Ick in the reef tank help...

The Tank is cycled but I think I am going through a mini cycle because I put all the fish in the tank at the same time, I also had tried a spong idea to help with the clowdyness i had inthe begining and did not think that it had good bacteria on it when i removed the sponges last weekend so that might be it also...

My Ro/Di unit is only 2 months old so that is good...

I do have phosphate remover in the sump baffles now but not carbon... My protien skimmer is workin like a champ pulling tuns of stuff out of the water...

As for that algea... ya that yellowis lookin algea hit like 4 days ago lol but my snails are on top of it slowly..
 
i let ich pass in my aquarium. its a natural thing and there are many things you can do to aid the faster removal. hypo salinity and hospital tanks seem to be out of the question because u cant get the fish out and i have found myself in the same situation. what i did is made sure the water parmaters were not only excellent but also i feed an extra healthy balanced diet and added Kent Garlic x-treme,(it doesnt keep the parasites off it just make the fishes immune system stronger like in humans). that combine with my UV sterilizer and a cleaner shrimp and a cleaner wrasse got rid of my problem it has now been one week since ive seen any "ich" on my fish. the cycle will be a bit tough on them and ich there for has a chance to attack. the chance that you can get rid of ich completely is very slim epically in a reef. hypo salinity will usually work with fish only but with a reef it will kill and devastate most inverts at the level it would actually be affective. both the medications that were listed by others work well and are almost completely reef safe but with some of the more delicate inverts it can cause stress. also skimmers will pull out any organic treatment and any "safe" chemical agent will still cause some harm to inverts even if it barely shows. ich comes in two forms and isnt actually the Ichthyophthirius parasite which is freshwater but is rather the Cryptocaryon protozoan. there are two main ones that affect fish in the trade of the two the most common inbeds itself under the protective slime layer of the fish making only manule removal or strong copper treatment a cure. dips and most other medications cant get to it. they only way it can be killed affectively is when it is in its free swimming larval form which a UV will do a gret job killing or only then will the medications kill it. as for the other form it is stronger than the freashwater "ich" but can be killed by medications most always. the later looks more like bumps and the first are more laterally compressed bumps that look almost like snow on the fish.
 
I have used it and still dose it in my tank with every water change just as a preventative. Come to think of it I haven't had ICH since I started.
 
mikelush78 said:
Do I have to do this or will the ick die off in the 90 gallon reef on its own?
Click to expand...
The ich could die off on its own after a while. Basically if your fish eventually manage to overcome the ich outbreaks (good nutrition, garlic, and water conditions as well as some luck) and you wait at least a year without adding anymore fish, the ich could die off. But then after the year you could turn around, buy a fish with ich, then without quarantining, reintroduce it back to tank anyway. Other things can go wrong using this method as well.
 
OK question about a uv sterilizer....
If it get one should i put it in my main tank for a while to help out the situation in there best and then eventually move it to my sump?

Or do i have to keep it in my main tank at all times?

Also can someone give me an idea of a good one...
I was looking at the 18w coralife on here:
But not sure if i can get away with the 9w one... What do you guys think?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=7999&N=2004+113778
 
Well..A 15w UV is rated for a 75gal, and a 25w is rated for 120gals...As its not going to be a permanently running device, i would suggest about a 15w UV..However, different website state different watts per tank size...I use the one on MarineDepot.com site...if you go by fosters and smith, you would only need 9w version....

As to mounting them...they can go anywhere where there is flowign water..Whether that be sump or display...

mine will be left of the system completely untill it is required. And if i do need it, it will get dropped into the sump..

I will certainly do no harm at all to use one, as long as its not left running permanently, you can only benefit from using one...

Hope that helps a little matey

Niko
 
yea i only run mine during the day and in about a week or two im going to turn it off until i get something new. i use a 9w on my 55 gallon and it does the job but the design if my Uv has a long exposer rate so thats why such a small wattage is sufficient. it all depends on the model u get. straight ones have shorter exposure as in return the twisted or leveled ones have longer exposure.
 
OK in talking to my LFS they said that the commercial uv sterilizers are not powerful enough to kill parasites... They are more for killing algea in the water and cleaning the water that way... He says there really a waste of money...

He recommended just keeping the water mint condition, keeping the fish well fed and not stressed, Getting one more cleaner shrimp to = 2 in my 90 gallon, and wait it out...

I figured out money wise it would cost me the more to set up my 55 gallon tank as a hospital tank then it would to buy all new fish in the worst situation... (obviously don’t want to lose my fish) but it seems like the best thing to do is dose the fish food with vitamins and garlic, keep the water quality great, and hope for the best... ??

Everyone agree with that plan or other suggestions?
 
Mike...

Both ways will work...I, personally, prefer the UV route because it is a fact that the UV sterilizers CAN kill off parcites in the water column. Its a judgement call and what money you have spare...

If you cant justify spending the money on one, then go down the LFS advice matey..

Its your call mate...

Niko
 
there is no proof that garlic prevents ich. it is more of a "he said-she said" type of thing. worth a shot though, and does provide vitamins.
 
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