ick free?

How would I know my tank is ick free? The lfs guy told me ick can lay eggs, and i would need meds to treat icks. My clown had a ick, but now its slowly fading away, and i dont know what to do. The lfs told me I shouldnt add more fish untill i am 100% certin there are no icks in the tank
What should I do?

 

it takes about 8 weeks for external ick to be gone but thats only if the ick doesnt have a host or fish to burrow into

 

It takes 4 weeks for ich to go through its life cycle, and another 2 weeks is suggested just to be on the safe side. If your tank has ich, you need to get all your fish into a quarantine / hospital tank and treat with copper or hypo for 2-3 weeks. Then your display needs to remain fallow (fishless) for 6+ weeks.

what I did was at week 5 I did a 100% water change in my QT and added all replacement water and some sand I siphoned from my DT. My fish were fine for a week and I was convinced they were ready to go back into an ich free tank.

some people leave ich in their systems and are very successful with keeping it at bay with heavy feedings and adding garlic and selcon to any and all foods offered.

~Will.

 

I have never taken a fish out of the tank. Now i also have a 180 packed with LR. I have also never lost a fish to ich, i keep him in the tank and make sure hes eating. To me theres no need to pull him out and stress out EVERYTHING in the tank. I believe ich is like a bad cold to humans, a healthy human makes it,just as a heatly fish can fight off ich.


Now with this being said, if you can pull him out and are able to qt and leave ur tank fallow for 6 weeks then do it, but if not it has been delt with other ways

 

another great post by OP. I have 3 tangs (supposed ich magnets) in my 150 and have never had an ich issue EVER. My yellow had a little ich when I got him but it didn't hang around long. (ich didn't hang around, fish is fine)

 

Ocean hit it on the head. Ich is always present in my systems, but as long as you have good params and healthy fish it is just like the cold and will go away with time. My tang had ich once and I never took him out of the DT. Eventually he got over it and none of my fish had displayed symptoms since.

 

So, what should I do? Is there a medicine i should put in the tank or something to cure it? Or do i just let it be and feed regular fish flakes?

 

You have 3 options.

1. Remove all fish to a QT, and treat them with copper. then leave your display tank fallow for at least 6 weeks and then re-introduce them.

2. Get the "reef safe" Ich medications and try it out. I have read mixed reviews, but the majority claims there hit or miss (mostly miss).

3. Ride it out . . . go to the grocery store and get some chopped garlic in water (the same stuff as kent garlic extreme for a fraction of the price) and soak a few drops into everything you feed the tank. Selcon might be a good idea as well for an additional food enhancement.

Give this site a read and check out everything else on the site regarding ICH, the information there is invaluable and will help you come to your own conclusion.

IchArtMar

~Will.