Has anyone successfully had ich outbreak and managed it?

[payrawsa]

I'll start by saying I'm specifically interested in those of you that have multiple tangs, had an ich outbreak and didn't do anything asides from normal routine maintenance and had the ich go away by itself. How many deaths did you experience, if any? I want to know about those that were successful and unsuccessful. Specifically

1. How old was your tank
2. Size of your tank
3. How many tangs/ ich prone fish
4. What did you do if anything do manage ich

Managing ich is certainly a lot easier if you only have clownfish, wrasses, gobies and other ich resistant species. It's very hard for them to get overwhelmed by ich unless they're unhealthy anyways. Personally I've always chickened out when it comes to managing ich. I said I'd manage it. Last about three days before I pulled everything out to treat. I've never successfully treated all fish without some dying. Particularly wrasses that don't handle copper well.

Appreciate any and all experiences you've all had!

 

[payrawsa]

Also if there are detailed threads discussing peoples experiences with ich management then please send it my way. I know there are guides available. But I haven't seen a centralized collection of reefers discussing their success/failure in managing ich. If an admin can sticky a thread about this I'm happy with this one being closed

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I successfully managed it in two different systems across multiple outbreaks, usually starting with one specific ich prone fish, until I didn't and it killed 5 tangs in short order..

Heavy and varied diet, properly tuned UV, and low stress environments are all helpful.

The outbreak that took out a bunch of my tangs came right after a full system upgrade ( major stress event)

 

[Seansea]

I successfully managed it in two different systems across multiple outbreaks, usually starting with one specific ich prone fish, until I didn't and it killed 5 tangs in short order..

Heavy and varied diet, properly tuned UV, and low stress environments are all helpful.

The outbreak that took out a bunch of my tangs came right after a full system upgrade ( major stress event)

I agree here. Low stress and heavy feeding has worked for me in past. I dont quarintine and never have. Ich is like a flu to us. If you are stressed and malnourished it may kill u. If you are healthy and well fed you will feel like crap a few days and get over it.

Breaking down the whole tank and catching them all and throwing them in hospital tank is more likely to kill them from sickened fish being stressed.

Like sauce said a uv sterilizer heavy varied diet and try not to mess around in tank for a couple weeks and they will be fine.

 

[lion king]

I have managed it for over 5 years until I allowed the water quality to suffer dramatically and used vibrant. That triggered an outbreak which was bad enough to treat. It was a fowlr and I treated the whole tank with cupramine, I lost no fish. Years earlier when I introduced a scopas tang, he brought it in and few of the inhabitants got some mild spots, I just wasn't in the mood and let it play out, they disappeared quickly. I used to be really good on water quality and I'm a health nut, so diet is always a priority with fresh human grade seafood frozen in small batches. So the key is obvious water quality and a healthy diet withy a stress free environment. It was a semi aggressive tank so there was some mild angst. Inhabitants included a scopas and orange shoulder tangs, flagfin and majestic angels, dog face puffer, volitan lion, Indian, and picasso triggers, and a miniatus grouper. Oh and don"t overstock.

 

[bushdoc]

“Has anyone successfully had ich outbreak and managed it?”​

That is only one part of the equation, second part would be : Has anyone had an ich outbreak and didn’t manage to control it?
Surely there will be people who had successfully managed sick fish with symptoms resembling Cryptocaryon irritans infection. Was that confirmed diagnosis, even if so, how many fish succumbed to this infection without the treatment. This is something to ponder. Many opinions here are quite unorthodox, out of the mainstream and creating false impressions of security. Ultimately it is for a reefer to decide if and how Marine ich should be treated, but this thread gives only one part of equation.

 

[Reeflix]

yes. there is a small amount of ich in my tank but only when i add in new fish they get one spot. otherwise everyone is happy!

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

In my case age of display is a misnomer as the rock and some live stock is now 7+ years old since version 2.0 of the hobby in 2015

I'm currently running a ich 'management' tank, 120 & 50g cube. 4 zebrasomas tangs in the 120 and a coral beauty in the 50g. Good quality food, great water quality and a properly dialed in uv has done me good.

I'm a huge what I do ain't for everyone, but it does work for me. I lost more fish in 2 years of trying to qt versus 20+ years of dunk & pray.

 

[lion king]

The hobby isn't absolute, and I've seen more people kill their fish with meds than people who have successfully saved their fish with medication, by a great number. Likely the top lfs in town doesn't teach qt to their customers because of exactly what @Lbrdsoxfan said, they told me more people kill more fish with their qt systems than customers that don't qt. I use an observational/qt and I do not treat prophylactically.

 

[hddrpr]

I'll start by saying I'm specifically interested in those of you that have multiple tangs, had an ich outbreak and didn't do anything asides from normal routine maintenance and had the ich go away by itself. How many deaths did you experience, if any? I want to know about those that were successful and unsuccessful. Specifically

1. How old was your tank
2. Size of your tank
3. How many tangs/ ich prone fish
4. What did you do if anything do manage ich

Managing ich is certainly a lot easier if you only have clownfish, wrasses, gobies and other ich resistant species. It's very hard for them to get overwhelmed by ich unless they're unhealthy anyways. Personally I've always chickened out when it comes to managing ich. I said I'd manage it. Last about three days before I pulled everything out to treat. I've never successfully treated all fish without some dying. Particularly wrasses that don't handle copper well.

Appreciate any and all experiences you've all had!

Tank was less than a year old
250 gallon mixed reef.
6-7 tangs, blue, yellow, gem, to name a few.

I didn't have the quarantine and med option, I got the following on Amazon.

It has been almost a year since the last fish died. Now I add to their food once a week.

Kent Marine Garlic Xtreme for Fish, 1 oz​

 

[Miami Reef]

I was one of the people who killed more with meds than just dealing with the parasite itself.

I tried my best multiple times; ich always came back. Maybe I wasn’t strict enough, but if having a successful tank requires so much nit-picking and obsessing, almost nobody would have one.

I’m having one of the best displays of my life, and it’s all so much fun. QT is one of my last concerns.

I think observational QT is good practice, and only treat when necessary, like with humans, is smart.

 

[Beefyreefy]

I have never treated my tangs… Yellow, powder brown, sailfin, hippo and 2 spot bristlemouth. I run uv now, but that’s only been for a year or so. I think the key is bare bottom, high quality and variety of food, and high water quality. I’ll see a few spots from time to time, especially with a new fish addition, but have never treated a single fish on my current 7 year old reef tank. I’ve lost fish to other mistakes but Ich has never claimed a fish. I’m a true believer that ich is just a normal part of a marine fishes life, and they can fight it off without much trouble. As someone else has noted, I think more fish have been killed with copper than by ich. I believe a healthy fish will survive copper treatment prophylactically, but an already sick fish will have a tough time surviving copper. I think the safest bet is a non medicated observation quarantine in a tank with live rock, something I have done just to transition the fish to captive life.

 

[argiBK]

I went through it a couple weeks ago, but now seems to be under control.

Added a QT’d PBT to my tank a month ago, already had a Gem in there alongside a few others. I always suspected I had ich in the tank. but none of the fish had ever shown signs as I feed a variety of foods and supplement with Selcon and Vitachem. Unfortunately, the PBT started showing spots within days.

I don’t have space for a QT, even so, treating all my fish and going fallow for 45-72 days wasn’t going to work as I travel a good deal.

In order to manage:

1. Did a good deal of research, and was led to this thread on H2O2 management on Ich. Gathered supplies to start ramping up dosage.
2. Added a UV Sterilizer about 9-10 days into H2O2 treatment
3. A couple days later added a Biota Cleaner Wrasse

The PBT was really the only fish to be hit hard, but a couple others started showing some minor spots along the way (I freaked a bit when my Conspicuous started showing spots). Thankfully the H2O2 dosing seemed to begin to reduce the number of trophonts on the PBT, though it still looked like a teenager with bad hygiene and whiteheads.

Adding the UV during the second week seemed to accelerate progress as I ramped up to the full H2O2 dosage for week 3. But, by this time the PBT was beginning to rub against the rocks, it just looked uncomfortable in general. All the other fish were largely doing fine, but I was determined to get the PBT in a good spot.

So, on a whim, I ordered the Cleaning Wrasse. It arrived two days later and immediately got to work. A couple days later I ramped up to full treatment. Now, I know cleaning wrasses don’t cure ich, but I seriously believe that the cleaning service really improves everyone else’s comfort and quality of life (which hopefully reduces stress for them to fight off the parasites). The wrasse literally dedicates its time to ensuring the PBT is spotless all while servicing everyone else. Easily, my favorite fish in the tank right now.

All fish are spotless and visibly less stressed, 23 days into treatment!

 

[Nemo&Friends]

My hyppo tang has ich. It is over 3 years old, was the last fish added and is doing fine. Number of spots are stable for 3 years, so I do not worry about it. I No other fish has it and their age varies between 3 and over 12 years. I did not quarantine, and did not treat. I bought a cleaner shrimp one week ago, but it disappear in the rocks and have not seen it since. Thinking of getting a UV light as it could be useful for other things too. I did not loose any fish to ich.

 

[payrawsa]

Thanks everyone please let's keep this going. I think it's very helpful

 

[Beefyreefy]

I’ll just add that prophylactic medical treatment for reef fish is a relatively new development in the hobby. Ich was just part of the process, and something most fish recovered from. Correct me if I’m wrong but many of the people we look up to in the hobby, such as Mike Palleta, Sanjay, Julian Sprung, and the list goes on, ran remarkably spectacular reefs on “ich management.” I believe some of the still do as as well. Personally, I’d rather have fish that can deal with disease than fish that can’t do to one tiny lapse in protocol. I know it’s an endless debate, but I just want to chime in and say it’s possible to have success with ich management. Now I’ll wait for someone to chime in to say that it’s possible until it’s not, but the argument goes both ways. Ich eradication is possible until it’s not, just takes one frag or something with a ich spore and defenseless fish to have that not work.

 

[lion king]

You have to wonder where this prophylactic medical treatment comes from, remind you of big pharma. There's also an antibiotic epidemic, didn't this happen with humans, and look what happened. For those humans that understand the terrain theory in human health, will have no problem with "ich management" or a natural choice to managing any disease or infection. Quality water and quality diet will also address mild bacterial infections, and can be stopped before it even becomes dangerous.

Here's some of things I add in their diet; any live food offering that's appropriate to the species. Live macro algae and live grazing for the herbivores. Foods like LRS or make your own from fresh human grade seafood. Include algae even for your carnivores, they get these nutrients in the gut flora of their prey in the wild. I use new life spectrum algae max stuffed in chunks of fresh seafood for my carnivores or included in a mix. Freeze your fresh seafood in small batches. I also include Saki-Hikari marine carnivore, this pellet has a high vitamin c content, vitamin c is excellent for the immune system.

 

[kevgib67]

I dealt with it last February, installed a uv, polyplab medic and heavy feeding with Selcon, Vitachem and garlic extreme. I have all six fish and ich hasn’t returned in my 32 gallon ( no tangs obviously).

 

[G Santana]

In my first year of this 130 gallon setup I had 1 outbreak, my tank is lightly stocked with only 7 fish.
I didn't quarantine any fish and with the introduction of my last fish I had ich,
My yellow and purple tangs were first to exhibit signs and then my flame angel.
I had read an article here about feeding fresh fish foods inorder to help strengthen fish immune systems.
I started immediately, that and a uv stopped the ich in its tracks.
I did not lose any fish and its been a year since the ich outbreak, no reoccurring outbreaks.

 

[Daenion]

In my case age of display is a misnomer as the rock and some live stock is now 7+ years old since version 2.0 of the hobby in 2015

I'm currently running a ich 'management' tank, 120 & 50g cube. 4 zebrasomas tangs in the 120 and a coral beauty in the 50g. Good quality food, great water quality and a properly dialed in uv has done me good.

I'm a huge what I do ain't for everyone, but it does work for me. I lost more fish in 2 years of trying to qt versus 20+ years of dunk & pray.

I am sorry but I will go ahead and steal the phrase dunk and pray.