Tangs ? - Page 3

RAVEN · 03-30-2007, 02:42 PM

I'm a believer that ich can remain dormant for a very long time. I battled it for over 1 yr in my 120g FOWLR and here's how hard it is to get rid of.
Initially when I had an outbreak I treated my tank with metronidazole antibiotic which temporarily helped. When the ich returned, I removed all my fish and placed them in an empty 75g tank and treated them for 2.5 weeks with copper, measuring copper levels daily. I kept the main tank without fish for 10 weeks with the temp at 84F. 1 week after I placed the fish back in the tank the Ich returned. Then I placed the fish back in the 75g and coppered them again for 3 weeks and I broke down the 120g and did a FW dip on my live rock then placed it in a trash bin with saltwater and left the rock sit in my garage for 12 weeks. I removed all the substrate strained it and soaked it in FW for a few days and then cleaned out the tank and added FW to the tank for 1 week. After 12 weeks I put the tank back together again and a few weeks later the ich returned, so a coppered the whole tank.

Sorry to run on but I wanted to show how hard it is to rid your tank of ich.
Thats why I now do a FW dip, then QT and treat all my new fish with copper before adding them to my main tank. I ended up losing my first Moorish Idol and a very large and beautiful Copperbanded Butterfly.
Now I never buy any live rock and use only dead rock thats how paranoid I am of ich.

geekdafied · 03-30-2007, 02:57 PM

Its good to be paranoid about ich. It keeps it out of your system. Raising the temp speeds up the germination period of the ich, which normally cuts it down to a week to 10days when its normally 21 days.

Tangster · 03-30-2007, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediReefer

If I did ever have an ich problem I would then remove all the fish for 6-8weeks and treat them in a QT tank with hypo, maybe copper if it was a subborn case.

Again I am to assume that you quarantine all of you animals from fish to corals to shrimps, starfish, hermits and snails also L/ rocks and L/sand and what ever I missed for 6 to 8 weeks and in doing this in how many yrs you have been in the hobby ? you have never had an out break of Ich.

geekdafied · 03-30-2007, 03:01 PM

In all of my years of having aquariums, been doing this since I was little, I have only had Ich once. It was after I trusted a fellow reefer when he was breaking down a tank cause they were having a baby. Prior to that, EVERYTHING was quarantined before it touched my tanks.

geekdafied · 03-30-2007, 03:01 PM

and dipped as well

Tangster · 03-30-2007, 05:32 PM

Well I guess that makes you very fortunate in that you have only had one case in all these yrs.

geekdafied · 03-30-2007, 05:37 PM

If you follow simple preventivie methods, you will not have to deal with outbreaks. The same goes for corals, dipped them and quarantine them. Here is an example of one way of getting coral pests without knowing, without thinking. Say you have some super nice zoanthids. you want to start gettinginto SPS corals. Just because you bought an SPS, does not mean it comes free from zoanthid pests and vice versa, soft corals can come with SPS pests. Dips only kill the live critters, not the eggs. Thats why you ALWAYS quarantine corals as well.

Tangster · 03-30-2007, 06:24 PM

I don't have much experience with SPS corals myself.. A tad over my head but oneday , I'll try a few to see how it goes and I'll dip them for sure . Thanks

geekdafied · 03-30-2007, 06:27 PM

Well you need to talk to me if you want SPS bro. I just got a serious hook up!

Tangster · 03-31-2007, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geekdafied

Well you need to talk to me if you want SPS bro. I just got a serious hook up!

Thanks I'll keep it in mind once I fell I'm at that level of expertise in the hobby. Appreciate the help