[Azreal]

So I have a 75g. FOWLR tank, 20g sump. All 3 of my big fish have white dots on them this morning. I have a sohal tang, lemonpeel angelfish and a maroon clown. There aren't a LOT of white dots, but they are there.

First, is it definitely ich?

Second, do I HAVE to use a quarantine since I don't really have any other things in the tank (1 watchman goby, 3 turbos and a hermit crab)? Can I treat right in the main tank?

I do have a QT tank, but it's a small 15 gallon tank and I think the fish will rip each other apart in there since it's so small. The lemonpeel has been aggressive to the maroon clown lately, her poor fins are all torn up and bites are taken right out of them.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Tonz of fun]

IMO I would get a different QT tank going. You cant treat all those fish with the same method, some dont do well with copper, some dont do well with hypo. I wouldn't use copper in the main tank just because there is a chance you one day might want to do some corals. Also do you have a UV sterilizer? I would recommend one because Tangs are prone to ich.

[Azreal]

What's a UV sterilizer?

[dori9941]

UV light also kills free-floating algae – cutting down on algae problems in your aquarium. they also kill some micro life. here's a link to go in depth.

Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[thatguy559]

well if you use copper you can not have coral or any invertebrates in that tank ever. it will also kill off you live rock. i too are going to the ich phase.
im in the last stages before i add my fish back to my main display. so far its been 5 weeks and my main tank is running fishless

i used a rubbermaid container
quarantine tank - CVR Forums!
this is what i did hope this helps

[dori9941]

Saltwater Ich (Cryptocaryon) Life Cycle - Saltwater Aquariums Guides' Extra
ich cycle

[teriyakithunder]

i just had some kind of breakout with my sailfin tang, tons of white dots all over his body. right now i'm trying Kordon Ich Attack. its reef safe so i am treating straight into my display tank. It had some good testimonials on drsfostersmith but i don't know how accurate that is. i'll keep you guys updated if theres any progress.

[teriyakithunder]

according to "THE MARINE FISH Health & Feeding Handbook" that i have, it says that copper and formalin are now outdated techniques although it still is the traditional treatment of choice in the hobby. It says the new "cutting edge" of aquarium science are now using chloroquine phosphate to treat Cryptocaryon (ich) and Brooklynella (clown fish disease). When using chloroquine phosphate, it is toxic to corals and inverts but does not effect biological filters. The book also states that it is easier to use and less toxic than using copper treatment.
I am just letting all of you know what the book states, I have no experiences with using the new technique. Nor am I trying to tell anyone that you are wrong for using the techniques that you are using. I am only putting out information that is stated in this book.

[mamallen]

Okay, I too have an ich issue. My local aquarium store recommended copper and TheraP. we've done that, and yet we are into another cycle. My white spotted puffer is covered again. I've read about upping the temperature, but thats my normal temp around 82fh. I'm at a loss, and will continue to treat with copper because its less toxic than the other medical treatments.

[teriyakithunder]

Originally Posted by mamallen

Okay, I too have an ich issue. My local aquarium store recommended copper and TheraP. we've done that, and yet we are into another cycle. My white spotted puffer is covered again. I've read about upping the temperature, but thats my normal temp around 82fh. I'm at a loss, and will continue to treat with copper because its less toxic than the other medical treatments.

first off, i hope you are treating in a QT tank since you are using copper. if so, i think the whole cycle of ich is about 6 weeks i think, i could be wrong since i don't have the book with me. if you haven't waited long enough that could be the problem to why your puffer has ich again. also what else do you have in your tank? all the details with everything will help out a lot more.
i also did have a ich problem that cost me 2 of my fish but i talked to a friend and he told me to drop my sg. i dropped it down to 1.019 and within a week ich seemed to of disappeared. also my tank temperature is around 76 degrees. I don't know if the cooler water affects ich or not but i plan to keep my sg levels the same.

[mamallen]

So in my tank i have stupid damsels, moray eel, puffer, sergeant major and live rock. I've been reading a lot tonight and see copper good my fish will survive it. I'm into this 3 weeks (but first two i left carbon filter in and it dissipated the copper) so really into for a week. put copper in two days ago, and puffer looking better. i can't do a quarantine, cause whats the point - my whole tank has it, and I think that after treating with copper I'm killing all bacteria in tank. Since the spots are not on puffy so much they must be swimming now, so I'll keep all updated to his recovery. The damsels (stupid purchase from yucky LFS) seem to be the beginning of my issue, and I didn't do my research and was excited to have tank. So now I pay the price.

[Hosser]

If you put copper in your DT then that rock,sand, and possibly the tank is now limited to FOWLR from my understanding.
Your whole tank doesnt house ich, it needs a host and without a host dies within 6-8 weeks. The only way to rid your DT of ich is to pull the fish and move to a qt and treat whichever way you feel comfortable, and leave them in that for 8-10 weeks. I say 8-10 to be more than safe about the ich in the DT being eradicated. Good Luck

[thatguy559]

i pulled out all my fish and put them all into a qt tank and treated with copper safe. its now week 12 since the ich and my fish are doing great.

[mamallen]

I'm confused why to move to a qt tank and not just treat tank. Is there something I'm missing. I understand I'm limited to FOWLR and I think I'm okay with that, but is there something else?

[Hosser]

Its to rid the tank of the parasite while the fish are out. you may see no signs of it on your fish and think your good, then a couple weeks later its back because the tank wasnt left without hosts for the life cycle of the parasite. 6-8 weeks

[mamallen]

Doesn't the copper kill everything, including the parasite???

[teriyakithunder]

i think copper kills the ich which is the parasite itself but it takes time. when ich reproduces it makes a cyst which hatch and new swarms of parasites go to find their host. the cyst can take anywhere from 3-28 days to hatch. then the process starts over. thats why most people put their fish in qt and kill the parasites there while at the same time letting all the cyst hatch and letting the parasites starve themselves to death from not being able to find a host to feed off of. also copper is toxic to fish over a long period of time.

[thatguy559]

also it will kill the invertebrates in your tank that is another reason why you take them all out and treat them in a qt. also you wont have the parasite just living the life cycle in your main tank if the fish are not there and then they just die off because there is no food. a lot of methods work but you should not combine them together. each one is effective by itself. coppersafe is what i used and i treated them for 3 weeks with water changes everyday. it was a 30g qt and i changed 4g everyday. then after that i just did the water changes for 3 more weeks. then when i transfered my fish back i did a fresh water dip before i added them back. now they are really happy no sign of the ich. im going to treat all incoming fish in a qt. before adding to the main tank. hope this clarifies everything that was said. good luck

[mamallen]

My puffer is looking good. He has scratches on hum, but back to his happy little self. i am still keeping copper at good level and doing water changes, but so far so good.

[teriyakithunder]

thats good to hear