the hard truth . marine ich

[smaug]

Hope and garlic didn't do it. Truthfully I didn't think it would. First it was the cherub angel showing spots last week with flashing. The spots disapeared and he wasn't flashing for 3 to 5 days. Yesterday the flashing started with no spots showing and today the gramma started flashing as well. I made my mind up to remove all 4 of the fish to qt with copper treatment and I guess I will have to let the main tank fishless for a while. It has a mantis shrimp,a dozen asstd hermits ,a half dozen snails and a green brittle star. Will any of these critters be hosts for ich,or do I need to qt them as well? The main tank is 20 gal and has 25 lbs of live rock and aragonite sand. How long will it take for the damn bugs to die? Thanks for the help.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

3 months. Marine ich can lay dormant without a host for up to 3 months.

[smaug]

After reading up quite a bit. I think I may treat with hyposalinity,in this way I will not risk copper dosing and contaminating my only qt tank,spare heater and hob.
Ilmgb, is 3 months a normal dormancy time,have you experianced having to keep a tank empty of fish that long,or is that a worse case scenario?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

According to what I have read, 3 months is normal. About a year and a half ago I had a Maroon Clown bring in some ich, and in spite of my best efforts, it wiped out the fish in my 37. I left the tank empty with just snails, and corals for 3 months as was recommended to me, and I haven't seen a spot of ich since.

BTW, hyposalinity, IME, is only marginally effective.

[smaug]

Well,the first steps was taken this morning with setting up the ht and catching the fish,after that it was a fw dip and into the ht they went. Followed that with a 50% wc in the main tank. The cherub and the gramma are fairly active atm and the firefish are hiding under the safe structure I added for them. I have no meds in the tank yet as I will wait for ich spots to appear so I can be sure it really is ich. I suppose it could be velvet,I'm just so limited right now without a computer to do the research and see decent size pics. The gramma and the cherub do have a slightly dull coloration but the firefish seem fine. The cherub will take food but spits it out,it doesn't matter what I offer ,even soaked in garlic he spits it out. I have read a bit that I can't use copper on a dwarf angel,I was rethinking the hypo treatment till I saw that. I do understand that hypo should take 8 wks so if that is the route I take at least it gives the main tank longer to clear of ich. I love the fish,the work I hate

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I love the fish,the work I hate

I think that sums up the attitude of almost every marine hobbyist.