Ich Massacre !!!!

patrickr202 · 04-09-2007, 12:55 PM

I've recently lost a drawn-out and traumatic battle with Ich. My lil' homies held on til the bitter end, enduring the highly promoted "Ich Attach" medication and water changes to no avail.

Anyway, my question is, how many weeks can the cysts survive without a fish host?

All i have in there now is my cleaner crew (hermits & snails). And my plan is to wait out the disease. Anyone know?

Andyoybna · 04-09-2007, 01:25 PM

get the heat up to around 78-82, if it isn't already, but I believe they can live 7 -8 weeks without a fish host, so 2 months with no fishies. There is still no gaurantee that the new fish you buy won't have ich, even if it isn't visable, like I just found out when I recently purchased a foxface, thankfully I have it in QT right now, I don't know if it infected anything else in my main tank.

Anyways the best advice I can give you is, wait about 2 months, and set up a hospital/qt tank and leave the fish in there for several weeks before adding it to your main tank.

Chitown1 · 04-09-2007, 03:06 PM

I agree, 8 weeks will ensure you allow those pesty parasites enough life cycles to become extinct in your tank. The main reason you need to QT new additions is most LFS run copper thru their systems in low levels and you are not able to see the "dots" until the parasites are pregenet which they can not do while copper is eveident. If you ask your LFS if they run copper they will prob say yes, I go so far as to when I walk in a new store for the first time, I ask to test for copper and then I am told that they do run copper in their systems, but it is needed in that circumstance due to the variety of specimins and elevated stress levels which make the more prone to be affected.

patrickr202 · 04-09-2007, 03:53 PM

As i gaze at my pitiful/"empty" display tank for two months, do i need to cycle the QT tank or can i cheat and use some of the (infected) water from the main tank and just start circulating the water w/o charcoal and start medicating the QT tank in preparation for adding livestock after the 2 mos. is up?

Andyoybna · 04-09-2007, 05:02 PM

the QT does not need to cycle at all, in fact you don't even need to set it up until maybe a day or so prior to actually buying any fish, only long enough for the water to be stable.

Using copper medications, or a lot of other medicines, kill bacteria, good and bad, so there is no point to cycle, but you should use some water from your display so that the params are as close as possible. I also advise not to use any live rock, since it will die, and substrate is optional, and I don't reccomend it, just gives a place for stuff to hide.

All you really need is a tank large enough, as small as a 10, or maybe as large as a 29 depending on your needs. A moderately powerful HOB filter, with no carbon, just use sponge filters, most medication states on the instructions to not use carbon since it removes the medicine from the water. And literally anything for the fish to hide, I know a few people on this site reccomend PVC fittings. And just keep on top of water changes, and keep some ammo lock on hand to get rid of some of that in order to delay water changes for a while.

Sniperelite8243 · 04-09-2007, 08:50 PM

Cant say i have experience with ick but heres my idea on getting rid of it faster. i think it works though. ick is free floating without a host and good bacteria is in the substrate, so do a water change(50%0 every day for a week. i figure it will take out most of the ick. cant say all but should die alot faster. Try a combo of melifix and primafix. They cured my tank of fNTD so it should be a easy job for ick.

good luck

patrickr202 · 04-09-2007, 10:49 PM

Thanx guys, I really appreciate the help.

Chitown1 · 04-09-2007, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniperelite8243

Cant say i have experience with ick but heres my idea on getting rid of it faster. i think it works though. ick is free floating without a host and good bacteria is in the substrate, so do a water change(50%0 every day for a week. i figure it will take out most of the ick. cant say all but should die alot faster. Try a combo of melifix and primafix. They cured my tank of fNTD so it should be a easy job for ick.

good luck

Actually, the parasites will cling to anything in the tank, rocks, substrate etc. but doing water changes would not hurt, I would still wait the 6-8 weeks to be certain you dont have to go thru the whole process again.

Sniperelite8243 · 04-09-2007, 11:35 PM

stick to anything, didnt know that. im tired (yawn) and im going to go to bed but ill look up some more information tomorow. check out the melifix and primafix though. they should work well. Ill do some more searching in the morning. untill then

good night (lol)