Peterpiper

Parameters,
ammonia-0
Nitrites-0
Nitrates-25
pH-8.2
Temp-26-27c
Tank size is 325lt + sump 150lt
Protein skimmer-yes
300w heaters-2
Power heads-2
LR-25kg
corals-yes
Stocking list.
1 x Pacific blue tang
1 x Coral Beauty
1 x Lawnmower Blenny
2 x Banggai Cardinals
2 x Yellowtail Damsels
2 x Ocellaris Clowns

Last night we noticed that our Tang has ICH, only 2 small spots..
The last fish added was the Coral Beauty, added about 3 days ago.
No other fish are showing any signs, all are eating well.
16kg of LR was added to the tank 3 days ago, it was in a tub for 3-4 days and water tests showed no ammonia etc.
Nitrates are normaly at 15-20, missed the last WC as the LFS ran out of NSW.
We will be picking up 200lt today.
We have started to raise the temp, taking it up to 82-83f.
Is it worth getting a skunk cleaner shrimp?
Are there any treatments that can be used in the DT that wont affect the bio filter or inverts?
I can see this is going to be a pain......
I can buy another tank, leave the DT empty for 4-6 weeks.
If I set up a hospital tank for all the fish and treat them, could we still use the bio filter from the DT?
Or will the meds kill the bacteria.... are there any treatments for Ich that dont affect the bio filter??

midnightwolf

i dont know what meds wont affect your boi filter but you could rais the temp and keep the water as clear as possible. you also need to seperate all the sick fish from the healthy. as long as you dont have any jumping fish you can buy a plain tank and filter pretty cheap but it still needs to cycle...

nemo addict

garlic paste mixed with food if you leave in DT ,, if you are going to medicate in a QT then cuprazin by waterlife is good for ich and you cant put inverts in there as it conatains copper as most meds for ich do ,, anything used in qt should not be put in display ,, wit the qt i use water from display and then top up with new S/W in display

melodicone

Try "Rally Ruby Reef" Its supposed to be completely reef safe, it shouldnt hurt any of your inverts and it takes care of ich and a number of other problems. Hope this helps

EDIT: ok after a little more research, aparently even though rally claims to be completely reef safe, there are reports of corals not responding well to the med, "Kick-Ich" is the better solution aparently

reefplayground

There are a couple things you can do. Raising the temp would be a good idea EXCEPT for the fact hat you have a reef with corals and inverts. I would avoid that. All that does is speed up the parasites life-cycle. It doesnt kill it.

If you can catch the fish, a hospital tank would be ideal, or medial baths if no hospital tank is present.

Freshwater baths along with formalin, malachite green, or a combo of the two work well as baths. And copper treatment in a hospital aquarium will work as well.

If treating the tank is the only option, kick-ich as well as garlic supplementation on the food. You can also get things like cleaner shrimps and cleaner gobies (I would avoid the wrasse as he will die off soon after the infestation is gone - they need a large population of fish which they can feed off of to survive long term).

Peterpiper

Just an update on the ich.
Marine ich is not the same as FW ich, and the treatment is not the same, mainly due to the LR and corals etc.
The only way to rid a system of ich is to remove all the fish and place them in a tank that can be treated. The fish are treated and keeped in the Q tank for 6 weeks.
During this 6 weeks the ich in the DT / System dies as it requires fish to feed on.
We have not done this yet as we dont have a spare tank large enough to house the fish for 6 weeks.
The ich is under control... but it is still there, we can see a spot or two on the tang every week or so.
We do daily gravel vacume and a 5% WC.
We have a skunk cleaner shrimp that have been a big help in controling the ich.
Note that I have been saying control. the ich is still there and will remain until the fish have been treated in a Q tank for 6 weeks and the DT has been fishless for 6 weeks.
I feel that the ich came on the LR that was put in the tank a bit to early...

cerianthus

Raising temp may not be as effective as in F/W Ick . Besdies consider corals and other inverts although i had confirmed from fish/coral collector from Bali , the temp there (reef) can be lot higher than i would have assumed or LED to believe. But would not raise any more than where you have set.
Also, knowing that Crypts are obligate Parasite (learned recently even F/W is or maybe), removing hosts (fish) wll eventually eradicate parasites. The question is how long? I read different articles with different answers, some saying cyst may takes longer than 6 weeks to produce free swimming parasite (cant remember the terms anymore, lol).
If it was my tank, would have more cleaners shrimps to control the infection when no options are avail. Although was able to keep cleaner wrasses for while (even fancy Cleaner Wrasses), i will not purchase cleaner wrasses anymore being so delicate (constant feeding, etc) to keep for long time. Another tissue with cleaner wrasses was when was able to keep wrasses for while, these guy kept on bothering/cleaning heathy fish to cause problem to skins (peck until bleeding, maybe due to lack of food?).
I also believe/agree w/ Peter that any pathogenic organisms can come with any livestock added including LR.
Hope tank is back in order soon w/o further mishaps!

Peterpiper

I just found this, and its a very good read.
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/marineich.html

Now I think I will get a Q tank and drop the SG to 1.009-1.010

cerianthus

Thanks for link but nothing i have not read and researched.
Going for True Hypo? Never tried that low. Have kept at 1.014 to 1.016 with decent results (depends how fast I catch the outbreak).
Since I never done it but read enough on Hypo, do extra readings/prep and post the your procedures and results when ready.
Always ready/open to new ideas/methods if it means better chances for our livestocks!