Ich :(

55 gallon, reef, about 60 pounds live rock, HOB refug 3.9gallons, seaclone 100 skimmer, emperor 400. (1inch sand bed in front going uphill to a 3inch sand bed in back).

all of my corals have been thriving through this ich, 4 watts p/g T5 ~
my salinity is about 1.024 ~
about 10 nitrates or less, 0 nitrite
calcium is about 500, other essential elements are also up fine.
Temperature 78-80 (I don't wanna raise it passed 80 because of the corals)


Alright, so far I've have 2 heniochus, 1 yellow tang, 4 clownfish and 1 mandarin over the course of the last 2 months die. Like the first month I just had 2 clowns and [2 damsels( that i took back to the store)] and I added the tang, and the heniochus after like a month when my tank cycled. Then my fish got ich, my henichous died, then my tang died, then 2 clownfish died with the mandarin. I had a a firefish and a blenny left ~ and they didn't have ich, they were eating and healthy. I got more live rock and and added the hang on back refug and waited like 2 weeks without buying fish. I got a good deal on a blue hippo tang (small, maybe 2 inches long) and now he has ich pretty bad, and it happened like overnight.. I don't understand why? I don't have a hospital tank and last time I used the 100% veggie formula Ich Attack I feel like it did bad things to my corals. I have the firefish, blenny and the blue tang atm and I don't know how long the blue tang will live if I don't fix something, any suggestions/reasons why Ich is such a problem here?

 

Stop buying fish (Tang police will be out shortly too). Let the tank sit fish-less for 8 weeks.

 

A little late now, but you should be quarantining all of your new fish! If you don't have a QT tank, go out and get one now. It will now be your hospital tank. As mentioned, your display tank will need to be fishless for at least a couple of months. You were also adding fish too fast (IMHO). I don't know what everyone else does, but I am going to add one every 6 weeks. Do yourself a favor and slow down, take a step back, and do some more research. And yes, the tang will not thrive in a 55 gallon tank.

 

Tangs seem to have more difficulty successfully battling Marine Ich. To avoid future disappointment I would forgo Tangs.

Marine Ich is an opportunistic parasite, it gains a foot hold when fish become stressed either from water quality, less then optimal nutrition, over crowding and aggression.

Any medication you can buy and add to a marine tank that says it's reef safe and effective as a treatment for marine ich I would avoid.

Researching the life cycle (stages) of marine ich will give you some insight into how to better address the problem.

It might be a good idea to delay purchasing any more fish for awhile and allow the tank to become more established, buy fish that are appropriate for the size of tank you have and the age of the tank.

 

If i wait 2 months without buying new fish, would my firefish and blenny still be allowed to stay in there? Like, would the Ich parasite go away with them in there. I have had them both for 2 months and they have shown no signs of sickness.

 

A tank needs to remain truly fallow, no fish for 60-90 days.

Is it practical to think you will not introduce marine ich again, nope.

This is the reason it's so important to know the risk factors ( introduction of Tangs) and the stressors, over crowding, and avoid rushing to stock such a young tank so quickly.

There is a ton of good research out there regarding ich. Avoid too good to be true remedies. Reduce stress and slow down.

 

Read this, its a good compilation of info I stole from Corailline and Vinny, prob 3reefs 2 leading Ich pro's
http://www.3reef.com/forums/diseases/ich-101-noob-noob-128391.html

 

Just to follow up, if there is a Petco or even Walmart near you, you can get a 10 gallon complete tank setup for ~$35. This would make an excellent home for the blenny and the firefish while your display tank is fishless. However the 10 gal would be too small for the tang. Read some more and come back with any more questions.

 

you need to find out what the base of the mistake was. as has been pointed out Ich is an opportunistic parasite that hits weakened fish.

most of the fish you mentioned that died had no place in a 55 gallon to begin with, this is probably what stressed the fish out and allowed them to get infected in the first place.

the mandarins death may be due to malnutrition and not ich, these fish as hopefully you may know are very picky eaters and should not be added to a system younger than 6 months.

finally the diet is very important, if you are feeding your animals just the local flakes i would reconsider and do some research on home made saltwater fish food, its not much more expensive and at least you can guarantee your fish a balanced diet.