Salinity With Ick

[chesapeake]

Ihave a brown powder tang that has ick After fresh water dipping he keeps getting it back so I have lowered the salinity rate in the tank a 125g gradually over the past week to now a salinity of 1.014 I read here before that the salinty rate can go as low as 1.012 to kill the Ick The fish still has the problem do not really want to use copper safe if I can avoid it. Any advice?

[JustinReef]

You need to go to 1.008 or 1.009 to kill ich. Some will certainly die or fall off in lower salinities but you do need to go lower for treatment. Don't do this with LR or you will kill your rock and cause a huge ammonia spike.

Be very careful with copper and tangs. It can harm their digestive fauna pretty badly and cause long term effects. If you do go the copper route, make sure you test for it a few times a day and keep it stable. Use a bare hospital tank.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[chesapeake]

1.008 WOW thats not to low for the fish? I am avoiding cooper unless im out of options.thanks

[Hal]

Justin is correct that copper can be especially hard on tangs. It's generally not recommended for them. Try these:


The basics on ich

The various ich treatments

Everything you need to know about hyposalinity

[Hal]

Originally posted by chesapeake
1.008 WOW thats not to low for the fish? I am avoiding cooper unless im out of options.thanks

1.009 is not too low. I've done it seveal times, including with tangs.

[chesapeake]

for how long should i leave it at 1.008

[downhillbiker]

stick to 1.009, IMO 1.008 is too low. 1.009 has shown to be sufficient in completely killing ich, so no reason to take it further and stress the fish or ruin their kidneys. i would say leave it at 1.009 for 4-6 weeks, if you are treating in display (fish only), but if you have corals, move the fish to QT and treat for 8 weeks. this will allow the display tank to run fallow (without host) and kill off in there as well. then QT all the fish that come in to make sure they dont have it.

[chesapeake]

do you all recomend UV? for fish only with some inverts

[chesapeake]

ok i have some bad news to report I have lost my Red coris wrass,Valinti Puffer,Imperator Angel,The angel was the lastone I added I think he must have brought it into the tank from the LFS.
The powderbrown tang,sailfin and koletang as well as the cowfish and tomatoe clown are holding on but they are infested Frshwater dipped them last night but it did not seem to have any affect on the ich.My salinity is now down to 1.010 should I drop it to 1.009 or should I leave it i have set up my 20g tank for copper treatment if I need to.but i will need to acliomate them slowly if Ia put them in the tank for treatment correct? IM so glad this has never happen in my reeftank. but I must admit this 125 project has been a long 2year project.

[JustinReef]

Originally posted by downhillbiker
stick to 1.009, IMO 1.008 is too low. 1.009 has shown to be sufficient in completely killing ich, so no reason to take it further and stress the fish or ruin their kidneys. i would say leave it at 1.009 for 4-6 weeks, if you are treating in display (fish only), but if you have corals, move the fish to QT and treat for 8 weeks. this will allow the display tank to run fallow (without host) and kill off in there as well. then QT all the fish that come in to make sure they dont have it.

1.008 or 1.009 is not going to make a difference to the fish IME.

[chesapeake]

Oh thre eyes on the cowfish are all hazy.

[downhillbiker]

copper. i would just set up a makeshift QT for now, put the fish in it after everything is set. slowly bring the salinity up to 1.015-ish. get some copper from your LFS, also you will have to buy a copper test kit. i honestly haven't done hypo, but have had great success with copper. at this point i thin you need to just commit and do it. try to get to the LFS before they close. if you dont have a QT tank, set up a rubbermaid. make sure you have a heater, flow, and some way to get oxygen in the water, you dont need a filter, you can just do water changes.

[chesapeake]

ok i will do that have copper safe and a test kit set the 20g up and have it at 1.015 will put them in tonight thanks

[downhillbiker]

good luck. i would steer clear of the freshwater dips. i personally believe in dipping when i first add fish, but they get so stressed with ich. i have NEVER personally had luck with the FW dips.

i would leave them in QT for about 8 weeks. sorry to break the news, but that is what i have found it takes to truly kill whats in the display tank. you kill it by running fallow and not giving them a host. that means you have to QT ALL of your fish, every single one. if you have a mandarin, dont put it in QT

[chesapeake]

ok I removed the fish and there are being treated with coppersafe have the copper level in the quantine tank at 2.0 the directions said 1.5 to 2.0.So how long will it take for the Ich to leave the main tank? will keep the salinity at 1.009.

[chesapeake]

the quarentine ta nk the salinity is 1.015 .should I raise it tomorrow to 1.017 then sunday take it to 1.019?

[downhillbiker]

no, leave it at 1.015. that is fine. is the display at the same? should work perfect. if display is higher, you will have to drip acclimate in a bucket.

[downhillbiker]

no, leave it at 1.015. that is fine. is the display at the same? should work perfect. if display is higher, you will have to drip acclimate in a bucket.

[chesapeake]

found the kole tang dead this morning this really sucks I will never add fish without quarentining first ever again.The remaining fish have been in quarentine since last night with coppersafe how long do you think it will take before I see nomore ich on them there still covered.PLease save my powder brown 2 years I have had him and do not want to loose him now.Did not freshwater dip them anymore.

[cloak]

Originally posted by justinpsmith
You need to go to 1.008 or 1.009 to kill ich. Some will certainly die or fall off in lower salinities but you do need to go lower for treatment. Don't do this with LR or you will kill your rock and cause a huge ammonia spike.

Be very careful with copper and tangs. It can harm their digestive fauna pretty badly and cause long term effects. If you do go the copper route, make sure you test for it a few times a day and keep it stable. Use a bare hospital tank.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Kind of off topic. If you were keeping a brackish water tank, scats, mono's, puffers etc. What would the optimum salinity be? If the fish in that tank became sick with ick, do you raise the salinity, drop the salinity? Would that be the saltwater version of ick, the freshwater version of ick? A what point does it change? Do you treat with copper, rid-ich, or are they one in the same?

Just a thought.

[downhillbiker]

ok, so you need to go ahead and check the copper in the tank. run it at the max that is safe, which i believe the bottle says 3ppm. check the bottle though. make sure you dont have carbon on the tank. it should clear up in a few days. and then there will be another cycle that might show. trust me it cant live in copper. the problem you have now, is that gill damage has probably already been done. make sure you have good oxygenation in the water. have a wooden air stone running.

i have been there before. i added a emperor angel once without QT. i lost a gold dogface, a fu manchu lionfish, the emperor, a yellow tang, and a lunar wrasse. both the wrasse and the fu manchu were show quality, and while the others weren't they were still exceptional specimens.

hope you can save what you have left. sorry for you losses. hope we can fix it from here.

[chesapeake]

I lost my 1yr old powder brown tang today very sad he will be missed

[chesapeake]

sailfintang died tomatoeclown will be dead by morning cowfish is totaly covered looks like there skin is literaly coming off there bodies this is unbelievable.copper is not working

[chesapeake]

so what should I do with the diplay tank should I just drain it and start over or should i leave it run at 1.009 for 4 weeks?

[downhillbiker]

leave it running for 8, not 4, weeks without any fish in it whatsoever. to kill ich by running fallow you need to run for a full 8 weeks. this seems like a long time, but its worth it. you have already dealt with the hard part, now learn from it and do it right. dont put a single fish in your display without qt first. i am really sorry, i hope this is the start of a new experience for you....after the major ich die off that i told you about before, i have not had ich give me problems since. i have qt'd each fish. i didn't do one about 8 months ago, and ich came in. i tore down my tank and caught every fish, and qt'd for 8 weeks, and never again. my battle with ich is over.

running your display for 8 weeks is just for now. if you would like to get some fish started in qt, wait about 2 weeks with copper in there, and then add some fish to the qt. just make sure you do it right this time and commit yourself to a true 8 weeks.