TLDR-is this ich? How screwed am I? Logistical nightmares ahead
So the dreaded day has come.. I’m pretty sure this is Ich (tried to get a natural light photo during daylight. Pardon the blues in the video, that was taken this evening during low blue moonlight)
Some context, so I have a heavily stocked 50g lagoon. Before the tang police come for me, I’ve been planning an upgrade for when I move. The timeline for that was pushed back as every home I view is bought cash offer or way over asking, but that’s another discussion lol,
Dimensions are 30x24x16
I feed pretty heavy: auto feeder twice a day feeding tdo chroma boost. And i manually add nori daily (Julian sprung, full sheet. Alternating green and purple)
I have oversized skimmer and fleece roller. I carbon dose for corals, and generally have to dose somewhere between 1-5ppm nitrate a week to stay in the 5-10ish range. If i don’t do this i bottom out fairly quickly, even without carbon dose.
I went on vacation 3 weeks ago and there were power outages while i was away. Unbeknownst to me my battery backups were dead. Curse you ecotech! I’m assuming this was the catalyst for outbreak. Fish were looking okay but doing a little scratching here and there over the last 2 weeks. This week this white tail tang got blasted with what I’m thinking is ich Royal gramma a little salty too but this guy has it the worst by far.
So here are my questions ideas
1- before i rip this all apart, is this ich?
2-if it is, oh man im going to struggle. I ordered a uv sterilizer already, and reef medic, kick ich, ruby rally, and copperpower. I know a few of these are not proven to be effective but I’m willing to try it all before dismantling my system
3-so let’s say it’s ich or something similar. I am planning on getting Rubbermaid totes to setup as qt tanks. (I do have a 20g running as qt already but I’ve only ever done observational qt, never medicated. Jokes on me right?) realistically i can’t house these in that 20g or the totes for 90 days. So do i go grab a cheap tank and get it rolling as a fowlr for after the treatment?
4-the tank upgrade im looking at is essentially double the footprint of this plus an inch width. 60x25x16. The idea was to wait until i had a home and to get something shallow so the weight won’t be a problem. My current space however will be a TIGHT squeeze. Is it worth dropping to 48x25x16 fully knowing i will need to upgrade again after that//it’s not a huge jump from current tank?
5-if i go jump into upgrade now before im in new house the logistics of then moving the setup again suck.. but here’s my thoughts : get new tank, pull fish from current display. Treat either in batches of most sick a handful at a time or all at once. Batches would make cycling the new tank annddd running the current tank easier so i could dial in the nutrient dosing I’m going to need. Once all fish are treated and moved to new system, dt goes fallow 72-90 days. Then corals are moved over to new system//or get house and put fish back in current undersized tank while moving upgrade to new place, transfer fish/coral at once
If you made it this far and you live in NJ, please let me buy you a coffee/beer lol. Any and all insight, suggestions, tips/tricks are highly appreciated!!
So the dreaded day has come.. I’m pretty sure this is Ich (tried to get a natural light photo during daylight. Pardon the blues in the video, that was taken this evening during low blue moonlight)
Some context, so I have a heavily stocked 50g lagoon. Before the tang police come for me, I’ve been planning an upgrade for when I move. The timeline for that was pushed back as every home I view is bought cash offer or way over asking, but that’s another discussion lol,
Dimensions are 30x24x16
I feed pretty heavy: auto feeder twice a day feeding tdo chroma boost. And i manually add nori daily (Julian sprung, full sheet. Alternating green and purple)
I have oversized skimmer and fleece roller. I carbon dose for corals, and generally have to dose somewhere between 1-5ppm nitrate a week to stay in the 5-10ish range. If i don’t do this i bottom out fairly quickly, even without carbon dose.
I went on vacation 3 weeks ago and there were power outages while i was away. Unbeknownst to me my battery backups were dead. Curse you ecotech! I’m assuming this was the catalyst for outbreak. Fish were looking okay but doing a little scratching here and there over the last 2 weeks. This week this white tail tang got blasted with what I’m thinking is ich Royal gramma a little salty too but this guy has it the worst by far.
So here are my questions ideas
1- before i rip this all apart, is this ich?
2-if it is, oh man im going to struggle. I ordered a uv sterilizer already, and reef medic, kick ich, ruby rally, and copperpower. I know a few of these are not proven to be effective but I’m willing to try it all before dismantling my system
3-so let’s say it’s ich or something similar. I am planning on getting Rubbermaid totes to setup as qt tanks. (I do have a 20g running as qt already but I’ve only ever done observational qt, never medicated. Jokes on me right?) realistically i can’t house these in that 20g or the totes for 90 days. So do i go grab a cheap tank and get it rolling as a fowlr for after the treatment?
4-the tank upgrade im looking at is essentially double the footprint of this plus an inch width. 60x25x16. The idea was to wait until i had a home and to get something shallow so the weight won’t be a problem. My current space however will be a TIGHT squeeze. Is it worth dropping to 48x25x16 fully knowing i will need to upgrade again after that//it’s not a huge jump from current tank?
5-if i go jump into upgrade now before im in new house the logistics of then moving the setup again suck.. but here’s my thoughts : get new tank, pull fish from current display. Treat either in batches of most sick a handful at a time or all at once. Batches would make cycling the new tank annddd running the current tank easier so i could dial in the nutrient dosing I’m going to need. Once all fish are treated and moved to new system, dt goes fallow 72-90 days. Then corals are moved over to new system//or get house and put fish back in current undersized tank while moving upgrade to new place, transfer fish/coral at once
If you made it this far and you live in NJ, please let me buy you a coffee/beer lol. Any and all insight, suggestions, tips/tricks are highly appreciated!!