Ick

I do too think that's advisable, but you're also in the wrong section of the forum unless you are trying to sell ick.   

Do not use copper in your display tank. It is a heavy metal and is absorbed by the rock, sand and substrate and released back into the tank over time. It's not safe for any corals (except maybe GSP) and it will give you nothing but head aches with your tank from that point forward. So unless you are planning a fish only tank from that point on then do not do it.

First of all the ick mostly went away from a month ago. Now it's back in my blue tang. I also did not think it was so bad to ask for help from the most commonly used section of the site. Thanks for the info.

Mark Peterson wrote: Something looked fishy here so I searched all posts by triggerhappy1. He/she started this exact same topic about a month ago in this same section. Strange that the problem was again placed in the wrong section.  http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=80238&KW=&PID=613918&title=ick#613918 It appears that this difficulty has been going on for more than a month, but it looks to me like this hobbyist is not following up. Aloha, Mark

True...however our goal here first and foremost is to be helpful whether a topic is put in the right spot or not.  I know when I was new to the forum I wasn't sure where to post things.

I think the best thing we can do is be helpful and answer the question not stew about where the topic is.

Triggerhappy 1, As far as ick goes I wish I had some information for you, but my experience is limited.  I apologize and hope that someone with some helpful advice will step up with some good information.

To add to what the others have said, I always try to avoid adding any chemicals unless you really have to.  Yes, copper will kill ich, but it's hard on these little fish. 

Quarantine/dip every single thing that goes into your tank.  Coral, inverts and fish need to be checked for disease before they are added to your display.  Quarantine doesn't have to involve copper.  I personally do quarantine with prazipro, though.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Use the tank transfer method. It's the easiest way without chemicals.

I like the tank transfer method for treating the fish as it involves no chemicals and is as close to 100% guaranteed you can get (as long as you are meticulously sure that no water is transferred from tank to tank.) However, it works better on preventing ich from getting into the tank by treating an incoming fish. The ich life cycle is 70 to 76 days. So a 15 day tank transfer method will get the fish free of ich, but then if the fish goes back into the display tank, it can catch ich all over again. So, if you really want to be rid of ich, you have to do the tank transfer on the fish and then let the display tank be fish free for 76 days for all the ich cysts to hatch and die. With out that, ich can keep coming back again and again. All the fish can seem cured for a couple of months and then the ich comes back as the cysts hatch. But keeping the tank fish free for 80 days isn't practical for most of us though. So we do what we can to keep the immunity of the fish up by proper feed (including garlic) and nutrition, low stress, etc. If a fish gets really bad, you can take it out and treat it so that it gets relief and can survive.

But the one thing you don't want to do is put copper in your display tank. Once it's in there, it will permeate into the sand, rock, silicone, etc. and you'll never get it all out and it's poisonous to most corals and inverts.

Here a link to a detailed description of the tank transfer method, the life cycle of ich, and more than you ever what to know about it (it has links to 2 research reports and has over 350 pages of reports on their studies if you're really feeling ambitious...)Tank Transfer Method Link

Edited by Hogie - July 12 2016 at 4:24pm