Ich in a new tank

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highaltitude

Cleaner Shrimp
#1
#1
How many you reefers have gotten ich and lost a bunch of fish quick ? I started a tank at chirstmas , no fish just corals , with 200 lbs off live rock from another guys tanks. It ran to months then i decided to go bigger and bumped up to a 220 . No fish , just cleaners and some corals . Just added 2 clownfish , 1 tank and 3 hemiochus fish . with in 4 days i lost a hemiochus , I tested my water in panic and then let a LFS test it , everything was ok . 2 days later i lost a clownfish . , the next night i saw the ich forming on them , and ran out and got some medication , but lost the tangs that night . I am pulling out my hair , Out of the 6 fish i have 2 left and this happened in a weeks time . I am confused on is this something i did or didn't do ? i have owed 4 reef tanks in my life an know a little about the hobby but never dealt with Ich . Did one fish bring this in and infected the rest ?

I just finished the build of my monster 220 and i am quite discouraged about this horrible situation . What caused this and why ? i waited a couple of months to introduce fish, my water was ready , i have a reefkeeper lite that kepts my temp at 78 steady , salinty is 1.024 , running a huge skimmer , carbon , corals are happy . crabs and cleaners are happy .

Any advice be helpful thanks
 
F

Fitz19d

Bat Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
#3
The rock and any thing else from the running tank of someone else could have had ich in it. (his fish were tolerating them). Some have said ick can even ride in on frag plugs. So basically adding anything can be a risk albeit some lower or higher. (Dip corals ftw)

I think its a bit odd to lose a clown to ich as they are one of the more resitant types of fish to it. Makes me still wonder if it's not something else. (And the stress of that something else has made the ich apparent on the tang.)
 
Fourthwind

Fourthwind

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
#5
Ok so if I have this right, you had a tank going, then transferred everything to a 220? How long after the transfer did you add fish? what are the rest of the parameters?
 
H

highaltitude

Cleaner Shrimp
#8
#8
Fourthwind;n646678 said:
Ok so if I have this right, you had a tank going, then transferred everything to a 220? How long after the transfer did you add fish? what are the rest of the parameters?
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Yes I transfered into the 220 then waited a week before adding fish , the 120 was clean and with it only running a few.month's there was not much detritus build up
 
F

Fitz19d

Bat Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
#9
I agree, dont think it was an ammonia issue, and he tested it sounds like. I dont know that much about the other diseases, but I kinda lean towards one of them given ich not usually going for clowns. Then again stuff like velvet I thought was a 95% tank wipe.
 
fishguy69

fishguy69

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
#12
Folks just adding fish to your tank can cause stress and weaken the immune systems of all fish. You are always better off QTing your fish if possible. My guess it came in with the B/W Heniochus, these are really tempy fish. I can't say this enough. Even if you got the fish straight out of the box when they arrived you should still QT.
 
H

highaltitude

Cleaner Shrimp
#13
#13
im just trying to understand WHAT happened and how to avoid it again, as i said i never never had this issue before , one tank i had a naso, yellow , and powder blue tangs in there and never seen a spec ., guess i got lucky in the past . I did buy everything from a local guy down in parker who would ship it in , then hold it for a few weeks to make sure all was good . He watched out for me and kept me straight if i got to anxious . He moved and now i am buy from LFS.
 
Fourthwind

Fourthwind

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
#15
I will be honest and say there was just too much added to a tank that was too new. You could get spikes that you will not see in testing after you see the disease. While I used to just add fish to tanks as well, I have become a big believer in QT tanks and adding very slowly.
 
H

highaltitude

Cleaner Shrimp
#16
#16
thats for all the advice guys , Looks like my oynx clown is going to make it , he was the only one that i didn't seen ich on . So does this mean it will always be in my tank , he is immune to it ? how long should i wait till introducing another fish ? This poor little guy is so lonely . And he wont leave his corner . I am not sure if i even need to keep dosing this Parashield or not seeing everything died . I have my skimmer turned off due to all the bubbles this stuff creates , thought s?


Off topic a bit can i mix clown breeds ? not sure i will be able to find 1 onyx clownfish .
 
Legonch

Legonch

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#17
#17
My understanding, is once ich is in the tank, it will always be there. Your fish may be between stages of the ich cycle. Now would be a good time to qt him and treat him with chloroquine phosphate, or cupramine...

Tank needs to sit fallow for 75 days without any fish in it to kill the ich. Or take it down and clean it, let it dry for a couple days and get it back going. My fish are on week 3 of CP treatment for ich. They will have to live in my 30 gallon QT until the end of June, then the tank will be ich free.

Ich totally sucks.
 
Catfish Charlie

Catfish Charlie

Angel Fish
#18
#18
Fourthwind;n647053 said:
I will be honest and say there was just too much added to a tank that was too new. You could get spikes that you will not see in testing after you see the disease. While I used to just add fish to tanks as well, I have become a big believer in QT tanks and adding very slowly.
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I agree with this adding that many fish into a relative new tank at one time could have caused an ammonia spike. Ammonia spikes can go up and back down within hours, so many time its not detected! Also ich generally dose not kill fish that rapid unless fish had issues before you bought them. Ich usually begins in the gills of the fish long before you physically see it on the fish! As "fishguy" said too, just the stress of catching fish, bagging them, acclimating dose weaken fish and can leave them open to infections. ALL new fish should be QT'ed!! NOT having a QT tank is NOT an excuse. I've used large plastic totes (Rubbermaid I like best) that I've bought from Home Depot for temporary QT tanks. All you need is a good sponge filter powered by ether an air pump or small powerhead and a heater. Very inexpensive and can save you a lot of stress and expense of lost fish.
 
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