New to Reef Tanks as of 12/2017

J

JD Mosher

New Member
So far I have battled Green hair algae, Red Slime, Bristle worms and Iche. I am still battling the bristle worms. Learning the hard way about the importance of a quarantine tank. (I now keep a 30 gallon quarantine tank currently occupied by 3 new family members waiting to go into the main display tank.)

Looking forward to learning the best way to keep my tank and inhabitants healthy. I have already lost a few fish and don't want to lose more.

Tank: 150 gallon, 30 gallon (3 compartment) sump, Reef octopus protein skimmer with charcoal and phosphate units attached.

Inhabitants: Purple tang and 2 Clarkii clowns (only survivors of the Iche outbreak), Sea Haire, 30 blue hermits, 20 snails, 2 Arrow crabs, 1 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Blood Shrimp. Leather corals, Neon green and Brown Kenya coral, Hammer corals, Green and Orange Frogspawn corals, Duncan Corals, Red Goniopora, multiple mushrooms.
 
J

JD Mosher

New Member
Not to sound stupid but what section should it go in? I looked at starting a new thread but didn't see anything labeled for tanks. Should My tank info go on my profile? Just trying to figure the site out. I will definitely get some pics up soon. Guess I should check out the newbie section first thing :)
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Wow. That's a tough way to start. I went for my first 3 years without really any serious problems. I mean, in that time I had and got rid of bubble algae, aiptasia, cyano, etc. So, it's not like nothing bad happened, but no major fish diseases or anything like that. My only fish loss (aside from a dragonet my tank wasn't ready for) was a Banggai Cardinalfish which died of old age.

I just went through my first and only bout ever with Marine Ich. It is a royal pain in the hiny. If my saltwater experience had started out that way, I'm not sure if I would have just shut the whole thing down and stopped.

So, the good news is, it should get easier.

Regardless, welcome to the forum and we'd love to see some pics. :)
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I’m not sure you want to hear this and I don’t want to give bad news, but if you are sure you recently had Marine Ich in your display tank, you probably still do.

I bring this up not to be alarmist, but at a minimum you may want to be careful as you add new fish to your display. Watch them closely and see if the get Marine Ich. Maybe they will be fine.

Technically, what you should do is remove all of your fish, treat them for Marine Ich, and let your tank be fishless for 8-10 weeks.

However, that’s a giant pain and so hobbyist approach it differently.

I think at a minimum you mentioned you have 3 fish in QT waiting to go into the DT. I might add them one at a time and see if you have any problems with Marine Ich on your new fish before putting them all in at once.

Once again, just trying to give a word of caution. You are more than welcome to ignore this post entirely.
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
I compliment Pat for being upfront.
Marine Ick can be very troublesome and costly.
72 days DT fallow is the hobby standard, if this time has passed, DT free of Ick.
Only 17 months ago, I had similar problems over many years. When I did my last rebuild 17 months ago, I followed to a large extent, Daves Standard Lectures on this site. In many cases, I kinda knew them but probably laxed.
To Daves Standard Lectures, I added a Zero Tolerance Policy on hitchhikers of any kind, only snails for CUC, and the Addition of only peaceful but colourful fish, ones that fit in my tank size, at a rate of 1 fish over 10 gallons. Packed the tank with corals, but ones not aggressive, there's lots of these.

Result, not one death in 17 months and counting.

Ask any question you wish, great members on this site
 
J

JD Mosher

New Member
This is the first I am hearing about such long times to get rid of Iche. Everything I read said the life cycle is just a couple weeks. I removed my fish and treated them for 30 days before putting them back into the main display tank. Without any fish to host, shouldn't the Iche die in less than 30 days? I will watch them very closely just in case. I guess it's time to get rid of my fresh water cichlids and confiscate their 60 gallon tank for a bigger quarantine tank just in case.

Here is the whole Iche process that has taken place:

First I was sold "Herbtana", Our 150 gallon tank was treated for Iche for 3 weeks with this product. My corals hated it but none died. Iche diminished from the fish but I still lost my Longhorn cowfish and Mandarin goby during the process.

I removed my remaining fish, Purple tang and 2 Clarkii Clownfish. I moved them to a 30 gallon spare tank and treated them for 30 days with "CopperSafe". The fish survived the poison and were completely clear.

I put them back into the main tank a week ago and I guess now I have to pray to the great reef god I don't get Iche again.

No such thing as being to an alarmist or too negative, I appreciate being forewarned that I need to watch everything very carefully. Any advise from this forum is welcome!
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Oh, actually, you've done a really good job then. You are probably in the clear. Most hobbyist when they talk about Ich never took the fish out of the tank and did any treatment for them at all. I suppose I really should have asked if you had rather than assuming you hadn't. We get a lot of posts on Marine Ich and it's rare someone posting for the first few times actually did a Marine Ich treatment of any kind. :)

If you have treated your fish with copper for 30 days and left your tank without fish for 30 days and you aren't seeing any signs of Marine Ich, you are probably in the clear and I wouldn't worry about it unless you see more problems.

The reason @Uncle99 and I said 72 days is that's because that's the longest time Ich has taken in published studies to release from the cyst form into the free swimming form which then attaches to the fish. So, 72 days is the "let's be sure we really outwait this thing" number.

However, MOST of the cyst form releases into the free swimming form within 5 - 13 days. So, a month is *probably* enough. If you aren't seeing any signs in your current fish, I'd say you are probably in the clear. The 72 days is basically to make sure there aren't any stragglers.

If you've done all of that, that's actually a lot more than I had assumed you had done.

So, I'd call it all good until/unless you see a problem. :)
 
J

JD Mosher

New Member
Pat24601 said:
Oh, actually, you've done a really good job then. You are probably in the clear. Most hobbyist when they talk about Ich never took the fish out of the tank and did any treatment for them at all. I suppose I really should have asked if you had rather than assuming you hadn't. We get a lot of posts on Marine Ich and it's rare someone posting for the first few times actually did a Marine Ich treatment of any kind. :)

If you have treated your fish with copper for 30 days and left your tank without fish for 30 days and you aren't seeing any signs of Marine Ich, you are probably in the clear and I wouldn't worry about it unless you see more problems.

The reason @Uncle99 and I said 72 days is that's because that's the longest time Ich has taken in published studies to release from the cyst form into the free swimming form which then attaches to the fish. So, 72 days is the "let's be sure we really outwait this thing" number.

However, MOST of the cyst form releases into the free swimming form within 5 - 13 days. So, a month is *probably* enough. If you aren't seeing any signs in your current fish, I'd say you are probably in the clear. The 72 days is basically to make sure there aren't any stragglers.

If you've done all of that, that's actually a lot more than I had assumed you had done.

So, I'd call it all good until/unless you see a problem. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I didn't know the 72 day thing, I will def keep an eye out for anything. I have a Cole tang, Lyretail Anthias and bi-color dwarf angel in the quarantine. I trust the marine aquarium store I got them from but they are still not going anywhere near my main tank until a full 30 day period is over.

On a side note, I bought a multi color bubble tip last week, he found a place right smack in the middle of some other corals and my Clarkii's discovered him today and have started hosting in him. Very Happy right now :)
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
JD Mosher said:
Thanks, I didn't know the 72 day thing, I will def keep an eye out for anything. I have a Cole tang, Lyretail Anthias and bi-color dwarf angel in the quarantine. I trust the marine aquarium store I got them from but they are still not going anywhere near my main tank until a full 30 day period is over.

On a side note, I bought a multi color bubble tip last week, he found a place right smack in the middle of some other corals and my Clarkii's discovered him today and have started hosting in him. Very Happy right now :)
Click to expand...


That’s awesome! We need pics. :)
 
SPR

SPR

Well-Known Member
In Europe we possibly run UV-C a lot more than in the USA (just the impression I get) and this will kill the free swimming stage of ich provided you can achieve a kill power of 72000 microwatts/sec by adjusting the flow rate through the UV-C system.

I run it 24/7 and at a slow flow rate to kill any ‘nasties’ in the water.

PS As Pat says, we like pictures of fish tanks! Lol
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Older tried and true method of removal is the fallow tank for 3 months method. With treatment in QT tank to kill what is on the fish.

Here is everything you would want to know about Cryptocaryon irritans:

Aquarium Fish: News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans: Part One of Five: https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/11/mini

Aquarium Fish: News From The Warfront With Cryptocaryon Irritans, Part Two Of Five : https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/12/mini

Aquarium Fish: News From The Warfront With Cryptocaryon Irritans, Part Three Of Five: https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/1/mini

Aquarium Fish: News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans Part Four of Five: https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/2/mini

Aquarium Fish: News From The Warfront With Cryptocaryon irritans, Part Five Of Five: https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/3/mini
 
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