Achilles77

This is probably one of the biggest problems that irk all of us. There is no dearth of literature on this subject and its worth a read online. If you have a big house and lots of $$ then you can get a QT and have your fish transferred whilst leaving the main tank fallow. It's a long process. You will have to leave your main tank fallow for 8 to 10 weeks to break the parasites cycle whilst treating the fish in the QT with the hypo salinity method. This is the best method. Many of us will never do this for reasons stated above. I would advise against meds for various reasons which you can read about online. The best thing is prevention but many of us will end up getting ich because we are always itching to put new stuff into the tank! So what to do? 1.Keep your tank clean with the usual water changes. If you think additional water changes need to be done because of the signs (smell, discoloration of water, algae blooms) then do it. It will help to ease stress on the fish. 2. Supplement the foods you feed the fish with garlic and vitamins. Do this everyday until you see improvement. This is the method i have used and its a hassle free thing. 90 to 95% of your fish will recover. **Don't buy your fish from dingy notorious LFSs. Pay a little extra and go the extra mile or two and buy fish which are healthy. If you are staying in the East then you have two options but both are quite a distance. Hint hint.

After a couple of years some of us get bored of the existing live rock set up and decide to move things around. I have thought about it. But because my tank is a big one i have put this on hold until the maintenance guy comes over. The best time to do this would be during a water change. Fill up 2 tubs with water you are sucking out of the sump to the half level. Once the tubs are half full, gently remove the live rock you want to move about in your tank and put it in. Shake the live rock about in the water to get rid of the powdery deposits in the first tub and then once you are done transfer them into the other tub. Once all the love rock has been transferred into the other tub you can repeat the process again before putting them back into the main tank.

In most cases the dearly departed will not be seen floating at the surface. If your tank is small and you suspect that one of your loved ones has not made it, I would suggest that you carefully try and get it removed. Its easier when the tank is 2 to 3 feet long and by virtue of the fact that it's a small tank, you run the risk of getting it polluted otherwise.