fishkybizniz

Hi all, I'm running a 180 gallon FOWLR. Don't know about the rest of your FOWLR's out there, but I have corals and inverts so I have many of the same considerations a reef owner does. I'm writing to let you know how to treat your display tank for ICH if you are in trouble now or it presents itself in the future. Most posts tell you to remove all your fish and medicate them in a hospital tank. What sounds logical is not always a good idea in practical application. If you have well established live rock and corals, disturbing them to net your fish could be a far worse disaster than just keeping the fish in the display tank and treating them with natural methods. There are 4 things you can do to naturally to treat fish in a display. For fish not too far gone, results take about 3 days. Within a week the ich should look like it's gone. To be safe, continue treatment for weeks and don't add any new animals until your tank has been well for at least 2 months or more.

1) Temprature: Raise your tank temp to 84. Ich can't breed in this temp. Note: But the higher temp will reduce oxygen in your system so run an air stone in the sump during treatment. If you are not sure you have a coral or invert that would find this temprature intolerable, double check it.

2) Feeding: Add garlic to your fishes diet. Medication kills ich. Garlic will not kill ich but the pests don't like the taste so it makes them hop off your fish. It's inconclusive if it will keep new free floating from attaching, so the idea is to get them off and make sure if any hop on they won't stay.

3) Lighting: Reduce your lights to the minimum your corals can handle and stay in good health. Again, do your homework on what your corals will tolerate. Ich can't breed without light, but your filter feeders can't eat without it either. Also, lower lighting affects algae propragation which is not horrible as long as it's temporary. Again, use common sense. If you can give up some lighting without causing any harm, even if only a couple of hours a day, some is better than none. But if you can't, then don't.


4) UV Sterilizer: A UV Sterlizer will kill 80-90% of free floating parasites if 1) the unit is the right size for the tank and 2) you use the correct pump. Flow of water through these units is crucial. It’s important the pump not be too powerful. To determine the right pump, you start with the pump specs on the box and then factor in gravity if the UV unit will be above the pump. When these units first came out it was a nightmare figuring out what pump to get. There is a lot more help with that now.

Preventatives: 1) Operate a UV Sterilizer full time on your tank. 2) If you are feeding frozen foods, most already have garlic in them. If not, get some from your aquairum supplier and add per directions based on volume of food. If you feed dry foods you would have to add a drop and let it soak into the food and then feed. 3) Invest in a small tank for keeping new comers. Everyone in the hobby recommends not putting a new fish in a display until you know that fish is healthy. If there is some reason you can't do this, liveaquaria.com has the best advice in keeping the water the fish comes in out of your tank during aclimation. But don't trust their bag floating advice. They failed to consider surface current in their advice. So clip or wedge bags once opened.

Peterpiper

Hi and welcome to Fishlore.
180G Salty! sounds nice, any pic's?

travie

Good information. But how can you have a FOWLR yet you say you have corals in the tank? That would mean you don't have a FOWLR.

I thought the higher temperature just sped up the life cycle of ich. Considering 82 degrees F is an acceptable temperature to have a SW tank run at all times, I don't see how 2 degrees higher will stop the breeding of ich. Do have any links to articles that discuss how lighting affects ich? I've never heard that lighting affects ich, so I wouldn't mind reading an article on it.

Also just something else to mention if all the fish do perish from ich, you can leave the tank fishless for at least two months for all of the ich to die from lack of a food source i.e. fish.

fishkybizniz

Travie, I don't know anyone out there like us. We are not running the lighting of a reef system, but did double our circulation. Low light corals are fine which means we are limited. And yes, like reef we need to stay limited to reef safe fish. Articles specific about Ich will tell you their breeding parameters. I too thought warmer would be better for Ich, but no so. Overall, most all the information I've found to be right on is on Bob Fenner's site Webmedia. If you can't find an article and/or post, write to them. They are wonderful and prompt to respond. I think they now have an article on treating a display for Ich naturally. As for lighting, I too am going to re-visit that one because I forgot to note down the recommendations. And yes, you are right removing all the fish will starve the Ich to death. That option is great for FO tanks, but moving live rock loaded with critters and corals to net fish with a reef tank seriously concerns me it would be making a bad situation much worse which is why I opted treating the Ich using natural methods. All I can say it, it worked! I did lose a few, but everyone else survived.

au01st

I know some of my polyps won't open at temps of 82 degrees. I keep my tank around 79. The only reason for the higher temperature is that it speeds up the life cycle of the saltwater parasites Cryptocaryon and/or Oodinium. The saltwater version of ich is commonly called "crypt". Ich can still breed at higher temps, but if you have no fish in the display, the free floating parasites go through their life cycles faster than cooler normal temps.

Never heard that parasites don't like garlic. Fish do like the taste so if you have finicky fish, soaking food in garlic can help get them eating. A well fed fish will have an easier time staying healthy than a starving fish.

If you have a reef tank, you do not want to deprive it of light, so you remove the fish and let the crypt run its course. Filter feeders don't need light, they feed on particles in the water.

As for acclimation, do not open the bag if you plan to float it. As soon as you open the bag, the water in the bag becomes saturated with ammonia as fresh oxygen is introduced into the system, potentially harming the fish (there is some chemistry behind this). I float the bag in the sump for 30min (1 hour for inverts) and have yet to lose a fish from acclimation.

fishkybizniz

A 90 degree temp will kill Ich along with most everything else in a tank. Big Jeff stated it better than I did. A higher water temp will short the cycle. You know what? I worked my butt off reading article after article after article to gather the information I provided. I run a UV Sterilizer full time on my tank and make sure garlic is included at minimum every other day in my fishes diets. So the tank temp and lighting are the two I failed to note down in the event I want to treat and/or help prevent an Ich problem in my display. My common sense tells me a prevention regiman for a short period may be a good idea when putting a new fish in. I don't have an immediate need but for anyone reading my post needing immediate help, here's Bob Fenner's site link. If you need an answer in 24 hours or less, write to them and ask about the 4 points I posted. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/

nemo addict

UV or ozone Sterilization will only destroy the Ich during the new born, free swimming life cycle stage of the parasites. They do not kill or remove the Ich parasites once attached to the fish. UV & Ozone can assist in controlling an Ich bloom from getting out of hand,
For a main aquarium Fish-Only tank with the fish removed, or a reef system with the inverts and corals removed as well, speed up the completion of the parasites life cycle by raising the main aquarium temperature to 85° F to 90° F. Oodinium cysts and dinospores, or Cryptocaryon cysts and tomites, can be eliminated from an aquarium in two weeks if the fish hosts are removed and the tank temperature is elevated. As long as the fish don't carry the parasite back into the aquarium with them when they are returned after treatment in the QT, the infestation can be cured