should i pull them out?

Hey i have been fighting ich for the last 3 weeks, started with my powder brown tang. This morning i noticed my clown goby covered heavily in white spotts and my blue damsel scratching, along with the powder brown tang. I have raised my temp to 81, they all seem to be eating like normal, but i am concerned that its going to affect my percula clowns and other fish like my mandrin gobys and foxface. At what point is it reccomended to remove the stock and treat in QT??

 

Ick is usually caused by stress, so you need to check your paras.


luna

 

if they are eating normal then i would just wait it out. i would treat the powder brown as they and the powder blue tangs are very easy to get it and die from it. the others should be fine as long as they are eating.

 

yeah they all eat like pigs still....and for the most part seem normal during the day, it's in the morning when i see them all acting weird. I understand the life cycle of ICH and was wondering if vacuuming out some old stuff (spot siphoning)and replacing it with new aragonite be helpful?

 

I haven't heard too many success stories from people who pulled their fish out, all though I am sure there is some. I think pulling them out just adds more stress to them. I think as long as they are eating they should be able to fight it off them self. I had a case of it years ago and all I did was introduced a cleaner shrimp and he went right to work. I try and always have one in my tank now and I have not seen any sign of ich for years. I do see the foxface stopping by to get cleaned on occasion.

 

From a pevious post;
Quote:
Originally Posted by anpgp
So could I add this stuff to the QT tank to help fight off the ich or should I just use this in the DT? And is it a regular dosing or how does it work?

Here is a site with a good price; Freshmarine - Marine Max - Water Additive Fresh Water Aquarium Treatment - Buy Marine Max Now and Save! It is used in the DT. You can use it in the QT as it will help the fish ward off the ich. I would say if you have fish in the QT, yes, use it in there and treat the DT. Once the fish is ich free, of course re-introduce it to the DT. There are instructions on its' use. If Dt has an issue, i.e. ich, it says three times a week. If using as preventative, every other week. I used it once a month for 3-4 months and then occasionally use it. In the beginning (when I first got interested) I had bought some and hadn't added it to the display yet. I got a new fish and didn't put it in before adding the new fish (as they recommend) and two of my fish developed ich. I added the Marine-Max and in two days all the fish were in perfect health, I was sold on the product.

 

One possibility for this outbreak could be that you do have a lot of fish for a 55. The tang and foxface are both larger fish and produce large amounts of waste. Plus you have another 7 fish in there. Fish not only need good water parameters, but room to swim and be free from aggression. Cramped living conditions can lead to stress, lower immune systems and stress.

 

IMHO, pulling them out will just add to the stress. I went through a bad outbreak about 2 months ago. I removed my yellow tangs and hippo tang to treat them separately. I also treated the DT with a reef safe med, "no sick fish" It worked well I think. However, the tangs that I pulled out all died a couple days after while everyone else is alive and happy.
But I can tell you for sure that it never leaves your system. I still see it re appearing on some fish nowadays, the domino damsel and royal gramma in particular. It lasts for a few days and then go away again.
What really seems to work for me is cleaner shrimp. They set up their station and as soon as ICK infests, the fish would utilize the shrimp for it's cleaning services.
Also, clean your filter floss every day.

 

i have since the begining had a pair of cleaner shrimp, i agree i am alittle overstocked...a friend of mine gave up the hobby and donated the tang and mandrins to me. Ordinarily i wouldn't have accepted but he'd like to come see his fish again. Also my foxface and tang seemed to form a friendship...really strange but they don't ever swim without the other. When one leaves an area the other follows. When you say clean your filter floss you mean change it right? I use a filter sock for my skimmer's return to reduce microbubbles, can i just rince it out and re-use it as filter socks aren't cheap?

 

Yep that's what I mean, Just rinse it out. It's supposed to help keep the parasite at bay but I'm not 100% sure it actually works.