I cannot cure Ich, why?

You do realize the sterilizer likely did nothing to help your problem. Ich can only be hit be a sterilizer for a very short period of time. It swims near the substrate of the tank, and most of the parasites wouldn't go over an overflow to begin with. They're dead within hours, regardless as to whether they passed through the UV unit. Plus, the amount of power needed to kill ich via UV is so tremendous, you'd need a gigantic sterilizer for even a 10g tank. I think the estimate was that it would need to be inside the UV unit for 8 times the amount of time water is normally inside the unit.

 

Yeah, like I mentioned earlier I have 3 tanks at the moment, 55gal. 28gal. and 1.3gal. None of which would make a good QT. I do have inverts so I guess hyposalinity is out of the question. I still do not understand the copper/qt method as once I put the fish back into the main tank it will just start all over for the poor fish.

I think I am going to use this method Kordon Rid Fungus Treatment and garlic to help boost thier immune. So much thanks for the recommendation. In the meantime, I cannot get anyone to agree that a freshwater 5minute dip for the wrasse would'nt help relieve it's discomfort until the herbal medication arrives. Will it help? And if so, how often should I do this while I wait possibly 6-7 days for it to be delivered?

I have definitely learned my lesson about QT'ing fish from the LFS. I won't be buying anymore fish until I have a proper QT.

 

No, it won't be back on the fish. You get all the fish out of your DT for 2 months; this keeps there from being any ich in the DT. You kill all the ich in the QT with copper. Ich is a parasite; it's not something that appears magically. Once it's gone from yor tank, and off all of your fish, you never have to contend with ich again.

Ich is NOT a fungus, that treatment won't do anything for ich. Marine ich is different from freshwater ich. FW ich is a fungus, while marine ich is a protozoan. Marine ich is actually called cryptocaryon irritans in the scientific world, while freshwater ich is called Ichthyophonus. The only reason marine ich is called ich is because it looks nearly the same in terms of symptoms, not because of a biological similarity. FW ich cannot live in saltwater, and SW ich cannot live its full life cycle in FW, only parts of it.

 

Thanks, this is precisely why I came to this forum. So much information floating out there and everyone situation is different, mine being not having a sufficient QT. My husband just chimed in and said he's willing to use the Nano 28gal for the QT but he's not willing to treat it with copper and ruin the chances of a future reef in it. (has alot of live rock in it)

So now I am back to square 1. I just don't have the funds to setup a completely new system and keep it running just for QT. Nor would it be cycled anyway in time to save these fish. So using this either would not help? Kordon LLC - Kordon - Herbal Ich Attack

I was thinking dose the main tank with this, dip the wrasse in freshwater then put him back in with this preventative helping. I may not be able to save him but all my other fish would possibly make it, or future fish added. Is this product at least a good preventative meaure to take?

 

Well, on a tank without live rock (a tank with BASE rock is ok to use it on), you could use formalin or hypo. Formalin will kill inverts and bacteria, so you'd need to do water changes a lot, but it won't leech into your tank, so you could remove the wrasse after a QT period, run carbon for a day to get the formalin out of the water, and that tank would be set except for a cycle. The rock would be cured after that period, but would need to cycle. I just wouldn't put it into a tank that hasn't finished cycling because of the stress from high ammonia/nitrites.

That stuff isn't proven to cure ich. There's only 3 proven cures.

 

Excellent advice! Thanks. The rock in the nano was bleached so technically it is just base rock. So I could use Formalin to cure the fish and except for another cycle etc, could use it for a reef still?

If so, this is what I will do. As it'll buy me enough time to setup a proper QT.
I'm assuming Formalin is "not" copper?

Additionally, the Nano is not cycled as you mentioned, this is'nt good. It is at it's 3 week mark - can I make this work? Or am I just adding to the problem?

 

No, formalin is a different chemical. Formalin is related to formaldehyde, so you gotta be careful with how much you dose - it's a kinda narrow window between not effective, cure and death, at least relative to copper.
Formalin doesn't leech into the rock, so you just need to get it out of the water.

 

Thanks again Blackraven for all the info, I believe this is what we are going to do. I have just a couple more qestions, if I take all the fish out (1 goby, 1 wrasse, 2 clowns) will the inverts and shrimp prevent the main tank from the Ich leaving in 8-12 weeks? Or does every last snail, crab, and shrimp need to come out as well? Lastly, will 8 weeks do the trick?

 

8 weeks will do it. Inverts can't carry ich, only fish, so don't worry about anything other than the fish. I would recommend catching them with a trap and not a net, as a trap will be less stressful and that'll mean they'll be less susceptible to a breakout of ich.

Once you have the fish and medication in the tank, raise the temperature of the tank over a couple days to 81 degrees (not higher, in your DT and QT); it'll make the ich go through its life cycle faster. Make sure you have plenty of aeration (airstones and surface movement), because formalin can lower oxygen levels in the water very quickly. Shy on the low side of the dose. Don't use carbon, run the skimmer if you have one, and keep an eye on pH, ammonia and nitrite.

 

I had the same issue with ick for the longest time. What I found to be the best things to do were:

-QT all fishes with cupramine, prazipro, fresh water dips, etc.
-Use multiple UV (I am using 1 watter per gallon almost). I have 2 in the main display and 2 underneath.

After years of fighting with ick, this new improvements had help a lot.