ICH issues again

Ok. First off, fish that you get from stores are almost all wild caught.

Meaning: They ALL have ich. They usually only express signs of ich when they are stressed out (due to water quality issues or pestering from other tankmates).
However, just a change in enviroment is enough to stress certain fish out, especially tangs and angels.

Fish you get from other memebers have been in closed environments and have gotten use to being in a tank (even dirty tanks). That is why they have a better survival rate.

Lastly if you have an aggressor in your tank, most likely you will have little success adding other fish to your tank until that fish out of there (maybe throw that one in the QT for a time out) Sometimes another fish takes rank when the bastard fish is gone so also keep that in mind.

Bottom line is you have to judge the personalities of the inhabitants you have in your tank and try to make the best decisions. I've never seen your tank in person so I cant do that for you. Sorry for the bad luck but I hope that puts some perspetive on the issue.

 

Lighting won't cause ich Justin but it is a good idea to not have the lights on when putting a new fish into QT and then use subdued lighting initially in QT. When it's time to add a new fish to the DT, having the lights out can be a good idea /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif Then, one can monitor how the new fish is getting along with the other fish just with the ambient lighting in the room. Should you suspect there might be aggression, you can keep the lights off for a day or two without hurting anything /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif Good luck!

 

If you keep doing it halfway everytime, you will always have issues.

1. Have you let your display tank go 100% fishless for a minimum of 6 weeks? If yes, goto number 2 if no, goto number 3

2. Do you keep new fish in your QT for a minimum of four weeks and treat qt with copper? If no, goto number 3

3. Take all fish out of display tank. Every fish. Dont worry about coral, shrimp, etc. Now, DO NOT add any fish for a MINIMUM of 6 weeks back into the tank. Meanwhile, once all fish in QT are eating and looking good, treat with copper according to instructions. All fish should be in QT for a MINIMUM of four weeks to allow the full life cycle of ich to be killed by copper.

 

+1 but I would take it a little futher and let you tank go fallow for 10 weeks. I say 10 weeks because their have been studies that show some strains can take up to 72 days. The tank is already empty so going another 4 weeks should not kill you.

 

Agreed. Although shouldn't ALL fish come out of the system, not just the display? That parasite would travel through the entire system, infecting fish in the sump too, correct?

 

Yes

The QT system should be totally separate.

 

Dont forget to take your fish out of your sump and put in QT.