A Very Bad Day

[Sandy]

Okay, so after a day of chillin' I can calmly tell my story. It all began on Friday morning, packing things up to go to the camp for opening day of the split for big duck season in LA. Everythings pretty much loaded into the camper, except for the dogs, they are a last minute thing. Anyway, remembering my daughter had griped about the fish in my tank having ich a day or so before, I thought I better have a close looksee to check on them. (It had been a hectic week and I hadn't had a chance to really sit down and gaze at my tank like I usually do.) And I guess I have been spoiled, because my hippo usually heals itself after a light breakout of ich when I do anything in my tank. Well, my luck has run out, cause I found out I don't have a self healing powder blue tang. Not to mention that the ich had spread to a few other fish also. So, I dig out my old uv sterilizer and remember the reason I put it away to begin with was because it leaked. I thought, well, I think I can fix it. I mixed up alot of epoxy and smeared it all around in the end of the sterilizer where it was leaking. Dug out all the fittings and hoses. Dug out the pump and the connections to hook it up to the sterilizer. Started hooking things up while waiting for the epoxy to dry. Found an old piece of plexi glass, cut it to fit onto the top of the sump so I can put the sterilizer over the sump just in case it starts to leak again. Hooked everything up, made all the connections, placed the pump into the sump, fingers crossed, plugged things in and waited...... Well,,,,, it STILL leaks!!! The worst part is that it leaks on the end where the power goes into the bulb. And now it is leaking even more than it did before. Okay, so now I am getting really pissed,,, I have worked on this dang thing for three hours, trying to get everything JUST right...

[Sandy]

Now, thinking, okay, I can deal with this. I call the ALL KNOWING MASTER OF INFORMATION at our favorite LFS. Kind of knowing what he is going to say. Yep, I need a new uv sterilizer. And a good neighbor to come check on my tank and remove any fish that might die while I am gone.... yea well that ain't gonna happen, cause you ALL know there isn't just anyone who can look after your tank. So now I have given in to the fact that I am going to have to stay home and deal with this mess. (And it was suppose to be a great hunting weekend! ) Now I'm on my way to our LFS to purchase a new uv sterilizer and pump. (the pump I have is actually too big to use on a uv) This is no short trip cause I live in Woolmarket. Like any good doctor, Gerwin tells me all the things I need to do and reassures me that things are going to be okay. While I am at the shop guess what comes in,,,,, well a whole new batch of goodies. Fish and corals. Pretty fish too..... Last thing in the world I need to be buying now right!!! Anyway, lips dragging the floor, I head home to start working on the tank again. Have you ever had one of those days where everything you touch TURNS TO CRAP???? Yep,,, Friday was my day.. and out of pure embarrassment I will not go into the details. But I will say that it took me two more trips to Gerwin's for me to get things right. And talk about patience,,, Gerwin has it. Thank goodness, cause I have very little, so it is good to have someone who puts up with all my mess, and fixes it to boot.

[Sandy]

After working all day and making three trips to Gerwin's, and taking long enough to slam down a couple of chili dogs, I finally finished hooking everything up and got it running at 11:00pm. Keep in mind, all this started at 8:30am. I can hear the little buggers screaming as they pass through that nice new uv sterilizer. So far so good. No lost fish. Ich still there, I know it will not disappear over night. One could hope though. Oh, and on my last trip to Gerwin's, I did come home with a nice new pipe organ coral....SWEET!!!

THANK YOU Gerwin for all of you help, patience, and reassuring advice. Don't know what I would do without you!

[jimbob21123]

i knew you couldnt have went down there 3 times and not bought any goodies. that sure seems like one hell of a day. hope everything works out cause that powder blue you had was looking way to good to die of ich. well good luck.

[Doug]

I don't know what the upshot of using one on a reef tank today would be, but my best non-medicinal success against ich back in the old days was a Vortex D-1 Diatom Filter-- the ultimate mechanical filter that also removes organisms the size of ich dinoflagellate cysts. In the event of an outbreak, I used to run it 24 hours between charges, and, in 7-10 days the problem was usually solved. Today, it would probably clean the water too well, and remove beneficial nutrients.

[Sandy]

I can remember using a diatom filter on my freshwater tanks back in the day...
Never really recall seeing much info on them for saltwater, but I would think like you also Doug, that it would take out too much of the good stuff as well.
I know this is a very controversial subject, but that is why I don't really use a protein skimmer.

[Doug]

UV was very typically used, but with the knowledge that its efficiency was limited. That is to say only the organisms that actually were pulled through and were sufficiently exposed to the UV were potentially affected. The feeling with diatom was that, if the organism was pulled into the filter, it was stopped in its tracks in one pass. With UV, we realized that one pass (or even multiple passes) didn't necessarily mean total eradication. UV was considered more a preventative measure than a curative one. But as I said, there was not that much else we were worried about diatom mechanically removing.

[Gerwin]

LFS here,
Several comments to make:

Boy did I feel sorry for Sandy but the part she left out was how it got dropped and boom no more new UV sterilizer bulb, crap happens, the good news is I now know I am not alone...someone else has a cloud over them on some days! I also took the moment to mention how its another reason buying local instead of the WWW. can pay off as supporting a broken item or whether purchased that way or broke by user can often be corrected in minutes opposed to days.

In regards to UV and ick, I want to make it clear to anyone who reads this from what ever part of the world they drifted to this thread from, that I did not specifically prescribe a UV sterilizer to correct the ick issue.
There are many dynamics that come into play with every aquarist and their tank.
I discussed all the options from chemical treatments to UV, I let Sandy tell me which way she wanted to go after I input the data
and after that I recommend what she could do along with UV to increase her odds against what can be a devastating little parasite when it goes unchecked.

As far as Diatom filters , I have had my share of time with those things, I think every store in the 70's was using them. My feelings on them were they were great for POLISHING THE WATER, but little else. Both Diatom filters and UV require anything to be removed to pass through unit and in DF it slows down as it becomes impacted with organics so your turn over is reduced both DF and UV you are unlikely to get 100% water pass as well, I mean think about either unit, the parasites are not all running over to get sucked in but a large majority will eventually pass and we have the fact that in a healthy tank the fish HAVE A IMMUNE system that we hope will help fight with us to save them.
Good nutrition as well as Garlic in food has shown to help many customers.

I have found using a UV has saved many aquariums from disaster, and have seen a 90%+ success rate over the years for those that have used them and maintain them on their systems and agree the use as a preventive is far better than a cure. And I got on to Mrs Sandy a bit for not keeping hers running when I found out she had one all this time and not getting it fixed.

So iif the question was put to me,

TO UV or NOT TO UV>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I say UV

[Sandy]

You are right,, you did not specifically prescribe the uv sterilizer. I knew that was the route I myself wanted to go and you just confirmed my thought process. And you did give me a list, (or should I say prescription ) of things to help fix my problems. I did lower my salinity and I am keeping an eye on the temp. trying to keep it down as well. The Ick Attack will be a last ditch effort for me, cause I would like to not use chemicals in my tank if I can avoid them. And you can laugh, I still have my card with everything written on it for future reference. I suffer from CRS you know!
AND I will still sing praises about our guy down at out LFS!!!
Thanks Gerwin!

[Sandy]

Oh yeah, the broken bulb thing was part of the pure embarrassment thing I mentioned. But I guess it is good to mention it because I may not be the only person it happens to.

[Archie]

sounds like this a recurring issue with your tang getting ick. i would concur about using a uv, only as a secondary control of parasite and pathogens. my question is, do you have a heater on your tank. we have been having some extreme weather conditions lately. and if you do have a heater, what is your temperature swing in a 24 hour period?

[Sandy]

No heater. Temp stayed 75 to 76 before the uv, now it has bumped up to 78 to 80. The temp stays pretty consistant.