Ich, but more related to the tank than the fish half

So can a tank truly be rid of ich? and if i get it again, is there a way to treat it without taking everything out of the tank? what I am saying is that although I can wait, I don't want to, and if there is a good chance I am going to get it again from something else, then could't I just take out the sick fish nurse it back and stick it back in the tank?

Short answer:
So can a tank truly be rid of ich? Yes
and if i get it again, is there a way to treat it without taking everything out of the tank? No
then could't I just take out the sick fish nurse it back and stick it back in the tank? No

Long answer:
Ich is a parasite that needs to host on a fish to continue in it's life cycle, if you remove the fish from the equation then you stop the parasites life cycle and it will no longer exist in you tank.

It was once believed that ich can lay dormant in the tomont stage on the substrate of the rock and sand because this was observed in the ocean, thus was believed to also take place in our tanks, however the test were done in colder water temperatures that allowed the eggs to slow down its process and become somewhat dormant, of course the obvious variable between that and our tanks is that we keep the temp up in the 78-82 degree range that promotes a faster incubation period and allows the tomont stage to last between 2 days to 28 days. Hence the long period of keeping the tank fishless for 6-8 weeks.

Once you have removed ich from the tank you have to be very disciplined in keeping ich out of the tank by QTing your fish, and one that many people will have a hard time doing is QTing everything else that goes into the tank, live rock, live sand, corals, inverts etc... because the ich can hitchhike it's way into your tank while in the tomont stage and then the process starts all over again.

Unfortunately, there isn't an in tank treatment that will rid your tank of Ich that is safe for your inverts and corals. There are products out there that say "reef safe" ich treatment but don't believe it.

And if you remove a fish from a tank that has multiple fish and treat just that one fish for ich, it will have ich again after you put it back into the tank.

It is very hard for someone to stay disciplined in the practice, especially when we run out to the LFS and see a fish that will be a great addition to the tank, so we purchase, acclimate and toss him in.

It's a choice that you have to make now, and not stray from later.

well you know me...
I have heard that some shrimp will clean the parasites off of them? is that true and which ones?
Also, lets say I slip and get ich again, wort case is fish die, but is there anything I can do to combat the symptoms? I know you talked about garlic before, as a possibility, but are skeptical.

No shrimp don't pick off or eat the ich as it's on the fish, when the parasite is in the trophont stage, it’s where the parasite attaches and burrows under the skin of the fish feeding off of it, that’s when we can see the effects of the ich in little white dots on the body of the fish, even though the cleaner shrimp looks like they are picking off the ich he's just picking the scabs.

Garlic is said to build the fishes immune system so that it can hide the effects of ich easier but make no doubts (whether it works or not) the fish is still getting attacked by the parasite. Garlic is a highly debated subject, with no definitive conclusion.

There are neon cleaner gobies that are supposed to rid other fish of ich. Rather small fish and wont bother anybody or anything. I bought one shortly after I rid my tank of ich and I haven't had an issue. I do allow my frozen food to soak in amino acids and vitamin and garlic. I know some people don't like it but I also put a little rid-ich(ich attack, one or the other, I know its by kordon), its one of the "reef safe" ones in my food as well. I have had no problems with ich since I started all of those.

I don't think there are any fish or shrimp that will remove ich from a fish. Don't believe that.

you can add stuff to help the fish fight the ich. I have tryed to items that have worked on is from Dr Tim's and Herbtana from Microblift. I have use them my self many times with no problems in the tank. but keep in mind it is not a ich killer. It helps the fish fight the ich and it it slow or even eliminate the life cycle. I have many tangs that are happy and no signs of ich and or any other parasites.
I have a large system.

It's very hard to swallow the idea that any of the reef safe treatments that say will kill ich do anything but start a routine for the tank owner. Just because fish doesn't have the white speckles all over its body proof that ich is gone, it's just that the fish are managing the situation and are healthy enough to withstand the ~monthly~ visits. At that point it takes only one event that raises the stress level of the fish to start the white dots all over again.

my school of thought is, if you don't irradiate ich from your tank through drastic measures as indicated above then you have made a choice to live with ich and are willing to roll the dice and leave it to chance.

It worked for me and I only does it a few times and well no ich and my tangs are happy and have had no problems in the last 4 years. My corals are growing great as well.

I am not arguing about any ones opinion I am just stating that there are thing to help your fish to fight the parasites and with a healthy system you can win without dosing constantly dosing “stop dosing the product”.

If your fish are not happy and the system is causing the fish to stress then there is all most nothing you will be able to do except for extreme measurements and the will most likely kill your fish. Been there myself and I lost some really nice fish that all wore over 7” and they came to ich in 5 days. Then I tried Hertana then try to help the rest for my fish before they died.

I had a yellow tank that was so infested in ich that he looked white with all kinds of bumps. I thought I would lose it in the next ich cycle. Well I dosed with knowing that I night lose a lot of corals and fish. Well the first does made my skimmer go wacko and so I turned it off for 24 hours. Then did half the recommend does 3 days later. Well when the next cycle happened most of the fish did show a little ich on their skin and the fish wore starting to eat a day later after the second dose. There gills wore more relaxed than before. I was surprised myself to see that some of my fish wore still alive… To top it all off my coral wore doing good with no signs of any tissue lost or bleaching. Well I still have all the fish that survived that mess and was able to add a few more fish after that.

Not saying that there is a cure but there is hope to for the fish in fighting this problem. I still use this when I add a new fish to the system for precaution and still today have no issues.

I believe that you cannot rid you tank of ich completely if you have fish in your system. This is part of life in the wild and this hobby keeps pulling fish from the wild and this will keep happening but the science behind this hobby is getting better and better.

This is my story and it worked for me so don’t take this the wrong way but my display is 300 gal and it is really hard to rid problems when you get them


Good luck, we will have to go to the next meeting so I can met you all…..

Nick good work on the sight, how’s your tank doing?

Hey mike. Tanks doing good thanks for asking. Hope to see you guys at the next meeting