The dreaded ich - What to do

I could be wrong about this, but is Ich active In the water Column? Would a uv help? I thought that every fish had a dormant form of ich and the parasite lives inside them not in the water Column.

 

A small percentage of ich is in the water column, and this is also dependent on the stage of the life cycle the marine ich is in.

UV are proving to be of assist in the long battle with marine ich however. I suspect that the UV cuts down on population of marine ich as well destroys other pathogens that create stress for the fish and make it more vulnerable to opportunistic parasites.

People that use UV often say they have experienced a decline in the occurrence of marine ich as well as the severity.

 

I was under he impression that copper was bad because even though it worked, it gets stuck in the seams and stuff so it kills any invert for years to come?

 

No this is a myth probably started by the guy selling fishtanks. The ammount of copper that actually can be absorbed into the silicone is minimal and will not harm future inhabitants. With that being said the copper will slowly leach out over time so I would say to give the tank a little while before adding any inverts after treatment.

 

Well no help removing it as it will stress the fish more and the tank is already infected at this point so no dont remove it work with it. Do the things that make the fish comfortable like over feed things it, Help find food it likes and make sure it eats, Turn the lights down to help with its not being so nervous in the tank and be less stressed, and hope its healthy so it will pull through it but DO NOT PULL IT from the tank.

 

Little more help

I have not removed the fish as I dont know that I could catch him... I have noticed the tang is looking better and one of the 2 clown fish is looking great.. HOWEVER, the snowflake clown I have is obviously suffering.. Rubbing and scratching on the bottom, swimming in a totally unusual place for her to be and not interacting with the other clown like normal. SHe has 2 large spots on her right side that are white-ish and almost looks like her skin is bubbled... Its like a big sore... I cant tell if she is getting better or worse.. It has been there since for last 2 1/2 days (post ich diagnosis)..

She did not obviously eat last 2 days but did look as if she may have took a piece this time although not sure (we all were watching closer).. SHe appears to be swimming around more tonight than last 2 days but definitely scratching more and the spot is more distinguished.. We see no specs in the area...

Should I be doing something more??? I feel extremely helpless....

 

Ya kind of are at this point. Just keep feeding garlic and selcon laced high quality foods and hope for the best. I also used herbtana. Its just a natural thing that seems to boost their slime layer and appetite. It seemed to keep my fish eating. Good luck

 

While I do understand leaving the fish so they're not 'stressed,

When I went thru my little disaster many months ago, the only fish I actually removed from my Dt, was my Large Royal Blue Tang.

He went into an empty 5G bucket (sea salt container), with a foam/airstone filter, and I used copper. He was really sick, and is doing wonderful today! So glad to have saved him/her.

What ever you decide, good luck. Many of us have been down this road before.

PS, now when I get new fish, I use the same bucket, filter, piece of PVC, some PriziPro, and quarantime for at least a week or two (very minimal interval btw) to make sure they still look great and are eating.

 

Good and bad


No signs of ich other than the flame fin tang with a few brown discolored patches..

The Tang is actually started coming out of the hole it has lived in since we got him almost 2 weeks ago.. It is getting out more and more since yesterday.. It ate good tonight and looks very healthy...

Sad to report we lost the snowflake clown.. Haven't the heart to tell my 6 year old as it was her first purchased fish...

To make things really horrible, our neighbors poodle was ran over practically in our driveway while its 8 year old owner was playing with my daughter and they both witnessed the incident.. It was not a pretty sight and although we attempted to get them to not look/listen it was rather traumatizing for them both. She spent most of the night crying and making "get better soon" cards... My wife and I both cringed when we found the clown this morning.. By some blessing she has not asked about it yet.. If I could hold out for a few more days and find another replacement I may consider, just not sure what exactly we will do... The timing is incredibly horrible...

 

ouch bro! Bad day in parent land. IMO, your kid will smell a rat real quick with the new clown, I'd use it as a life lesson, sucks, but you getting busted by her is prob worse. IMO. But I'd prob be thinking the same thing.