Help ich problem!

I added a copperbanded butterflyfish to my tank. At the time he

had absolutely no ich. I failed to quarantine him for the proper six weeks.

Now, a week later, he has ich. My fish have never had ich

before. Where then did the ich come from? Was it dormant on the

copperbanded or dormant in my tank? If it is the later, can I put the

copperbanded back into the display to increase the chances of his survival?

thanks for your consideration

 

copperband is a very delicate fish, and not to hard to get stress, I would not recommended
to either beginner or advance aquarist very hard to maintain and strange feeding behavior

 

the copperbanded butter fly is stressed ,
all fish carry it , and is in your tank , it's only when a fish is stressed/ill that they fall victim to it.

copperbands hardly ever make it long term in a reef tank.
how large is your tank ?
copperbands require large tanks to live long term.
they have that pointed mouth for a reason ( their specialized feeders ) for small prey and they do eat aiptasia as well .

After your tank ( if to small ) is depleted of the copperbands food source , it will wither and die.

 

Well by now you know about the difficulty of the fish you chose. However that is not what you need to be hearing right now. Try not to move the fish around again. Keep him in a peaceful area (is he in QT or display now?). If he's in QT with no other rock or something you might look into some ich medication. I normally don't suggest going straight to ich meds but your little dude is fragile and I wouldn't suggest seeing if the ich will run its course because he could go downhill fast.

Make sure you can get the water quality of where it's as close to pristine as you can (water changes are your friend). No matter where he's at, I would suggest getting a skunk cleaner shrimp for him (and your other fish). These shrimp are miracles when it comes to natural parasite control.

Keep us posted, and I hope the little guy pulls through.

 

Just another point, if your going to use copper to treat it, I would keep the amount lower then normal. copper is also harmful to fish and at the normal dose, it may weaken or stress it out even more. I would use a lower dose, over a longer time, imo

 

Shorten up lighting cycle temporarily...keep water params stable...increase frequency and amount of water changes for while...add some garlic to food.


Good Luck.

 

my fish has ick also!!Ahh, it is so frustrating so I will share what Im going to do, I am going to put all fish into a QT tank for six weeks and treat the water in the QT tank , then I am going to allow the ick to run its coarse in my display tank while there s no host for the parrisite to attach to they will die off on there own, My display tank has live rock and a sea urchin, and a few snails in it, whom arnt affected by ick, but they ARE affected by the ick treatment!!So to save everyone this is what im going to do, something I paln to do in the future is to put ALL new fish into the QT tank for 6 weeks before entering my display tank, because i purchased this fish about a week ago, and I think the fish probably had it when I got it, because my others are heathly!! It is also wise to stick to ONE fishstore you really trust!!Hope this helps!