Hi everyone,
I am wondering if my surprising success with an ich infestation is due to my skimmer of ridiculous dimension. If so, this would be an important advance because most people say that only copper or hyposalinity works (both of which are a serious pain in the butt for a reefer).
I have a 72 gal overflow with 15 gal sump, and only filtration is a euro CS8-2 skimmer w/ oversized pump (this is rated for at least 200 gallons according to euro reef... probably 500 gallons comparatively) . There is no UV sterilizer or ozone. I am a newbie, and added a very young hippo tang without quarantining it first (very dumb, but not very uncommon I hear). The other inhabitants are 2 clowns, mandarin goby, cherry red shrimp, sebae anemone, trumpet coral, snails and hermits. The fish diet consists of 24-hour seaweed clip, spirulina brine shrimp once a day, and green hair algae.
Tank paramaters: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 7ppm, SG 1.024, pH 8.3, Ca 420 ppm
The tang's case of ich appeared after a few days and went from mild to very severe over the next two weeks, and this happened when I was turning the skimmer off some of the time. (some experts recommend this, but now I am afraid to do it).
Anyway, a few beneficial things happened around the same time. I left the skimmer on continuously, I started putting garlic in the food, and the hippo and cherry red shrimp made friends. I'm sure the success is due to some combination of these events, but it was remarkably fast (48 hours from horribly ich covered to almost entirely ich free). For all I know, the ich will come back as fierce as ever in a few days... I will keep you guys updated about that.
In principle, skimming seems like it would help remove the parasites during their vulnerable swimming stage, especially being a huge skimmer. Unfortunately, due to the other two variables, I have no real scientific evidence that skimming is responsible, but I wanted to float the possibility.
It could be that all you need is a shrimp with an appetite for ich. But then everyone would just do that instead of using hyposalinity, etc...
My theory is that it worked because there was a measure of control for multiple stages of the ich cycle. A shrimp only does so much by itself, and overskimming only does so much by itself, but they have synergy. To include frequent vacuuming of the substrate might be the trifecta.
Yay or nay for the theory? Or, is my celebration just way too premature?
Sorry for the long post!
I am wondering if my surprising success with an ich infestation is due to my skimmer of ridiculous dimension. If so, this would be an important advance because most people say that only copper or hyposalinity works (both of which are a serious pain in the butt for a reefer).
I have a 72 gal overflow with 15 gal sump, and only filtration is a euro CS8-2 skimmer w/ oversized pump (this is rated for at least 200 gallons according to euro reef... probably 500 gallons comparatively) . There is no UV sterilizer or ozone. I am a newbie, and added a very young hippo tang without quarantining it first (very dumb, but not very uncommon I hear). The other inhabitants are 2 clowns, mandarin goby, cherry red shrimp, sebae anemone, trumpet coral, snails and hermits. The fish diet consists of 24-hour seaweed clip, spirulina brine shrimp once a day, and green hair algae.
Tank paramaters: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 7ppm, SG 1.024, pH 8.3, Ca 420 ppm
The tang's case of ich appeared after a few days and went from mild to very severe over the next two weeks, and this happened when I was turning the skimmer off some of the time. (some experts recommend this, but now I am afraid to do it).
Anyway, a few beneficial things happened around the same time. I left the skimmer on continuously, I started putting garlic in the food, and the hippo and cherry red shrimp made friends. I'm sure the success is due to some combination of these events, but it was remarkably fast (48 hours from horribly ich covered to almost entirely ich free). For all I know, the ich will come back as fierce as ever in a few days... I will keep you guys updated about that.
In principle, skimming seems like it would help remove the parasites during their vulnerable swimming stage, especially being a huge skimmer. Unfortunately, due to the other two variables, I have no real scientific evidence that skimming is responsible, but I wanted to float the possibility.
It could be that all you need is a shrimp with an appetite for ich. But then everyone would just do that instead of using hyposalinity, etc...
My theory is that it worked because there was a measure of control for multiple stages of the ich cycle. A shrimp only does so much by itself, and overskimming only does so much by itself, but they have synergy. To include frequent vacuuming of the substrate might be the trifecta.
Yay or nay for the theory? Or, is my celebration just way too premature?
Sorry for the long post!
