying on its side breathing very very heavy. I cancelled a work meeting and went back to the LFS. They were great but I think it was just to late? I gave her a freshwater dip in a desperate attempt to give her some relief. The fact that I could catch her in my display tank says it all. I practically caught her with my hand. She died minutes after the freshwater dip. I did obtain a cleaner shrimp / and purchased a fire shrimp at the LFS in hopes they would help with the ich clean up? I have always had cleaner shrimp in my tank and I have never had an ich outbreak before?




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50 Gallon bowfront FOWLR and Inverts: Power Compacts / HOB filter / HOB coralife Skimmer / 50 pounds live rock / 20 pounds live sand / 2 power heads / 2 clown fish / yellow goby / cleaner shrimp / fire shrimp / clean up crew / tons of mushrooms / (hoping to get scotts wrasse and I want to try a flame angel again?)

50 gallon planted Freshwater tank / soil substrate covered with river rocks / 2 HOB /

 

[authmal]

It seems that cleaner shrimp have little impact on ich. http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/62149-cleaner-shrimp-eat-ich-not.html

Once it's present, it needs to be treated properly, but I'm not sure how marine ich differs from freshwater in terms of treatment.

 

[Khemul]

If there are no fish in the tank, starvation. Leave the tank empty for a few months. Then QT all new fish.

If you don't plan to keep inverts, copper. It's sort of a nuclear option, hence why it is relegated to QT usage.

If there are fish and you don't want the tank to kill all invert life, prayer is about it.

 

[Neptune555]

Please other options? I have fish and inverts in a 50 gallon that has lost one fish to Ich. What are my options? Recommendations??

HELP....

neptune

 

[Lobo.]

the best time to set up a quarantine tank is a month ago, the next best time is now

set up your quarantine tank and get it cycled, the best option is to have a place to move sick fish to that you can treat separately from your main tank.

 

[PepperedCory]

Look for a product called ich attack I used it a few time and it work great it's all natural the only thing that need to do is to turn off your protein skimmer. It can take up to 5 week but seen result in one week to two weeks with my yellow tang. Hope that helps


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[Ace25]

As pointed out numerous times on the net, anything short of copper medicine or hyposalinity treatment will not do anything at all to kill Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans). In the future we may develop better methods/medicines for this problem, but today, copper or hypo are the only cures. Just look at any 'Ich Cure' and do a google search on it, if it isn't copper based, it flat out will not work to rid the tank of Ich as every review will show you.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2210473

And the conclusion of Ich Attack, I will never use it again. It may kill ich and other things in the water but does nothing to cure the fish, so it is a never ending cycle. Moral of the story: Get a quarantine/hospital tank and treat with hypo or copper.

 

[greech]

Agree completely. I do believe that the the time that lapses between the onset of symptoms when attempting a cure with non-copper/hypo methods (ich attack, garlic, etc.) plays a role. My LFS swares by ich attack and I have seen their success with the product in person on several ocassions. However, I have seen just as many customers come through their door saying it did not work for them. My LFS states that you cannot simply rely in the instructions. Dosing and time between water changes needs to be extended to have a chance of success. In my mind, I do not feel that ich attack is a true cure but only subsides the symptoms. However, if it does enough to boost the overall health of the fish enough to fight off the parasite, then maybe there is a place for it. No substitute for traditional meds and QT/HT practices (IMO).

 

[BoCoMo]

QT/HT infected fish(es) and leave the tank alone - JMO.

Maybe dose some vit c for immune systems

 

[Ace25]

I lived with 'ich' in my system for over 15 years, never lost a fish to it in that time. I kept up on my water changes and healthy feeding and most fish never showed any signs, only a couple would show 2 or 3 white dots once a year but it never got worse than that.

That was, until I slacked off on maintenance for 3 months. This killed corals, stressed the fish, grew algae everywhere, and the result was ich took control and killed 2 of my fish very quickly. It was at that point I finally said 'ok, now is the time to treat and be 100% sure by tank and fish are ich free', so I removed all my rocks and remaining corals, snails, crabs, starfish and started dosing cupramine daily.

I could dump a bottle of magic like Ich Attack when I see spots, do a large water change a couple days later, and the spots will be gone if it is caught early enough.... problem is, that happens with the water change anyway, the magic bottle actually did nothing but gave a false sense that is appeared to do something. That is the problem with those magic bottles + ich life cycle, when you see spots and add the bottle, then spots fall off a few days later, one assumes the bottle is what did it, but it is actually the natural life cycle of ich, and why you always read about it 'coming back a month later' after treatment of those magic bottles if you didn't solve the original issue of why the fish was stressed out to begin with. Ich isn't magically coming back from the dead when you use those products, it never went away, it just moved to a different phase in its life cycle, the part that doesn't rely on attaching to fish. Copper is the only 'medicine' that breaks the cycle by killing the newly hatched parasites. The other parasites that are stronger can survive copper treatment which is why it takes 8+ weeks to cure with copper, that is how long the parasites life cycle lasts. Hypo treatment kills ich by lowering the osmotic pressure in the water below the survival point of the parasites, but still within livable to fish.

+1 BoCoMo, exactly what I am doing, treating with copper and giving vitamins to boost their immune system.