Help: New Butterfly with Ich. FML.

[cwatkins]

That sounds like a lot of work. I eventually switched to Garlic Extreme. I think it was like only $8 or something like that. Man that stuff is concentrated and powerful.

[Judy Waytiuk]

The tang I'm having the problem with only eats nori-- so I have some sheets soaking in chopped garlic with some tank water in a bowl, and will start feeding that tomorrow...
fridge reeks of garlic now...

[mws]

I just moved everyone to a bigger tank and most fish are showing sings of ich from stress of moving.
I started Marc Weiss Immuno-Vital and garlic socked food. I find from previous times both help, but it will be a long battle, over next two months it will come and go. I do have a neon goby who cleans fish but the problem is he is looking the worst out of all of them, as no one cleans him.

[ScubaSteve]

Sigh... I don't get this fish man. I love this guy, he has great personality and he's a total blast to hang out with. He even "plays" with me! Definitely one of the best fish I've had. Except...

His ich just keep getting worse (or at least no better). The ich goes away, comes back, goes away, comes back... Today it's back with a vengence.

He seems to be settling in a little better (at least when I'm around) when the ich is gone. He swims around, poke at the rocks and eats like a pig. When it's back he's pretty restless and twitchy. If I sneak into the room so he doesn't see me (when he's battling ich) I can see him swimming up and down the glass. I take this as a sign of stress. So, I can't figure out if he's stressed because of the ich, or if he's battling ich because he's stressed because he doesn't like his tank...?

There's no one around to bother him (just a goby, mandarin and blenny, all of whom are peaceful... and a couple cleaner shrimp). Any ideas on this guy? Just an ich magnet or something else?

[Judy Waytiuk]

sadly, my powder blue succumbed... your butterfly may also. I have come to the conclusion that the experts are right: there is no magic bullet for marine ich other than removing all the fish from the display tank, leaving it fishless for at least two months (or more), and treating all the fish in a QT tank during that time with copper meds.
i just hope i do not see a single speck of ich on any of the other fish! so far, the powder blue was the onyl fish in the tank to show ANY sign!

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Judy Waytiuk

sadly, my powder blue succumbed... your butterfly may also. I have come to the conclusion that the experts are right: there is no magic bullet for marine ich other than removing all the fish from the display tank, leaving it fishless for at least two months (or more), and treating all the fish in a QT tank during that time with copper meds.
i just hope i do not see a single speck of ich on any of the other fish! so far, the powder blue was the onyl fish in the tank to show ANY sign!

thats not completely true first of all if you would have practised safe buyng you wouldnt be in this boat by that i mean observing the fish before buying for disease and watching it easily take food if that passes then observe some more. fish should be added in certain orders to eleiminate stress of new homes and bullys..... some fish make the transition easily while some do not....some need the food a mature system provides while some not so much....powder blues are ich magnets and most will say stay away untill you belive you can keep one healthy or the system is large enough for it to feel "safe". with this fish i would start with hyposalinity given their track record.......but as youve already added it to your system your only answer now is a fallow system and to put the remaining fish in hyposalinity....8 weeks to be safe.......safe buying is a great start, never impulse buy,never rescue,never let a fish with a bad rap hit your tank untill your well read up on it.


didnt mean to come off harsh but copper imo is a very last effort as it kills sometimes as easy and as fast as ich can there are other meds that are effective besides copper....some even reef safe.


cheers!!!

[Judy Waytiuk]

I don't actually need lectures, but thanks for the thought. the word succumbed in this context means died. And yes, I know all the stuff you've listed--I've been keeping salt tanks since before people in North America even knew you could keep live corals!(and to this day i feel FOWLR tanks miss out on a lot!)-- and even taking all the precautions possible, you can still get a bout of ich in your tank.
All it really takes is introduction of a new coral that may have a few stray trodonts on the rock it's attached to.
If you read my post, it clearly says the tang was the only fish to show any sign of ich. In two months of recurring bouts of ich, it was the only fish to show ich-- the others, not a single spot. so the tank, minus the now dead tang, appears as healthy as ever.
Needless to say, I will be watching the other fish as closely as I have been for some time.
I disagree with you regarding copper. It has to be VERY carefully administered, yes. Nothing, absolutely, nothing, that you use in the way of equipment with a QT tank in which you use copper can be permitted to come in contact with your display tank.
But it remains the gold standard for guaranteed ich cure. I would love to know the brand names of the "other meds" you mention that are reef safe and that work. If you mean Kick Ich-- HAH! might as well shred twenty dollar bills into your tank for all the good THAT stuff does (I used it once about two years ago. Useless.)
a PS re cleaner wrasses: it is now commonly accpeted among the experts that cleaner wrasses do NOT clean up ich. They clean up the damaged and dead surface skin that's been damaged by the ich. They do not actually clean off the ich spots.

[The Grizz]

Something is stressing it out big time but it does not sound like it could be another fish. How are your water parameters & temp? Do your lights come on all at once, hard start? Or do they gradually come on? Just thinking outside the box as it seems like something is some what shocking him.

Would stray voltage case him to stress?

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by Judy Waytiuk

sadly, my powder blue succumbed... your butterfly may also. I have come to the conclusion that the experts are right: there is no magic bullet for marine ich other than removing all the fish from the display tank, leaving it fishless for at least two months (or more), and treating all the fish in a QT tank during that time with copper meds.
i just hope i do not see a single speck of ich on any of the other fish! so far, the powder blue was the onyl fish in the tank to show ANY sign!

I don't think he will. He been battling it for at least 4 weeks now and is still fat, health and full of energy. As long as he keeps eating I think he'll be fine. I'm just feeling bad because he looks like he's gonna go crazy with the itching.

Originally Posted by The Grizz

Something is stressing it out big time but it does not sound like it could be another fish. How are your water parameters & temp? Do your lights come on all at once, hard start? Or do they gradually come on? Just thinking outside the box as it seems like something is some what shocking him.

Would stray voltage case him to stress?

I keep the water params spot on because of my SPS, so I doubt that's the issue. I have been overfeeding the butterfly to help him through this, which does pollute the water more, so I've been doing a 25% water change weekly.

SG: 1.026
Amm: 0 ppm
pH: ~8.4
Nit/Phos: 0 ppm
Alk: 9 dKH
Calc: 420 ppm

Temp: 79 F

I have a grounding probe for stray voltages.

My only thought was the change in tank size. He came from another reefer that had a 125G system with lots of fish. Maybe the downsize in digs and few friends might be bothering him?

[The Grizz]

This is definitely a curious situation, I am out of ideas.