Ich
 

Today, the very last of my fish died after ich completely wiped out my tank :sad: All I need to know is how long before I can introduce new fish, and how many fish will be safe to have all at the same time.
It really broke my heart to see them die one by one in 4 weeks period. I really miss them :sad: They are my pets.

8 weeks for ich to die off as for stocking we would need more info on your tank and unless you setup a proper QT tank you are just going to reintroduce ich when you start stocking again

this happen to me about 2 months ago

3 of my fish survived.

i added a UV sterilizer and added fish a month later.

everything has been good for a month now.

im not gonna say a sterilizer helped or fixed it. but i personally wouldnt have a saltwater tank without a sterilizer again.

I am very sorry to see you lost your pets.

Please add, after the waiting period, one fish each month to ensure you do not disrupt your system. It is best to go slow.

I agree with naesco. Another thing to think about would be to maybe soak any of your new fish's food in garlic. Just to help their immune system after the ich outbreak, even if its all cleared up, To prevent anything. Better safe than sorry:biggrin:

My neon goby had a pretty bad case of ich, so I bought some garlic guard and soaked his pellets in it. He was cleared up in about 5 days, and has been fine ever since.

Have you done anything at all to save them? I mean, 4 weeks is quite a long time to watch fish suffer and die. A quarantine tank and medicine would have probably saved them.

If you want to introduce fish again, start by doing a proper quarantine and make sure all the fish are clean before putting them in your main tank. Wait 8 weeks minimum, 10 is safer. The tank must be fishless for that long.

Thank you for all your condolences and advice. I did feed them with garlic, but every few days one of them died and just getting worse and worse. They eat normally in the day time, but at night they became covered with white and getting weaker day by day. I had raised the temperature to 81F day and night but it still didn't help at all. The total of 15 fish died with opened gills and mouths, looked very suffering. At the beginning when I had a few fish die, my husband had spoke to Jeff from J&L and had someone there test the water for me, the water was fine. He told my husband don't do anything when we thought we might need to put an extra powerhead if there is some lack of oxygen in the tank. At that time, the fish didn't show any ich, they just died with no reason. A week later they became all covered with ich.
I am devastated with the loss. Some of the fish I had were more than 8 years with me. I felt completely useless seing them die. It is a great sadness for me.

who told you to raise the temperature? That did not help at all, in fact, it may have precipitate the process of the ich multiplying and it deprived your fish from much needed oxygen. A very very bad advise and who ever gave you that advise should be ignored in the future.

The reason your fish did not show sign of ich at the begining is because the ich first infect the gill, then when that's full they spread over the body. By that time it is usualy a bit late but with isolation tank and medicine like Cupramine from Seachem, they could probably all have been saved in no time. REally sorry for your loss. 8 years is a long way.

People think that ich is nothing serious and a little garlic here and there and a bit of UV will solve the problem but it does not. Some strain of ich will probably be much harder to eliminate than others. Some even resist hyposalinity treatment. Ich is a powerfull killer and it must be taken seriously. What work for one might not work for others and for me garlic never worked, but hyposalinity did the trick. For some people that does not work and Cupramine is required in QT.

I went to Island Pet and I was told if I raised the temperature it will help control the ich. I didn't know that was a bad idea :sad: . Yes 8 years is a long long time, I cried like a fool everytime I take their body out from the tank.
I used to have a lot of hair algae in my tank, but since I use bio pellet they starting to decrease more than half, so Jeff said it releases the toxin and takes away some oxygen from the tank. I was thinking he was right because I had 2 fish die at the same time when hair algae gone. That's why I thought I might need to add an extra powerhead. Nobody knew even myself but that was the beginning of the ich outbreak.

Sorry for your losses but I am wondering if there is something that you changed that may have affected your fish. Whether it be additives or different salt brand or maintenance. If you just started using the biopellets...that may be the cause. After 8 years something new (biopellets) gets thrown into the mix may have stessed your entire tank. For all of your fish to get ich and die off in a matter of weeks just doesn't seems right.

I don't believe in the quarantine thing. I've tried it and lost my fish. Why buy a fish and leave it in a small tank for months at a time. The fish is stressed already at the store then is stressed even more cuz its in a small tank for a few weeks or months. Then the fish gets sick so lets stress it even more by treating the tank.

As far as Ich...I won't elaborate cuz my views on the subject is alot different than most peoples on canreef.