I think Ich wiped out my tank, what now?

Ok, I had 2 Green Chromis and 1 Clownfish that I noticed Sunday night that one of the chromis and the clown were swimming weird. I though it was because they it got cold this week and the temp freaked them out a little. So I turned up the heater to 79.

Monday night when I got home from work I noticed that they both had white spots on their bodies and fins. Did some googleling when I found out that they probably were falling victim to what sounded like a case of ich. Tuesday afternoon at lunch I bought a 10 gal tank and Ich Attack and by the time I got home that evening my two fish were gonners.

So what do I do now? There is one green chromis left and he appears to not have been affected by any of this. I've read that some fishes immune systems can fight this off in infested tank, but the parasite can just hang around basically forever waiting for a weak host. Is that accurate? It doesn't sound right. I'm hoping that I can wait out the lifecylce of the parasite that I read conflicting info on that it was about 28 days before I add any more fish.

Tank specs:
29 gal
Ph 8.4
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 25ppm
Ammonia 0
1 Green Chromis
2 Turbos
3 Peppermint Shrimp

 

I dont think its ich - ich does not normally kill that quickly. However Oodinium, which is a parasite in the same family as ich does. Fish normally show symptons of something being wrong with them long before the spots apear. Then when the spots do appear the fish is normally dead within 48 hours. At least thats how i witnessed it.
If im right, oodinium is by far more aggressive then ich and so much harder to get rid of. i f i was you i would not add any fish only inverts to your tank for at least 3 months.

 

Sorry for the loss tronb24
Ich CAN live indifenetly WITH a host in the tank which for chromis is acting as at the moment. Also even with you pull the chromis out it has be proven that ich goes dormant and can live for extended time w/o a host.
There are a few things you can do, some as natural as it get others are natural(As copper is a natural metal but isn't "natural" for a reef tank.
Option one
Leave chromis in and do many large water changes, I mean like 20-30% percent a day if not more, this will help "flush" out the cycts and break up the ich's live cycle.
Option two
Take chromis out and leave 29 gal tank empty(fish wise) every day add 2cups of water from the tank the chromis is in into the 29 gal tank. The pheremones and so forth in the chromis water will trick the ick from going dormant. You will NEED to do this for a while, say 5-6 weeks at least. It is time consuming but it is successful and safe.
Option three
Keep chromis in and treat tank w/ a herbal based reef safe ick med, Ick Attack by Kordon or No Ick by Fish Vet or similar reef safe med. I would do the meds and then follow up w/ a few aggressive w/c to have this method work. The meds do work, as I have tried most of them on the market w/ success.
Option four
Take out inverts and use ionic Copper. Treat for like 14 days and then do 25% w/c. I would then follow that up with a few more larger w/c to flush the copper out. I would then add Cuprisorb to your filter and let that take out the remaining copper. Contrary to what everyone says Cu CAN be successfully removed from a tank, even one w/ sand and live rock. Little anecdote, two years ago, I added a emperor angel, I knew I didn't want that fish but w/ wife wanted one. I had the fish at our store for 2-3 weeks in a hospital tank w/ Cu in it. Brought it home and after a few days him, my purple tang and a flame all had ick. I tried a few meds but w/ a 125(my older tank) I would have to use gallons of the stuff. So I decided to use the C word. I did everything that I mentioned in option for and when I was done, I added my inverts back, no losses, snails crabs and corals were all fine. I even have the same sand and rock in my one and it is a growing reef tank.

Whatever you choose good luck and happy reefing

 

Move to california and never mention this to anyone

Just kidding

I doubt its Ich because my fish had it for 6 weeks...i treated them with Garlic Gaurd,Selcon and Thera A+ pellets

If you don't have any corals and just live rock..i would take the fish out and turn the heat up to 85 degrees or more and cook the tank(not literally) for 4 weeks...lower the salinity quite a bit

It wont kill everything but will get rid of paprasites

 

Thanks for replies

I guess it's possible that it could have been Oodinium.

I think I will try this method, but I'm not sure though if it effective against Oodinium if that is what they had. It sounds easy enough. This is the stuff that I picked up.

 

Never mind...

When I came home from work my last fish, the chromis was dead

I guess I will just turn up the heat and go fish-less until after the new year. Hopefully that will be enough time for the parasite to die!

 

sorry for your loss....
my bet is it was either oodinium or Brooklynella disease (clownfish disease). Both can kill within a day or so...both clown and chromis are in the damsel family which Brooklynella tends to affect more. Can be very similar in appearance

Here is an article on clownfish disease
Clownfish Disease - Brooklynella Diagnosis and Treatment

I would not put anything in your tank...drop salinity down (MUST GET RID OF INVERTS IF YOU DO) to below 1.015 and raise temp. Actually that salinity might seem low but ick can live in salinity down to 1.012 I read. Dont add any livestock for at least 6 weeks of this...then gradually increase salinity to your desired level and add fish slowly after that (QT fish is ideal however.....realistically.....). I would not add anything more then 1 fish at a time when you do start again.

While your tank has nothing in it you will need to feed the "good" bacteria in your tank by throwing a flake or two into the water a week, and have lights on couple hours a day to keep coraline up

I lost one of my tanks to an ick outbreak (???oodiunum/?????clownfish diseae) and tried to rush this process...well then I lost second batch of fish and ended up taking tank down..so unfortunatly no short cuts

good luck and again sorry for your loss...

 

Im thinking Oodinium. This is a nasty parasite and by the time you notice it its usually too late to treat. Sorry for your loss. K+

 

If it is AMYLoodinium, lowered salinity, heat and waiting it out WILL NOT work. It can handle near freshwater, and can live off light indefinetly. Velvet looks like VERY small dots all over the fish whereas ick is a large spot. Velvet is much more aggressive as it targets the gills first so if you can see the spots the fish has been affected for a while. Ick usually takes a while to kill but not always, I've seen ick kill a fish, esp. a new fish in 2-3 days. If the fish are new to the tank , they are already at a disadvantage, toss in ick and yeah it could do them in quick. Chromis are notoriously bad shippers and need to be feed CONSTANTLY esp when small if you want them to survive. When I buy chromis for a tank lets say 10 I know with in a few days I will be down to maybe 7 and thats with the upmost care.
If you think it is velvet there IS a reef safe med called Rally, it contains a small amount of acriflavine but it is REEF SAFE, I used it in a tank with a bunch of shrimp, stars and snails w/ no issue.

Good luck and keep us posted!!

 

Thank you all for your responses.

I'm now confused as to exactly what was that killed my fish. From how fast they all went down from the time they showed visible signs of being sick makes it sound like Oodinium. 2 of the fish merely had small white spots covering their bodies. 1 of the fish and the last to go had white spots and what may have been a light slime coat over his body. I don't know if slime is the right description for it, but it appeared like a very small amount of cobb web like film attaching just on his fins to his body. It's kind of hard to explain. The last fish was the only one to have that.

I don't know what is the sure fire way to get my tank parasite free. Should I put some sort of Reef Safe parasite medication in the tank anyway? Should I just wait it out? Should I do both? There is nothing left in my tank except for some peppermints and snails - btw.