Another Ich Thread

So we woke up this morning to find one of our fish has the typical white ich. Water parameters are perfect and everything else is great with the exception of our Royal Gramma. Just wondering if there is a way to treat it in the tank? We dont have a QT or any spares laying around (we live in an apartment so space is limited). We were hoping to be able to cure the one fish without the treatment bothering the other fish. We've got a pair of clowns and a couple damsels in the same tank along with a few inverts and some small soft corals here and there. Any ideas?

 

Sadly the answer is no. There is no other way to truly treat ich other than removing all fish for about 8 weeks and treating them in a separate tank. Many people, such as you and me, don't have this option. Most fish will build up an immunity to ich over time. Try to keep their foods vitamin rich and soak it in garlic to keep them strong.

 

Cool we'll pick up some garlic enriched food and hopefully wait it out. We just dont want it to effect anything else in the tank.

 

you should be okay as long as they are eating and acting normal, if so just leave them be

 

If you can find a temporary home for the inverts and corals you can put the tank through the hyposalinity process to treat the ich. When you are done you will be able to reintroduce the inverts and corals. Don't do this with copper or you may never be able to keep inverts or corals in that tank.

 

Some of your fish may already have an immunity to it. I have had ich in my system for over a year now. My rabbit fish always got it the worst but it never affected either of my clowns. Just keep them healthy and watch to be sure they are all eating well.

 

if you don't treat just be aware that immunity to ich can come and go at anytime. I used to believe that until my hippo tang, which was fine with ich for over a year suddenly wasn't anymor and got it with a vengeance. It developed a lot of secondary infections including an acute case of pop eye and I almost lost him. I now am in the camp that says you should treat ich and eliminate it

 

Turns out it must not have been Ich. We came home tonight and there isnt a spot on him anywhere. Must have buried himself in sand this morning.