Urgent Ich is coming! What should I do?

Alright, let me first explain my situation...

1. I work at a pet store. And we have Saltwater and Freshwater fish.
2. I have no hospital tank where I can keep the fish while I treat the Ich in the main tanks.
3. There are many tanks all run by one large sump.
4. I am not allowed to use Coppersafe, or any strong chemicals. Basically I only have Rid Ich, or Ick Attack.
5. The one fish that is showing signs of Ich is a Coral beauty. It shares a tank with a Yellow Tang, 3 Clownfish, a Chocolate Chip Starfish, Turbo Snails, and a Longnose Hawkfish. Other tanks that share a sump with this tank contain, Clarkii Clowns, Keyhole Angel, Half Black Angel, Flame Angel, Naso Tang, Yellow-Tailed Blue Tang, Tomato Clowns, Royal Gramma, Snowflake Moray Eel, and a Six-Lined Wrasse. Along with Turbo Snails, Blue-legged Hermit Crabs, and a Brittle Starfish.



So, my question is, what is the most effective way I can get rid of the Ich before it spreads to the other fish, and ultimately kills them?

About a year ago, before I helped in fish, some Clowns got Ich and it spread to all the fish that shared it's sump, and they all died. It was really horrible because it was a lot of beautiful fish that were lost...
However, back then, the person really did not do anything to treat it while they showed signs. I would like to not make that mistake.



P.S.
If you have some sort of problem with people that work at petstores that have saltwater fish, please do not take you anger out on me.
It is a job that provides money, however I do take much time into taking care of all the fish. I do not abuse the fish, or mess around with them. I really do care for them.



Thank you!

 

Feed them lots of food soaked in garlic and HUFA's (Selcon, etc). The problem is that this will not kill the ich. It will however, boost the fishs' immune system to give them a fighting chance.

 

well... uhhh. metronidazole is the only reef safe ich treatment that I know of... Metronidazole supplements can be obtained and soaked with food, but it is a coin toss whether the fish will even eat it, or eat enough of it to help... but honestly with that many fish on the same water volume I would think it would be impossible to cure it with out a hospital tank.

Edit: metronidazole is the only reef safe treatment for saltwater ich that i've heard may work!

 

I know, this sucks so much. It's going to be so hard to prevent this ich from spreading since I can't take the fish out.
The only thing I was thinking that might be somewhat effective was...
- To take out the carbon
- Put Ick Attack in the sump so it spreads to all the tanks
- Put Ick Attack in the tank where the Coral Beauty is in
- Perhaps a Fresh Water dip for the Coral Beauty?
- And keep treating the water for several days
- Do a 25% water change after a week, siphoning the substrate to maybe get any Ich
that is growing there


Also if I had to estimate how many gallons of water all of these tanks were together I would say around 90 gallons. So I'm not sure how much Ick Attack I should use for it to even be effective.

 

that sounds like a good strategy to me. I would honestly try and set up a 10 gallon hospital tank... being a pet store you have to have some filter lying around somewhere you can use. Unless this is petco or something.

Heck, call your customers and tell them free fish... warn of ich of course.

 

my new wrasses ended up getting ick really bad from the stress of being new, i just let the ick ride its course and continue soaking their food in garlic and they've had it for a couple of days and now it's almost all gone.

so i highly recommend soaking the food in garlic if your not already because catching them and placing in a QT could stress them out even more


good luck

 

Thank you all so much for your advice.

And there is one tank I can use. I think it's a 20 high. (It's hard to tell cause it's put away.)
Maybe I can start that up as a saltwater QT for the Coral Beauty?
I really wanted to get them all out so that I can kill Ich since there won't be any fish they can live on. But yeaaa, can't do that..

Also, what kind of food are you soaking in Garlic? Frozen food? I have Frozen Brine Shrimp that maybe I can snatch some Garlic and soak it with it.

And another quick question. If I go with the routine I think I should do, once I do the water change, should I make the new saltwater have lower salinity to perhaps prevent the Ich from returning? Right now I believe it's at 1.021, maybe I can put it at 1.018 or 1.017?

 

Use a garlic extract to soak the food in. I soak everything from flakes, dry, pellets and frozen in it. I highly suggest you introduce HUFA's as well. They're essential fatty acids that fish need. Do not lower salinity at a fish store. This would make it very stressful for the fish when customers acclimate them at home to a higher salinity since most don't quarantine for long periods of time.

 

I greatly admire the fact that you logged on here to ask other fellow reefers - that definitely shows me that you are caring and concerned. There is a HUGE difference between not knowing but going to others for help and not knowing nor caring enough to ask for help.

I wish you well with this! Would it make sense to show the owners / management the impending problem? Explain about the importance of what you are trying to do.

At the very least you are on the record with it - I certainly do not nor would not fault you. You are among friendly people on here.

+K for coming here to ask for help.

regards,
elizabeth

 

Oh yesss, good point about the Salinity. Yes I would not like the fish to be more stressed out going to a new tank, like if being bagged and going to a new tank isn't stressful enough.

But yea, there is a Garlic Extract by Kent that I may have them order if not just take some right off the shelf hah. I have Pellets, Flakes and Brine Shrimp I can soak. I don't know where I can get any HUFA's...
Can I do this along with using Ick Attack in the water?