how do i rid my tank of ich?

+1. Using hypo-salinity treatment in a Quarantine tank has always worked for me. As well as always quarantining new fish for at least 4 weeks in the Quarantine tank before adding them to the Display tank.

 

+2 While there may be anecdotal evidence for other methods, these are the only proven ones. Also, I would not put anything into my reef if I do not know what it is, or contains, but that's just my .02....

 

These are words of wisdom. Time proven and effective.

 

Yea I wish it would work for me it would make thing alot easier! What are these chemist's doing they need to make something that kills without harming the reef and they would be rich as hell. Guess im in the wrong profession! Too many wonder cures on the market for me I guess.

 

Technically you will never get 'rid' of ich as it is present in any marine environment. It sits dormant until a stressed fish can't fight it off. The best bet it to treat it with the methods mentioned above and once everything clears up try and figure out what made a particular fish weak enough for ich to take hold. That in itself can be a major chore.

 

hell if I could find out what makes this tang sick I would not know what to do with myself. Think he is like sick boy from van wilder. He always has me baffled cuz he eats like a horse only gets premium top of the line food & seaweed. Great water just does not make much sense. Like i said the only way I can keep him ich free is Skunk cleaner shrimp. Copper works too but left the tank fallow for 6 weeks put him back in and bam had it again.. one day ill figure it out.

 

Yeah it isn't easy to figure out what is going wrong. However, it seems you are on the right track, maybe without even realizing it. You have removed a poor diet as a cause of stress. You seem to think the water conditions are good to go. That is half the battle right there. Poor water conditions and a fish not eating well is a sure sign of bad things to come.

I am not sure of your parameters...tank size, amount of LR if there is any and so forth. What I would do is put yourself in the mind of said tang. Basically, what is causing it stress. Is the water quality not suitable for it? When the lights go off, is there something harassing it? Is the tank simply not large enough for it (they need some space). Are there not enough hiding places when the lights go out? Bro the list goes on. Are you dosing to quickly? Is it getting stung by a pesky softy when the lights are out? Is there a BillyBadarse Mantis causing trouble? On and on and on.

The final cure is going to come down to figuring out what is causing stress to said fish enough to allow the 'ich' to get a foothold. I certainly don't want to disagree with anyone about 'removing' ich from a tank as that isn't possible. It is there. There are a lot of great cures to remove ich from a fish but if the reason said fish got ich in the first place isn't addressed then be sure they will get ich again. There are hundreds of cures, which work really well, but if you don't address the CAUSE you will continue to have problems. You can remove a fish from a tank for a few months to a few years thinking that will cure the 'ich problem' in that tank...not the case. It is there. You can treat the fish but there is nothing available to remove Cryptocaryon fully from a tank. A healthy stress-free fish has ZERO problems dealing with ich.

Use meds to remove ich from a fish but if you don't find a cure, the cause of stress, expect ich to rear it's ugly head again.

 

Actually.... I'd count hypo at 98%. I've had an unsuccessful run with it on with my volitans. I do still recommened it, however.

 

Yea its kinda funny like that for me really the fun of it comes from finding what is happening. Think he will get better over time and tangs are kinda strange anyway. Dont think he is getting picked on but he does do some picking he likes to dive bomb my diamond goby. Its funny think he does it on purpose he will go up to the top of the tank fast as hell do a U turn and head right down to the bottom right before he gets to that goby he will turn and head a diffrent direction its funny as hell the goby moves like what the hell and he wont do it again for a few hours.

He eats a hole sheet of sea veggies about every 2 days I feed mysis every other day with garlic and spectrum ever day with garlic & gonna add selcon to that once I get it in. But like i said he is really good about letting those cleaners get the stuff off him. 2 days ago he had maybe 2 white spots plain as day and today he has none so who knows. The 2 cleaners I have are good guys they even clean me when I have my hand in the tank.

 

Not being one to usually argue with folks, but I wil have to go against your statement here. it does not go dormant from any research I found. having it in a tank with very healthy fish, it still gains some reproductive success, but not much in the fact that you can see lesions on your fish. it "comes alive" on a stressed fish is also false. it just has more success. when you treat with Hypo, you are KILLING the parasite at a specific vulnerable stage of its lifecycle. when you are treating with Copper, you are KILLING it with the Copper. When you leave your display Fishless, you are KILLING it with Starvation as it has nothing to feed on or host in to be able to reproduce.

either way, you are breaking its Life cycle and it does perish. Only by reintroducing it into a system does it get back in there. Introduce a stressed fish into a tank that was rid of the paraside by the methods I subscribed and it will not get crypt, as there is no longer a risk of exposure in those environments.