Ich! Eradication vs. Management

[Humblefish]

BummersReef submitted a new Article:

Ich! Eradication vs. Management

(The following article was originally posted as a discussion thread on Reef2Reef by Humblefish. But it is so helpful and well done, R2R staff has turned it into an article)

The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros and cons of ich eradication and ich management and present the best methods for implementing each. (Ich - a protozoan disease - is the most common disease of all freshwater and marine aquarium fish.)

Ich...

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[revhtree]

Awesome and thank you!

 

[Humblefish]

Thank you @BummersReef for turning this into an article!

 

[drawman]

Very nice write up

 

[jeffrey holloway]

Going thru ick management on my 150gl. Waiting on my 45gl to finish cycling To QT the fish; 3 Tangs, 2 damsels & a lawnmower blennie; will have to remove
150lb. of rock to catch them. Tanks only six month old, figure better now than later. Hope they survive the stress of moving. Only one tang get the spots "grand kids favorite" the blue hippo." Dory"; all are in good health. I saw on another site that if fish are healthy they are better left alone. I run a Vortex diatom filter and do weekly water changes, but every other month or so at least one shows up on the blue hippo. Any thoughts?

 

[Humblefish]

@jeffrey holloway It's likely the diatom filter is keeping ich's numbers down to a manageable level, but unlikely that it will suck out every single theront before at least one attaches. So long as that happens, ich will always be present in your DT.

 

[Reef4Rose]

Do I have any hope of beating ich by using hyposalinity, UV sterilizer and diatom filter on my display tank? Tank is 250. Would love to pull all rock and treat but that’s not practical. Not sure I would be able to ever catch everyone. Or successfully treat them all. If I treat with rock in the tank no corals in my future. Ich management is already stressful. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Humblefish]

Do I have any hope of beating ich by using hyposalinity, UV sterilizer and diatom filter on my display tank? Tank is 250. Would love to pull all rock and treat but that’s not practical. Not sure I would be able to ever catch everyone. Or successfully treat them all. If I treat with rock in the tank no corals in my future. Ich management is already stressful. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Of the 3 options you listed, going hypo (1.009) for 30 days would have the greatest chance of success. The other 2 options are likely to help you just continue to manage the problem.