Say you have the ich-infestation from--well, it's bad. Lost all fish. What next?

Sk8r · 03/22/2015, 03:06 PM

There's one thing you can very easily and pretty safely do. And it's way ahead of breaking down the tank and scrubbing all the rock and going elbows-deep in tank death.

Don't get fish for a while. Concentrate on building a coral reef. Ich is a fish-specific parasite. It NEEDS fish to reproduce. Corals can't do it for it. Neither can crabs and snails. So concentrate on making your fishless tank pretty. Get amusing scarlet hermits. Some worms, a brittle star, (starfish aren't safe), get proper lighting, and work your way toward a pretty coral reef.

Now, learn a lesson from the fish loss. Corals have their own safety protocols: for lps stony, this involves a dip. For zoas, not only a dip, but a very small, well lit observation tank to see if anything crawls out in the next few days and, like a caterpillar on a rose, begins to munch. In general the protocols for corals are easy compared for those for fish. In the case of zoas it's 'look for eggs' and 'if it crawls on it and you don't know what it is, assume it's hungry.' I would NOT advise going all the way to sps corals on this lark, but lps and softies in general are very forgiving of novice reefers, particularly hammer and candycane in the stony line, and zoas, buttons, mushrooms in the softie line.

You'll learn a lot in this process. Your corals, unlike fish, won't jump out, won't nip and run, and won't swim along happily and go belly up without warning. No. If corals aren't happy, they squinch down, expel water, and some even turn purple. This is PLENTY of time for you to run a water test or 3 and find the problem, which you can usually correct very easily by the application of alk buffer, maybe even go over to kalk dosing, and have your corals happily growing and dividing for, oh, twelve weeks, fifteen weeks...

At this point, ich that wasn't able to find a fish to help it have babies, has demised, with no babies. You have a nice clean reef.

Your only remaining problem will be picking species of fish that don't want to eat your corals, but there are lists: reef-safe means it won't eat corals. Reef safe with caution means Good luck, fella, it PROBABLY won't eat corals, but it might take to certain species.

Anyway, just thought I'd shine light on the fact there's more than one route to a nice wow-type tank. Fish can come first, fish can come with corals, or corals can come first, fish to follow.

Just remember: dip and observe corals with a magnifying glass; and quarantine your fish.

Kentech5 · 03/22/2015, 03:51 PM

Sounds like something that might require patience. Can't i just put a Stingray in my ten gallon tank? That'll eat the ich right?

Lizzy_lray · 03/23/2015, 07:32 AM

Good thread!

\Clownfish/ · 03/23/2015, 07:37 AM

That's extactly what I'm doing! I haven't bought any fish yet but I'm working on adding corals first and upgrading my lighting so u get get even more.

03/22/2015, 03:06 PM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Say you have the ich-infestation from--well, it's bad. Lost all fish. What next? There's one thing you can very easily and pretty safely do. And it's way ahead of breaking down the tank and scrubbing all the rock and going elbows-deep in tank death. Don't get fish for a while. Concentrate on building a coral reef. Ich is a fish-specific parasite. It NEEDS fish to reproduce. Corals can't do it for it. Neither can crabs and snails. So concentrate on making your fishless tank pretty. Get amusing scarlet hermits. Some worms, a brittle star, (starfish aren't safe), get proper lighting, and work your way toward a pretty coral reef. Now, learn a lesson from the fish loss. Corals have their own safety protocols: for lps stony, this involves a dip. For zoas, not only a dip, but a very small, well lit observation tank to see if anything crawls out in the next few days and, like a caterpillar on a rose, begins to munch. In general the protocols for corals are easy compared for those for fish. In the case of zoas it's 'look for eggs' and 'if it crawls on it and you don't know what it is, assume it's hungry.' I would NOT advise going all the way to sps corals on this lark, but lps and softies in general are very forgiving of novice reefers, particularly hammer and candycane in the stony line, and zoas, buttons, mushrooms in the softie line. You'll learn a lot in this process. Your corals, unlike fish, won't jump out, won't nip and run, and won't swim along happily and go belly up without warning. No. If corals aren't happy, they squinch down, expel water, and some even turn purple. This is PLENTY of time for you to run a water test or 3 and find the problem, which you can usually correct very easily by the application of alk buffer, maybe even go over to kalk dosing, and have your corals happily growing and dividing for, oh, twelve weeks, fifteen weeks... At this point, ich that wasn't able to find a fish to help it have babies, has demised, with no babies. You have a nice clean reef. Your only remaining problem will be picking species of fish that don't want to eat your corals, but there are lists: reef-safe means it won't eat corals. Reef safe with caution means Good luck, fella, it PROBABLY won't eat corals, but it might take to certain species. Anyway, just thought I'd shine light on the fact there's more than one route to a nice wow-type tank. Fish can come first, fish can come with corals, or corals can come first, fish to follow. Just remember: dip and observe corals with a magnifying glass; and quarantine your fish. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%. Last edited by Sk8r; 03/22/2015 at 03:12 PM.

03/23/2015, 07:32 AM	#3
Lizzy_lray Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 295	Good thread! __________________ Currently 20 gallon Nano 12lbs tonga liverock ~still cycling Current Tank Info: Established is December 2015 20 gal high nano reef. A beautiful mix of softies, LPS, SPS mix i love different textures and movements

03/23/2015, 07:37 AM	#4
\Clownfish/ Saltwater Beginner $\Clownfish/'s Avatar$ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Anemone Posts: 629	That's extactly what I'm doing! I haven't bought any fish yet but I'm working on adding corals first and upgrading my lighting so u get get even more. __________________ Keep your friends close, and your anemones closer.
$\Clownfish/ is offline$

03/22/2015, 03:51 PM	#2
Kentech5 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Hudson Falls, NY Posts: 368	Sounds like something that might require patience. Can't i just put a Stingray in my ten gallon tank? That'll eat the ich right?