Marine Ich Sneaks In

[ralphie16]

I recently introduced some snails into my tank. It now appears that my porcupine puffer has several small white spots on his body. My other puffer and buttefly do not show any symptoms.

I want to remove them and treat them for ick.

Please help me work with what I have.

I have a new potters angel being QT'ed in a 29 gallon qt (for a week so far) and a peice of live rock being QT'ed in my 10 gallon QT. I have no other tanks.

Should I go out a buy a couple of tanks and put the puffers and bf EACH in one or just buy a single larger QT tank? What size would be appropriate?

Are any of my fish sensitive to Cupramine (copper sulfate)?
Porcupine puffer, panda puffer, teardrop bff, potter angel.

Would hyposalinity be recommend instead for them?

[ralphie16]

Forgot to mention only other symptoms I see is the porcupine puffer breathing very hard. He also hides most of the day unless its feeding time but he has been doing this hiding thing for a few months now.

[leebca]

I've moved the posts to a new thread from the old post on Marine Ich Myths. I combined these with the post of the new thread made in this Forum. So hopefully I've managed to clean things up a bit.

Cupramine will work with the infected fishes listed. Hyposalinity would be the most gentle on them, and hardest for the aquarist to control. If you are sure of the diagnosis then I would recommend hyposalinity, as soon as you get it going. Don't wait too long, though. The Puffer breathing quickly is not a good sign and if it gets worse, it may require a freshwater dip to help it out some.

All fish, even those not exhibiting signs of Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) will need treatment, as you suspect. That can be performed in one QT or multiple QT.

I wouldn't be too concerned about one larger QT or even the multiple smaller ones because, at the end of the treatment, you can sell them. In fact, finding these as already used ones, might be advantageous.

If you do choose one large QT for the fishes listed, they will be okay in a bare bottom, dual sponge filter, with a few hiding places, QT. You don't mention the sizes of the fishes, so I can't recommend the size of QT that would work.

Good luck! Ask if you have any questions.

[ralphie16]

Thank you very much for your advice.

All of the fish are approximately 3"-4" (except the porcupine puffer is a "fat" 4".

Would a 40 gallon breeder be ok for the time they are there (approx 60 days so the main tank ick finish out their lifecycle)?

[leebca]

I think the 40 would work. You'll have a lot work keeping the water quality up.

Leave main tank fishless (with no additions of anything) for at least 8 weeks to rid the display of Marine Ich for sure.

[ralphie16]

i read through all the stickies at the top of this forum but I do not see one that addresses the finer points of hyposalinity treatments (i.e. ph stability, etc.). Is there an FAQ or some sort of write-up on hyposalinity?

[ralphie16]

Lee,

After much thought, I have decided to try the following. Please tell me if I am headed towards disaster.

I have 125 gallon display with the fish affected with ick. It is composed of a trickle filter / sump, a skimmer, and there is 150 lbs live rock. The tank has no substrate, it is barebottom.

To greatly reduce stress for the fish and to reduce my workload as an added benefit, I thought to forgo the idea of moving the fish to a 55 gallon hospital tank and leaving the 125 gallon display fallow for 60 days.

I thought I would keep the fish in the main 125 display, and remove all of the live rock so I can do hyposalinity treatment, which you mentioned was much less stress then copper for the fish.

I would put the live rock in a dark container with saltwater and go through the whole cooking process to try to get rid of the algae. This would eb a good time because hyposalinity would kill the microfauana on the live rock, plus they have to be somewhere without any fish so the ick on it will eventually die.

In doing this, I hope to alleviate stress for the fish because they get to stay in the big 125 instead of a smaller 55. They get the added beneift of the trickle filter maintaining the biological filter because all the live rock will have to be removed for the hyposalinity treatment.. I can even remove the live rock slowly over a coarse of the next few days so the bacteria get a chance to bulk up on the bioballs and not cause elevated ammonia.

So to sum it up, the fish stay in the tank, the live rock goes to a dark containter for 2 months. After two months, put the live rock back in the tank slowly after the salinity has been increased to proper levels and the ick is all dead.

Sound feasible?

[leebca]

Very feasible. Proceed!

Notes of caution: When you reduce the salinity you need a refractometer to measure it precisely; when the salinity drops, the bacteria may go into a state of suspended animation -- they are alive but not functioning; and hyposaline saltwater is hard to control the pH. Be on the lookout for these things, and be prepared.

Regarding the live rock. . .If you boil it or do something to it, you will be killing off some of the organisms that may be beneficial to the rock's activity. Moving the rock is good/excellent. But treating it may be a bit of a concern. Please read this thread before you start any rock treatment: What is Live Rock, Anyway?

Keep us informed. Good luck!

[ralphie16]

Great to hear that this method gets your blessing!

I have pinpoint digital salinity and ph monitors so monitoring those parameters should be no problem.

If ph drop occurs, I plan on using sodium bicarbonate or if not enough then sodium biocarbonate (mixed with freshwater of course).

As for the "cooking" of live rock, I am simply leaving the live rock in a 55 gallon Brute container with salkwater withought light. There is a powerhead in the tub, and I will continue to preform water changes for the live rock, but there will be no light, so the algae will hopefully start going into remission. I dont think this method will cause any disruption to the life in the rock. It is virtually the same as being in a regular tank, only difference is I am not allowing light to the rocks for the 60 days.