Fish came down with ICH in Shark/Ray aquarium

[Aggressive240]

Thank you in advance for your knowledge. OK so it seems one of my new arrivals (even though quarantined) has broke out in ich. I recently acquired a 5 inch Barcode Gem Tang and a 5 inch Purple tang. For the first couple of days the Purple Tang was being bullied a bit by my Clown tang, Thompson tang and Scopas Tang. Nothing really bad just the occasional chasing here and there when it entered their area. Long story short my Purple Tang broke out in ICH(4 days ago) and now my Gem has it and possibly my 9 inch Naso. Other fish seem ok for now. I feed with vitamins every meal, UV 24/7, Auto feed flakes/pellet/freeze dried twice a day and they get 4 sheets of nori twice a day. IM trying to manage this since using copper is out of the question (I have Sharks and Rays in the system as well) and I cannot catch them all. My system is 1100 gallon display with a total system volume of around 1300 gallons. Equipment is as follows: Aquagard 90 watt pro max 5 inch uv, Bubble magus C99 skimmer. Aquarium has a 40 breeder fuge on it with 4 diff macros and a dozen mangroves to help with filtration. The main sump has 130 lbs live rock and the secondary sump has roughly 40 lbs of bio media. filter socks in place and changed every other day etc etc.

My question is what is a Shark Ray safe medication to assist me with this process? I was told by LFS to use reef medic but I am not sure as Ive never heard of this med. Maybe @Jay Hemdal can help I know you and a few others always have great information and experience

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you in advance for your knowledge. OK so it seems one of my new arrivals (even though quarantined) has broke out in ich. I recently acquired a 5 inch Barcode Gem Tang and a 5 inch Purple tang. For the first couple of days the Purple Tang was being bullied a bit by my Clown tang, Thompson tang and Scopas Tang. Nothing really bad just the occasional chasing here and there when it entered their area. Long story short my Purple Tang broke out in ICH(4 days ago) and now my Gem has it and possibly my 9 inch Naso. Other fish seem ok for now. I feed with vitamins every meal, UV 24/7, Auto feed flakes/pellet/freeze dried twice a day and they get 4 sheets of nori twice a day. IM trying to manage this since using copper is out of the question (I have Sharks and Rays in the system as well) and I cannot catch them all. My system is 1100 gallon display with a total system volume of around 1300 gallons. Equipment is as follows: Aquagard 90 watt pro max 5 inch uv, Bubble magus C99 skimmer. Aquarium has a 40 breeder fuge on it with 4 diff macros and a dozen mangroves to help with filtration. The main sump has 130 lbs live rock and the secondary sump has roughly 40 lbs of bio media. filter socks in place and changed every other day etc etc.

My question is what is a Shark Ray safe medication to assist me with this process? I was told by LFS to use reef medic but I am not sure as Ive never heard of this med. Maybe @Jay Hemdal can help I know you and a few others always have great information and experience

Well, are you 100% certain of your diagnosis? If not, you can post some pics/video for confirmation.

You for sure cannot use hyposalinity here. I’ve treated hardy bamboo sharks with Coppersafe, but I don’t think it’s safe for more delicate sharks and rays.

Chloroquine is another option, but it will kill all invertebrates, most algae and may cause an ammonia rise.

You could continue with a more involved ich management program, with bottom siphoning, etc. I discuss some options for that here:

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Aggressive240]

Well, are you 100% certain of your diagnosis? If not, you can post some pics/video for confirmation.

You for sure cannot use hyposalinity here. I’ve treated hardy bamboo sharks with Coppersafe, but I don’t think it’s safe for more delicate sharks and rays.

Chloroquine is another option, but it will kill all invertebrates, most algae and may cause an ammonia rise.

You could continue with a more involved ich management program, with bottom siphoning, etc. I discuss some options for that here:

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

Im pretty sure its ICH i can see and count the spots. All fish are eating like pigs. Clown tang and v tail grouper flash but they have done that for as long as I can remember. I did do a Prazi treatment 2 weeks ago because my Thompson tang had a injury to his side but has now completely healed. Here is a video of the purple tang. Sorry the stingray has sand in the water column it seems. Should I do another round of PRazi? Is there a better med for my system and infection?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Im pretty sure its ICH i can see and count the spots. All fish are eating like pigs. Clown tang and v tail grouper flash but they have done that for as long as I can remember. I did do a Prazi treatment 2 weeks ago because my Thompson tang had a injury to his side but has now completely healed. Here is a video of the purple tang. Sorry the stingray has sand in the water column it seems. Should I do another round of PRazi? Is there a better med for my system and infection?

These are mucus cones likely from a skin irritation and mixed in with ich. Often you will notice other occupants do not have the signs but are not to be ruled out. If your sharks/Rays are not showing signs, do monitor daily as you may get lucky.
Pull the purple and treat in a separate tank or container and treat with coppersafe at 2.25 for 30 days, no less and monitor with a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Im pretty sure its ICH i can see and count the spots. All fish are eating like pigs. Clown tang and v tail grouper flash but they have done that for as long as I can remember. I did do a Prazi treatment 2 weeks ago because my Thompson tang had a injury to his side but has now completely healed. Here is a video of the purple tang. Sorry the stingray has sand in the water column it seems. Should I do another round of PRazi? Is there a better med for my system and infection?

Yep - that's ich on the purple tang. It is right on the cusp of possibly being able to manage it versus outright treatment, kind of a toss up on which way to go. The risk is that ich multiplies geometrically...so if you try to manage it and fail, the fish can get very sick very fast. Chloroquine may not be a good option in this tank - did I see some snails? Also, chloroquine with kill all of the algae.

Jay

 

[Aggressive240]

Yep - that's ich on the purple tang. It is right on the cusp of possibly being able to manage it versus outright treatment, kind of a toss up on which way to go. The risk is that ich multiplies geometrically...so if you try to manage it and fail, the fish can get very sick very fast. Chloroquine may not be a good option in this tank - did I see some snails? Also, chloroquine with kill all of the algae.

Jay

Yes there’s a few hundred snails and crabs as well as five starfish to help clean up after the sharks and ray. Total there’s 10 tangs and 3 groupers, 9 monos, couple of large sandsifting gobies, two large clownfish and squirrel fish. I think that’s all of them. I feed garlic, vitachem and selcon with every meaty meal nightly. The meaty food consist of jumbo shrimp, octopus, squid, cuddle fish krill mysis brine and bloodworm. I make my own food so it’s all mixed in. During the day they get 2 feeding of dry mixture and lots of seaweed twice a day. Do you think another round of prazi would help this situation?

 

[Aggressive240]

These are mucus cones likely from a skin irritation and mixed in with ich. Often you will notice other occupants do not have the signs but are not to be ruled out. If your sharks/Rays are not showing signs, do monitor daily as you may get lucky.
Pull the purple and treat in a separate tank or container and treat with coppersafe at 2.25 for 30 days, no less and monitor with a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.

Would prazi help the mucus cones along with the metroplex I add to their nightly meal

 

[vetteguy53081]

Would prazi help the mucus cones along with the metroplex I add to their nightly meal

No as prazi is a dewormer for flukes and worms, neither would metro which has to be used precisely and makes foods taste bitter

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes there’s a few hundred snails and crabs as well as five starfish to help clean up after the sharks and ray. Total there’s 10 tangs and 3 groupers, 9 monos, couple of large sandsifting gobies, two large clownfish and squirrel fish. I think that’s all of them. I feed garlic, vitachem and selcon with every meaty meal nightly. The meaty food consist of jumbo shrimp, octopus, squid, cuddle fish krill mysis brine and bloodworm. I make my own food so it’s all mixed in. During the day they get 2 feeding of dry mixture and lots of seaweed twice a day. Do you think another round of prazi would help this situation?

Praziquantel doesn't treat ich. If there is a co-infection of flukes, the prazi would help with that, but you still need to control the ich outbreak.