The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by shilala

It's an old girl, she was in the kid's tank for a couple years. She has ich bad. I have to start medicating the tank in the next couple days. I'm not looking forward to it. Everyone else is doing better, but she isn't. Good eater, though. I may just keep waiting it out. If I could catch her, I'd just dip her and set her loose.

Wow!
That is a record for a Rock Beauty.
They are very finicky sponge eaters that just gradually starve in captivity as they never really take to the foods we give them.

Scott, diseases and parasites was my thing.
As far as the ick, on a reef, that goes hand in hand. Taking that fish out and dipping it will help relieve it of the cysts on his body but the moment he is back in the tank, all the larvea free swimming from when they bust up in the sand and go looking for a host will end up on him again. Each cyst that drops off him (the little salt you see on him) will eventually release about a 1,000 larvea looking for a new host and the cycle starts all over again. The ones that find a host eventually develop into the ones you see on his body. The ones that don't find a host right away, die quite quickly.
Given only live rock in there from what I recall seeing in the photo, I would lower salinity and raise the temperature.
Lower your salinity to around .012. Sounds crazy but trust me, won't hurt the fish at all. Long term studies have revealed they can be fine two years later at that level. That helps the cysts not reproduce as much and combined with the higher temperature, causes their life cycle to speed up considerably. I have done this salinity level with many fish and tanks worth thousands of dollars a fish and have lost none to it.
Crank the temperature to 82 and if still an issue a few days post lowering salinity and raising the temp, increase a couple of notches to 84. Make sure they have plenty of oxygen which will be the concern as at higher temps, it is much less available to them.

[Blueface]

BTW,
Some fish can fight it well and in time, it all goes away.
Some fish need lots of manual help.

When you see the cysts on them, that is because their tolerance to fight is down or gone. When their slime coats are fine, no ich will affect them as the larvea will not be able to penetrate the coat to feed and grow into a new cysts. That is why some fish just don't seem to get it or if they do, it eventually goes away after only minimal amounts.
When their immunity is down, the slime coat does not produce as much and hence the parasites can multiply.
Their slime coats also serve another function most don't know. It helps filter salt, along with their organs (kidney). Salt water fish filter the salt via their organs and slime coat.
When they are stressed and infested, they stress yet more and produce yet less slime coat. Eventually, the gills get attacked very badly and they suffocate.

So......now go back to the salinity. You lower it, it helps them have to filter it less. Their bodies don't need to stress more by not only trying to filter all that salt via organs only and at the same time, you eliminate the cause (the parasites blow up in fresh water).

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Blueface

Wow!
That is a record for a Rock Beauty.
They are very finicky sponge eaters that just gradually starve in captivity as they never really take to the foods we give them.

Scott, diseases and parasites was my thing.
As far as the ick, on a reef, that goes hand in hand. Taking that fish out and dipping it will help relieve it of the cysts on his body but the moment he is back in the tank, all the larvea free swimming from when they bust up in the sand and go looking for a host will end up on him again. Each cyst that drops off him (the little salt you see on him) will eventually release about a 1,000 larvea looking for a new host and the cycle starts all over again. The ones that find a host eventually develop into the ones you see on his body. The ones that don't find a host right away, die quite quickly.
Given only live rock in there from what I recall seeing in the photo, I would lower salinity and raise the temperature.
Lower your salinity to around .012. Sounds crazy but trust me, won't hurt the fish at all. Long term studies have revealed they can be fine two years later at that level. That helps the cysts not reproduce as much and combined with the higher temperature, causes their life cycle to speed up considerably. I have done this salinity level with many fish and tanks worth thousands of dollars a fish and have lost none to it.
Crank the temperature to 82 and if still an issue a few days post lowering salinity and raising the temp, increase a couple of notches to 84. Make sure they have plenty of oxygen which will be the concern as at higher temps, it is much less available to them.

Thank you, my friend. Consider it done.
She is an awesome eater. Loves brown algae and pellets. She's a big fat pig. I just fed her as I was typing, and she's eating everything she can get her lips on.
I was watching her today and she's not even itching. Usually they go nuts when they get ich.
I don't think it's going to be hard to manage. My salinity is already very low for the little coral I do have. I have lots of sponges growing, too, she just can't get to them. I hid them on purpose till they can grow out from the cracks in the rock.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by shilala

Thank you, my friend. Consider it done.
She is an awesome eater. Loves brown algae and pellets. She's a big fat pig. I just fed her as I was typing, and she's eating everything she can get her lips on.
I was watching her today and she's not even itching. Usually they go nuts when they get ich.
I don't think it's going to be hard to manage. My salinity is already very low for the little coral I do have. I have lots of sponges growing, too, she just can't get to them. I hid them on purpose till they can grow out from the cracks in the rock.

Then based on this, go ahead and just crank up your temperature. That stuff will soon cycle out of there.
Trick is to make sure you keep the temperature high for weeks post when you see the last signs of cyst.
They can stay embedded in your sand for three to four weeks and start all over again.
By keeping the temperature up about a month, that should cover you from a new outburst.
When you buy new fish.........................QUARANTINE!!!!, for about a month usually, in copper, after a freshwater dip with formalyn.