[sgrager]

my new Idol has Ich. I've had him a week, he has been and still is eating awesome. Has gained a bunch of weight and seems happy. 4 Days ago he had maybe 10 little white spots total on his body, they went away(as ich does in its life cycle) then today they were back but only like 3. So after reading a bunch I decided to put him and all my other fish in the hospital tank and treat them with copper. I could not find any reading on Idols and copper. Well, within an hour of half of the copper being added, his color was completely washed out and he was turing greyish blue. So, I put him back in the display tank where his color has started to come back and I am now at square one again. What do I do???? Just wait it out and hope he developes resistance? Large water changes in the mean time to help slow the Ich? Any medications that would work for him without killing him?
Thanks-
Shannon

[WhatReef]

Little is known about moorish Idols and i have heard they do very very if you have 2 or more but i have had one once along time ago, it was eating fine in the store when i got it home it wouldn't eat and keep in mind my tank was established for over a year and doing very well other wise, it soon after got ich and eventually died and since than i don't think i wouuld ever get one again as they are a beautiful fish yet 9 times out of 10 the usually die in a home aquarium so if i was in your situation i qould QT the fish and try hypo salinty method to get rid of the ich but also keep in mind the fish being in a small tank stresses it out alot and may be fatal so the bigger the tank the better and if i were you i would return it from which it came as they are prob the hardest fish to keep because very lil is known about them and you most likely need time of line filtration systems just to keep them from getting sick so there ya go thats my two cents good luck

[Okayamapiper]

Idols do not like copper and are easily susceptible to ich when stressed. I have always treated my idols and all new livestock to a 5 week stay in a QT using OST (osmotic shock therapy) which is a hyposalinity tank ( 1.008 sg). Hyposalinity will kill all free swimming ich (tomites). The feeding ich (trophonts) produces cysts (tomonts) which break through the skin and settle on the substrate which hatch and then become tomites. The tomite stage is the only time ich can be killed with medication or osmosis, so even though the fish may appear healthy, there are cysts in the substrate and trophonts that have yet to become pregnant (this is the only time they are visible to the naked eye). For this reason you need to QT for 5 weeks or more.

Hyposalinity is the safest treatment for Idols.
Cheers,
James

[pogodzib]

Originally Posted by Okayamapiper

Idols do not like copper and are easily susceptible to ich when stressed. I have always treated my idols and all new livestock to a 5 week stay in a QT using OST (osmotic shock therapy) which is a hyposalinity tank ( 1.008 sg). Hyposalinity will kill all free swimming ich (tomites). The feeding ich (trophonts) produces cysts (tomonts) which break through the skin and settle on the substrate which hatch and then become tomites. The tomite stage is the only time ich can be killed with medication or osmosis, so even though the fish may appear healthy, there are cysts in the substrate and trophonts that have yet to become pregnant (this is the only time they are visible to the naked eye). For this reason you need to QT for 5 weeks or more.

Hyposalinity is the safest treatment for Idols.
Cheers,
James

I agree that with Morish Idols (and IMO most other types of fish), hyposalinity is the preferred treatment method over copper. If you go the hypo method, make sure that you are using a properly calibrated refractometer instead of a hydrometer. If the salinity is a couple PPM too high or low, it may result in either the fish dying or the ich parasite to not be killed.