Post Ich, What next?

The day before Christmas I made a huge mistake and bought a fish that had ich. I picked out one fish and the saltwater store guy wasn't able to catch him so he got one,"the same" from a small tank over my head.... Yes I know I get the stupid award of the year! And, the little voice inside my head was telling me it wasn't smart at the same time. So the fish dies three days later, I lose two more fish about a week later and have two remaining with no further sign of ich. Now what?

My question is do I move the remaining fish to a QT and have a tank without fish for 6 weeks, buy a UV sterilizer or will the ich just die out or be eaten by my Shrimp if left 6-8 weeks without adding more fish. I just don't want to take the chance of adding fish in 6-8 weeks just to start this all over again.

This has been so depressing I can't imagine this happening again. I watch my water quality carefully and never thought this would happen like this.

 

well to get rid of ick in ur main tank leave it without fish for 6-8 weeks. u can still keep shrimp and corals though. as for the fish still alive, put'em in QT and treat usng hyposalinity

 

So, do you treat fish that do look affected and then move them? I have dipped them, fed them garlic and have a cleaner shrimp. Don't have a QT set up but I can do that if I need to.

 

treat all the fish; sometimes u might not see ick but that doesnt mean its not there. yeah set up a QT keep the shrimp in the display tank cuz its fine, and just treat them in the QT while still feeding them garlic.

 

I prefer treating Crypto(marine ich) with Cupramine. Yes, both of the fish need to be treated regardless of whether they are showing signs or not.

 

remove them if you have that ability and keep them in the hospital tank for a period of 4-6 weeks. let your display go without fish for that same period so you can break the life cycle of the parasite. you can treat the fish in your hospital tank with Hyposalinity or copper. I prefer Hypo.

 

How big of a tank do u have? Remember if your fish are in a larger display tank and go to a small qt they will already be stressed before any treatment starts.

 

That was among my concerns. I have left a damsel, that will never die! I have had him in three different tanks through all my learning curves and he is the energizer bunny and one cardinal that was part of a pair. I think he is lost without the other. They were never separated in the tank. He is still eating well and just as fast as ever but I am concerned. They are currently in a 36 gallon Solane cube and the little tank I have is a 6 gallon that I can set up. I have treated the cardinal not the damsel. I couldn't catch him. But, I returned them to the their home not a QT.

 

The DT has to sit fallow for 4-6 weeks to eliminate crypt. If both fish are eating and overall healthy, I would wait for petco to run a 'dollar a gallon' sale and pick up a 20 gallon long to treat those fish in. Use hyposalinity so you have no issues of removing copper and you can re-use the tank later as a sump/fuge. If you would like to treat now, the 20long is something like $35.

Good luck, I battled crypt myself so I know the hassle involved with watching a DT sit fishless.