[leathaw]

I don't know what I've done wrong here, but my ich problem is back again. I added a new Coral Beauty to my tank about a week ago, and today he started getting the white spots. I don't know if when I cleaned my tank and stirred up the sand if it came back, but this is just plain annoying. Any ideas without stressing the fish out?

[Hosser]

How long has the tank been without fish? This article I got from Jim is a good read. The Marine Ich Epidemic « Joe Jaworski’s Weblog
Made alot of sense, ick doesnt live if it doesnt have a host and the lifetime is six weeks with no host. From what Ive read on RB is to clear the tank if you can of any fish for that duration , while treating the fish in a quarantine tank. Hope the article helps.

[leathaw]

I had the tank with no fish for over 6 weeks, then I added 2 damsels how were fine for about a month and 1/2. Now a week after I add the coral beauty, who by the way looked very healthy when I pick him from the LFS, is covered with ich. I just don't know whats going on here.

[Hosser]

did you quarantine the coral beauty?, it can live undetected in gills , even though you dont see it. From what I can see its best to always quarantine new fish . If the tank was 100% clean of ick then introducing that fish IF it had it will need to be re-run w/o any fish I would think. Im curious to hear others thoughts Good Luck!!

[pyromaniac398]

Sounds to me like you don't/didn't quarantine. Like Justin said this is a must in the reef building hobby. For example, that coral beauty that you just got. If you had put it in a quarantine tank (I'm assuming you didn't) for 2 or 4 weeks, you would have had to (more than likely) still deal with the ich problem. But here is where the beauty of a quarantine comes in. You can treat that fish with medicines and other methods (i.e. Hypo-salinity and copper) you can't do in your main DT. Not to mention there is no way that the Ich could spread to your other fish (being in a different tank and all).

Now I know how hard it is when you just start to get to that point where you get FISH. Yes I can get fish now! Then some jerk like myself comes and tells you that you can't put your fish in your main tank for 2-4 weeks. WHAT?!?! Trust me getting into a good quarantine habit could help you avoid loosing the thousands of dollars you have invested in your Reef tank (or will come to invest ). Ich is a tough cookie to crack once it gets into your system it is a pain in the you know what. Like Justing said it can live undetected and sometimes dormant until parameters are perfect the BAM ich on all your fish. So practice good quarantine habits and you can avoid these kinds of messes.

But now that we have that out of the way. Here is an article located on Wet Web Media on ich and battling it

IchArt2Mar

[leathaw]

Well thank you everyone. I've moved the Coral Beauty to my quarantine tank and am gonna treat him till he is good and healthy.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by leathaw

Well thank you everyone. I've moved the Coral Beauty to my quarantine tank and am gonna treat him till he is good and healthy.

All fish must be moved to QT and your DT must remain fallow for 5-6 weeks. During this time fish must be treated with copper or Hypo treatment or you will end up in the same situation.