Whitespot

[Scuba Steve]

G'day all

Well I guess it had to happen. Despite all my attempts, including the use of my QT tank, I have Whitespot in my display tank. My display tank is approx 700 ltrs and is a reef tank. To keep this thread and my expletives to a minimum I will get to the point.

The following course of action has been recommended to me:

1. Use Myxazin and follow the directions on the bottle.

2. Get some Octozin tablets, drop the SG to 1.0017 and raise the temp to about 82F.

Okay! Has anyone used either of these with any success? Has anyone had any detremental effects from the use of either of these so called reef safe "remedies"? I'm not sure what effect dropping the salt level to such a degree will have on my corals.

Anyways anyone who can offer some help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Scuba Steve :-)

[AQTCJAK]

Tropical Science Ichstiguisher works great no issues with reef in habitants

[Scuba Steve]

Bearing in mind I live in Australia, any ideas on where I might get this? I do not know of this product :-)

[AQTCJAK]

Possibly your LFS or online

[lcstorc]

The only ways I know to beat ich are hyposalinity and copper while leaving the display fish free for 6-8 weeks. They treatment must be done in a qt or hospital tank since it will kill your inverts and lots of other goodies.
Hyposalinity involves gradually reducing the salinity to 1.009 and copper you follow the directions. I have heard that hypo is less stressful on the fish but have never done either myself.
If you can't treat the fish then your best bet is to try to boost their immune system. Add garlic to their food and eliminate as much stress as you can.
HTH

[Scuba Steve]

Thank you to both of you thus far.

I am considering the horrendous job of catching all my fish, asking my LFS to rent one of their tanks for a couple of months and leave my display fallow. In the meantime I am using Garlic in the food.

I would still like to know, however, what effect a salt level of 1.017 would have on my corals and what level they could possibly tolerate?

Regards

Scuba Steve

[burning2nd]

the coarls IMO wont take much lower .015
IVe seen fish liveing in lower then .010 (7-8) but
Ive never done it to my tank.....

it will kill inverts with outta doubt. All sorts of goodies as mentioned

I would remove the fish and qt them. treat them there. and like said let the tank be.

THe copper will kill inverts with outta doubt.

GL

[Scuba Steve]

Interesting point! Will the inverts etc withstand a salt level of 1.017?

[lcstorc]

1.017 won't help.
For hyposalinity you need 1.009. I have even read 8 before but regardless a lot les that 17. That will just stress the fish without killing the parasite.

[Scuba Steve]

I have decided to relocate my fish and allow my display tank to fallow for a period of time. Could you please advise as to how long that should be for? And also should I remove anything else besides the fish? For example my shrimp, starfish, snails etc?

Regards

[AQTCJAK]

Steve you can always try the fresh water dip Kills the parasite right way

[lcstorc]

What I have read says 6-8 weeks. Once you have already gone to all of that trouble I would go on the high side.
To the best of my knowledge inverts etc can stay in the display.

[kyrie_eleison]

An age old concern and the only way you're going to win: Remove fish; place them in quarantine; bump the temperature of the qt up to 82 F; treat them in hypo (1.009) with a very little amount of cupramine and methaline blue. Do this for a month and you'll be fine. Let the display go fallow during this time.

I wouldn't dare treat a display tank unless it's a FO. Experience has taught me that inverts, corals, cnidarians, ben. bacteria will suffer intensely in hyposalinity (sp. gr. <1.018). I once treated my FOWLR in hypo for a month. It was easy at the outset because I was trying to lower the specific gravity very gradually. In the beginning, it was no problem. The white spots slowly went away and eventually disappeared never to return. However, nearing the 2 to 3 week mark, my ammonia and nitrite spiked! and it SPIKED BAD! I soon learned that I had wiped out ALL of the beneficial bacteria, ANY hitch-hiking inverts, and whatever else that may have been residing on or within the live rock and sand. I was changing 20% the water every 2 to 3 days because the ammonia and nitrites were out of control. The nitrates however never rose above 5 ppm. EVEN my cheato was whithering away slowly. This tank nearly crashed and burned. However, I had save the tank because I had a pretty good amount of time and money invested.

Eventually, it all worked out for the best but learn from this mistake! No matter how hard it is to catch the fish to place into quarantine; do it. You won't be sorry you did.

[AQTCJAK]

Although there are parts of this gentlmens atrilce that I do 100% agree with this is a great informational article

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com