Welcome to the forums!

Rest assured, it's not the salt.  You can read about the life cycle of crytocaryon irritans (ich) and get some expert advice as to what to do now over in Kelly's forum:

http://www.marinedepot.com/FORUMS/Topic20250-10-1.aspx

It is a lot of work to cure an ich outbreak in a display tank but, with diligence, you can put this outbreak behind you and learn how to keep it from getting into your tank again.

- Mark

- Mark

Welcome to MarineDepot.com.  I moved your post to the Disease, Health & Wellness forum, so we can better address your ich issue.

Thanks for your input/advise Mark.

First off, hats off to quarantining your new additions.  When you set up your display tanks originally, did you quarantine all of those inhabitants - rock, fish, inverts, corals. ?

Do you have a designated net for each tank?  Do you wash your hands or change gloves before placing into each tank?

Are the tanks in close proximity where splashing of water could occur - i.e. hungry puffer begging at surface

Ich will die if left exposed on dry surface.  Was your freeze dried krill wet when you fed it?

The salt mix did not bring in the ich.  Don't waste the salt.

Again, welcome and thanks for posting.  Please update us so we can provide you with the best plan of action/care.

I got some Quick-Ich to treat my fish in all the QTs last night.  They are all looking much better today, very nice relief to see that the spots are disappearing. 

I always quarantine all my new additions in my QT, I don't want to risk their health for teh sake of adding them to the tanks fast.  I never really thought of putting my live rock in the QT, but I did cure them when I received them in a separate container for 3 weeks.  I found a stow-away crab that I took to my LFS, it was an anemone boxer crab, funny little critter too. 

Well as far as proximity of the tanks, the 150 and the 50 are about 4 feet from each other.  The 50 has a full canopy, the 150 only has hinged glass splash canopy.  I don't think splashing would be a cause, but the net is a very likely suspect.  I rinse the net each time I use it before using it in the other tank, but it may not have been enough?  I definitely do make sure I don't contaminate the tanks by putting my hands in the water, especially since my tanks are 36" tall.  I don't think my fish would appreciate my oils on my arms, nor my deodorant if I had to reach to the bottom of the tanks, hehe.

As far as the feeding habits, I break off a chunk of the frozen krill and soak that in RO water to let it thaw and come apart into manageable pieces for my little guys to eat. 

I'm glad to hear the salt wouldn't have contributed to the ich.  I need to get another batch of the Pro-Reef mix soon.  Putting my fish into 3 separate QT tanks and doing the water changes is burning through the mix fast.  I'm glad I live close to Marine Depot, or the shipping on those 200G buckets would kill me.  Thanks again!

Michael

I commend you on your quarantining practice.  How long do you routinely quarantine?

For the treatment of ich, I prefer hyposalinity versus chemicals.  What are the active ingredients in Quick-Ich - formalin?

Hyposalinity is not caustic or carcinogenic and does cut down on the costs of salt

Do you feed anything besides krill?

From your input, the net could have been the likely source ?  I would definitely buy a separate net for each tank.

Make sure your display system is fallow (fishless) for at least 4 weeks preferably 6 weeks so the ich parasite will die off, otherwise when you introduce the fish back to the display tanks, they could get reinfected.

Enrich your food with vitamins, beta glucan and garlic to help boost these fishes' immune system so they can fight the ich and any other opportunistic pathogen in this time of stress/infestation.

Best of luck.  Keep us posted.

Rays and seahorses are not prone to ich but CAN get it and CAN act as a host.

With that being said, as long as they are in the display tank with ich, the ich will use them as a host and the ich cycle will continue.  The display tank has to be fallow (fishless) for at least 4 - 6 weeks after the last fish/ray/seahorse is removed.

Continue the hyposalinity for 4 - 6 weeks to insure that the ich parasite has been irradicated in the fish that are in the QT.

I would not treat the ray with hyposalinity, copper or formalin at this point.  I would definitely move him to a new tank and watch closely.  I would wait to add him last back to the display tank.  You might consider doing the every three day transfer method that Terry Bartleme suggests as another option for treatment of ich.  This involves moving the fish to a new STERILE tank every three days.  Nothing goes in the tank except the fish - no transfer of water, filters, nets, etc.  The theory behind this is the trophonts drop off the fish and are left in the tank and the fish is then placed in a new tank so the hatching ich can't reinfest.  This involves several moves over weeks.  Could be difficult to do with multiple fish or a large fish/ray.  Might be worth considering though for fish like rays that can't be treated with hyposalinity or chemicals and could potentially carry the ich parasite.

If the seahorses are in one of the display tanks that has ich, they will have to be moved as well.  I would recommend hyposalinity for them.

Do watch the water parameters closely especially after the formalin and methylene blue as these are toxic to your nitrifying bacteria.  Do you have any cycled media or air driven sponge filters in your display than can be pulled & added ?  Do not add live rock to the quarantine systems.

As far as diet, do try to give more variety and less krill.  Try shrimp (available at grocery stores & Asian markets), scallops, smelt, frozen prawn (ProSalt - some LFS carry these), octupus, (available at Asian markets as well).  Make sure you keep vitamins in the refrigerator - it extends the shelf life and maintains vitamin integrity/potency.  Vitamins that I like - Boyd's VitaChem, Marin Vit and Ecosystem's Garlic Elixir & Fish Solution.

Thanks for the update.