[jenstaley]

Ok, I think the ich outbreak is over, I have 1 clownfish, 1 snowflake eel, 1 hawkfish, 3 yellow damsels and a few snails and hermit crabs that survived. I was going to wait about 2 weeks before adding anything else, but then does anyone have any suggestions of pretty fish that do well in tanks under a year old? (mine is about 7 months) it is an 80 gallon tank with plenty of hiding spots. I really want another clownfish to make the lonely one feel better, and I loved my stars and stripes puffer.... would you guys recommend one of those? Just for the record I got my water back to where it should be, except the PH, that is at 7.8 now, and I don't know how to raise it.... my LFS only has PH down. I guess that is what is more often needed with our tap water, but I only use bottled water in my tank. Thanks for all the help you guys gave me!
jen

[Poseidon]

NO NEW FISH!

Ich outbreaks last WEEKS not DAYS! Just because you don't see any spots right now does not mean you are safe. Ich has several stages one is the stage you can see, the other is a stage you can not! The medication only kills the ich parasite during this phase that you can NOT see. If you make it 6-8 weeks without seeing spots then you have successfully eradicated the parasite.

This hobby more then ANYTHING else requires patience from the hobbiest, if you go FAST you will have a DISASTER! GO SLOW good things take time! You will be much happier if you just sit back for a while a WAIT this out!

[yankeebobo]

I'll echo Mike's statement above. I would highly recommend at bare minimum waiting a few weeks before considering introducing new fish into your tank. In addition to the obvious, you certainly would not want to introduce a fish and have that introduction accelerate more stress, leading to more outbreak in ich.

Aside from the obvious on putting the fish in harms way, you don't want to spend the money on marine fish only to find out that you are back to square one on needing to get them out.

This is not to say that you cannot setup (if you have not already) a quarantine tank. You should quarantine your new fish for a few weeks anyway. By the time the QT period is over, you would have known that the outbreak threat has been minimized.

Again, as Mike has mentioned - the reef tank in particular will teach you great patience, and that patience will lead to the best output.