One thing pretty much every marine aquariust has to contend with is ICH, it is the most common parasite in our tanks. I just wanted to put a little something up about some of the issues, treatments and what to look out for.
Most LFS use low levels of copper in their systems, you may think a fish is completely disease free until after you have had it in your tank for a couple weeks and symptoms start showing up. By the time the symptoms appear the tank is infested and the situation must either be treated or the fish will eventually die from these parasites. By the time you actually see the white dots, the parasites are in their bredding phase and well on their way to spreading to every flat surface, sand, rock, fish, glass, etc.
There are several treatments, most of the effective forms require a hospital/treatment tank to treat. Copper is by far the most effective BUT it is risky. It can be easliy overdosed, it can NOT be used in a tank with corals or inverts as they can not tolerate the levels required to effectivly kill all the parasites. As for the "reef safe" pour in treatments they are really hit or miss and more miss than hit. Hyposalinity is another method, it is when the fish are treated in a lower slainity to kill the parasites, usually between 1.009-1.010 for 14-21 days. This is a effective method but also can not be done in a tank that contains coral or inverts and some fish species as well cannot tollerate salinity that low and even life on LR and LS may die off with those levels. There are many many other treatments and theories as well.
The most effective method to keep ICH out of your tank is to isolate new purchases in a Iso/hospital tank for 3-4 weeks before introducing them into your display. Most people dont have a hospital tank or they think it will require a 2nd complete set up so they never bothered. It can be very cheap to set up a tank, it can be a bare bottom with some pvc pipe to provide hiding places a couple pumps to provide some flow and thats pretty much it. It does not need a skimmer because it would need to be off to medicate anyway. A cheap HOB filter will do fine with reg water changes for the short term and the bare bottom will help keep things stable. The params (unless medicating of course) and temps are kept the same as the display so acclimating will be a piece of cake when the time comes to introduce it into your display.
Tangs are very prone to ICH, the reason is there "slime" coat is thinner than most other species. The reason for this is to allow them to swim for longer times and greater distances grazing for food. You are more likely to introduce ICH with the introduction of a tang than almost any other species.
There are many other opinions on this like any topic in our hobby so the best advise I can give is talk to other people who have delt with the issue, find out what worked and what did not and dont let an advertisment sway you, they are after all trying to sell you their product...
If you loose a bout with ICH, do not put any additional fish into the tank for 8-10 weeks to allow the parasites to run through several cycles, they can not live without a fish host but will still go through several bredding cycles before completely dying off.
Most LFS use low levels of copper in their systems, you may think a fish is completely disease free until after you have had it in your tank for a couple weeks and symptoms start showing up. By the time the symptoms appear the tank is infested and the situation must either be treated or the fish will eventually die from these parasites. By the time you actually see the white dots, the parasites are in their bredding phase and well on their way to spreading to every flat surface, sand, rock, fish, glass, etc.
There are several treatments, most of the effective forms require a hospital/treatment tank to treat. Copper is by far the most effective BUT it is risky. It can be easliy overdosed, it can NOT be used in a tank with corals or inverts as they can not tolerate the levels required to effectivly kill all the parasites. As for the "reef safe" pour in treatments they are really hit or miss and more miss than hit. Hyposalinity is another method, it is when the fish are treated in a lower slainity to kill the parasites, usually between 1.009-1.010 for 14-21 days. This is a effective method but also can not be done in a tank that contains coral or inverts and some fish species as well cannot tollerate salinity that low and even life on LR and LS may die off with those levels. There are many many other treatments and theories as well.
The most effective method to keep ICH out of your tank is to isolate new purchases in a Iso/hospital tank for 3-4 weeks before introducing them into your display. Most people dont have a hospital tank or they think it will require a 2nd complete set up so they never bothered. It can be very cheap to set up a tank, it can be a bare bottom with some pvc pipe to provide hiding places a couple pumps to provide some flow and thats pretty much it. It does not need a skimmer because it would need to be off to medicate anyway. A cheap HOB filter will do fine with reg water changes for the short term and the bare bottom will help keep things stable. The params (unless medicating of course) and temps are kept the same as the display so acclimating will be a piece of cake when the time comes to introduce it into your display.
Tangs are very prone to ICH, the reason is there "slime" coat is thinner than most other species. The reason for this is to allow them to swim for longer times and greater distances grazing for food. You are more likely to introduce ICH with the introduction of a tang than almost any other species.
There are many other opinions on this like any topic in our hobby so the best advise I can give is talk to other people who have delt with the issue, find out what worked and what did not and dont let an advertisment sway you, they are after all trying to sell you their product...
If you loose a bout with ICH, do not put any additional fish into the tank for 8-10 weeks to allow the parasites to run through several cycles, they can not live without a fish host but will still go through several bredding cycles before completely dying off.
