Pbt has ich

[charlieweaver]

So I think my powder blue has ich.  What do I do? Never had this in a tank before. I'm trying to trap him now.  Not that easy he's not going for the food yet.    Can I treat the whole tank?  No other fish seems to have it.

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[Viggen]

I went thought this a while ago..... pita

Get him out ASAP is your best bet, and hope the other fish do not pick it up.  The sooner hes out the better your chances are that the other fish will not get it. 

If only the pbt gets ich then 4-6 weeks in qt with copper will do the trick or do the hypo treatment that some do.  I think copper is easier and less risky in a qt tank

If other fish get it you need to put all the fish in qt and keep your tank fish less for several months.  Or you can do a hypo treatment which is what I did to my tank last time.  I yanked all the crabs, snails and all other inverts and put them in a 75g with a bunk of lr from the tank.  Then I dropped the salinity in my main tank. 

Did you just buy the pbt?

[charlieweaver]

Yeah only had him for a week.

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[yinyang]

pbt does have nick name ick magnet ,never ever can keep one,mines get so worse it wipe out my entire tank fishs!because a little change in the tank it shows up right on the pbt!!hope you are more lucky than me!!

[volcano]

Yep, they are "Ich magnets".  Remove it quick and hope the others are not infected.   I have heard the only way to keep a PBT, in even a well established tank, is by using a powerful UV sterilizer. 

[Wall_Tank]

You need to get it out before any of the cysts come off, but it would not be wise to think that your tank is not contaminated with ich.

There is no way to treat your display as a whole.....but ich only affects fish, so......
You need to make a decision as to how you are going to handle this.
1) Remove all fish to a QT setup, treat them with either copper or hyposalinity.   Keep your display fish free for 6-8 weeks, so that the ich dies off in the display.
2) Try to keep your fish healthy, feed foods with garlic.   And don't keep any fish that is a known ich problem.  (Most tangs)

[charlieweaver]

Well the pbt is out and going through hypo as for the rest of the tank I am just going to hope for the best and feed good and keep water as best as possibe and hope fish make it through.

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[Wall_Tank]

The problem is that if you never address the main tank, as soon as the PBT goes back in........infected all over again.

Make sure you have read the primer on Hyposalinity......not an easy thing to do.

Good Luck

[Viggen]

I have a extra salinity meter thingy if you need to use it during hypo, its a Milwaukee one..... Forget the model

Also I have a extra uv light, not sure if that would help your display tank kill any ich floating around, its a aqua uv 80w unit with new bulbs.....

[charlieweaver]

How much for the uv?   

And I'm actually thinking of selling the pbt was a bad decision on my part. Needs a much bigger tank. Anyone want a pbt? 

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[Viggen]

What size is your tank?

Not sure on price.... Actually...... I might have someone interested in it, he's been waiting on a price.  Depending on your tank size it might be overkill..... I think they 80w aqua uv units are $600-650 new, I was thinking its worth half that due to new bulbs.....

[charlieweaver]

Well display is only 75 but total system is 150.

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[Viggen]

I think 80w would be complete overkill for your tank, try to find a 20-40w unit

[Mussin]

I had a battle with ich late last year.  My hippo got it then took out my flame angel, kole tang and one of my clowns.  All of my other fish didnt get it I just left them in the DT and treated it with Kick ich.  Once I started treatment no other fish got the disease.  Some say its snake oil, but it worked for me.

Jeremy