Joys of Ick in a 180 gallon DT

[Howie]

Well before adding fish to my 180g since the start up I have had a qt setup for observing all and treating if necessary. Few weeks ago I added a mandarin into the tank without qt because I was worried about feeding him. Needless to say very bad idea, few days in spots appeared on him. At this point I only had a total of 6 fish in the DT so I was going to just let it play out, feed heavy and soak food in selcon. After losing my powder blue tang last night and the mandarin tonight I attempted to catch the remaining 4 fish. 2 clowns and the sailfin tang were simple didn't have to remove any rocks. Lol but of course the last fish was a checkerboard wrasse, an hour and a half later and almost all the rock/coral removed from the tank I got him!!

The fish are now in qt and I'm going to try treating them with New Life Spectrum Ick Shield bath powder. It's a CP based med so should do the trick. Treatment is 21 days and then I am leaving the display fallow for 72 days. I'll keep everyone posted how the NLS powder works.

[Madreefer]

i guess you proved this article wrong. Read the notes at the bottom of it.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/fish/

[Skimmer Juice]

I have never seen a mandarin with ich , it is the only fish I add to my tank without QT. Anybody have pics of a mandarin with ich?

[Aquattro]

Lost a couple to velvet, but not ich

[Madreefer]

Lost a couple to velvet, but not ich

Yea thats what i'm thinking it is

[Myka]

i guess you proved this article wrong. Read the notes at the bottom of it.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/fish/

You assume the OP has correctly identified Ich on the Mandarin. IME, Ich rarely kills fish unless the fish are in poor condition to start with, or the Ich is at a very, very high population on the animal. I don't think the Mandarin was infected with Ich.

[Madreefer]

You assume the OP has correctly identified Ich on the Mandarin. IME, Ich rarely kills fish unless the fish are in poor condition to start with, or the Ich is at a very, very high population on the animal. I don't think the Mandarin was infected with Ich.

I didn't assume anything. I posted that link from a reputable magazine rather than just blurting off my mouth saying mandarins can't get ich. Now with the article it just might get some people to do a little more research. But go ahead and turn this in to yet another debate if you so choose. Peace out. I'm outta here for a while. Time for a long canreef break.

[TimT]

I have seen Mandarin's with ick.

Mandarins have scaleless skin and rely on a mucous layer to protect themselves. But, when they are caught with a fish net and rolled around in the net the mucous layer gets scraped off. Then they have no protection left. Once you use the net on a Mandarin you need to rinse it thoroughly as the mucous is toxic to other fish.

[Howie]

I am almost positive it was ick, spots disappeared and came back ect. This started at least 3 weeks ago. I would assume velvet would kill much quicker from what I have read. I could have possibly misidentified it lol but either way all fish are in qt now being treated.

[Myka]

It's not so much that it was a Mandarin, but that the infection killed other fish.

[Howie]

Well it has been 2 months since I qt'd my fish and used New Life Spectrum Ick Shield powder. I followed the powders instructions and both the wrasse and a sailfin tang that were covered in ick are healthy and doing well. Both of the clowns died the second day in the qt. I would say the powder works and is easy to use. I have left my display fallow the entire time and will wait another 2 weeks before adding fish back to the display. Lol and from now on I will qt all new fish and I am planning on setting up another qt for corals/inverts.