Ich and Reef Tanks

DSR

DSR

AC Members
Apr 10, 2009
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Tulsa, OK
So we were out and about and stopped in at a fish place... and they had a very nice true perc for sale. it was lively etc. We purchased him as a replacement fish. Brought him home, acclimated and got him in the water. This was Friday night I believe.

Today as I was cleaning the tank I noticed that this lovely little fish has a terrible case of Ich... This is the only fish in the tank other than a cleaner shrimp (skunk) and a condy nem. What danger is there in leaving him in the tank until tomorrow when I can return the fish? How long will I need to wait before introducing new fish into the acquarium once he is taken back to the store?

I wish I had a quarantine tank to treat him, but we don't have the space to treat him with hyposalinity and I don't want to use copper anywhere near my corals. Any thoughts? I am so frustrated about this and will never purchase another fish there again.
 
I just posted a similar thread earlier today. After hows of researching this online I went to my LFS. Without telling them what I had already leaned they handed me the same product all my reseach led me to. "Kick-Ich". It doesn't have copper in it and is completely reef safe. My LFS and been around over 60 years and there knowledge is great. I have always trusted them. I just dosed my tank with it a few hours ago. Something you might want to look into. Hope this helps.
 
Thank you. I hadn't heard of that before. I am pretty concerned about this little fella as upon closer examination his gills are very red and don't look normal for a tru perc. Makes me very angry with this place as they have a centralized system so if one of the fish has ich then there entire stock has been exposed from what I understand. This is the first time I have had any issues with them, but what else do I expect from a big box store. I was trying to save $17 and this is what I get. Back to the good LFS....
 
Look at the reviews on it on MarineDepot. Kick-Ich doesn't really work. It may kill off one phase of the parasite, but once the eggs are in your sand it just comes back. To date I do not know of any product on the market that can kill all cycles of the marine "ich" parasite. The only way to truely rid a tank of ich is to run it without a fish for 8+ weeks to make sure the parasite doesn't have a host to live and reproduce off of. Any new fish must be QT for at least 30 days. Observe, use copper meds if you want to and is compatable with the fish your QTing (not all fish can tolerate copper).

That said.. find a reefer that actually follows that all the time. It is way easier said than done, but that unfortunately is the correct answer.
 
That is odd. I must have read 20 reviews before I purchased it. Not one of them stated that. It's been about 16 hours since I put in the Kick-Ich and the fish is almost clear (one spot left that i can see). Guess I'll just ride it out and see how it goes.
 
I was reading about that last night (re: cleaning shrimp) and the studies that I saw indicated that there was no proof that the skunk shrimp would rid the fish of the parasites. What people have observed is the shrimp picking off the damages skin from the sores. They have opened up some shrimp to see if there were any parasites in the digestive tract and nothing was found. Unfortunate, as that would have been the coolest idea as I have a cleaner shrimp. Unfortunately, the little guy is going back to the store and I will be fishless until August...but only after I have a very long discussion with the stores manager about this transaction. I feel stupid for not having noticed it... it was so clear but only when the fish was right up front under the MH lights. They use pretty substandard lights at teh store so there was no way to see any of the wounds at that time. I really wish I could keep him and treat the tank, but I just don't want to take that chance of having an ongoing ich issue.
 
I called the district manager of the store and they advised that there were no refunds on saltwater fish... I explained the situation to them very nicely and they agreed to allow me to return the fish for an exchange. I pointed out to them how contagious the ich was and they said no worries we treat everything with fresh water dips.

So my question now is... they have offered me a replacement fish and they will treat this one. Since the fish has been in my tank now for several days (now it is in a makeshift QT bucket) what are the chances that any other fish I put in there short of waiting the 8 weeks will develop the parasite... in short. how long does it take teh beasties to leave the fish and seed the tank? I would rather lose $20 to a bad business than take teh chance of infecting another fish.
 
Sounds like your going to have ich regardless. If you get another fish from him, and ich is in his system, swapping it out for a fish with less ich (no visible spots) isn't going to help.

Or it could have been from your disaster. You many have had eggs living in the sand already and the last time everything got stirred up the eggs hatched and the clown was their first host and all swarmed to it when you put him in.

Really not going to know 100% where it came from or how safe it is to try another. I posted the only real 100% guarantee method. I know that method sucks bad, heck, I have never been able to do it myself but I have also been lucky enough to never have a major ich outbreak, just very minor ones fish are able to fish off when a stressful condition occurs. For me, when my tank would get over 84 for a couple hours in the day during hot summer months I would notice slight ich outbreaks. It is usually a stressed fish with a lower immune system that is the most at risk of infection. New addition of any fish is a stressful situation.

That is why a QT tank is recommended as well. You can observe, isolate, medicate if needbe, and use your old tank water to do water changes on the QT tank so the fish is fully acclimated to your tank by the time the fish is ready to move over.
 
Ich does not exist in saltwater

it is a saltwater parasite that looks like ich... but it is acctually completely different

Ich cannot live in salt
 
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