ICH in the reef tank

[cavyroo]

I have been working with this tank for the past week with ich. The scopas tang had it..I fresh water dipped him..and he got rid of it...I soak my food in garlic...and I have a cleaner shrimp and wrasse in there.

I now see it on the anthias and the damsel. Its nearly impossible to catch them.

I am REAL hesitant to medicate that tank with meds. I have heard of people doing so..what do you all think?

Misty

 

[spongebob lover]

Hello Misty
I guess if i was you, i would wait a little bit to see if the cleaner shrimp cleans the fishes, but if it seems like its getting bad i would then medicate the tank because otherwise your tang is gonna get it again and you are gonna have to do the fresh water deep over and over.
You can try catching your fishes at night, but you would have to remove all your rocks and i don't think that's a good idea, more if you have corals around.
I hope your tank gets better

 

[cavyroo]

Oh I forgot to mention above.The scopas tang died this afternoon...DARN IT! He was alive last nite..

Medication....for the other remainding 2 fish...that have ich...What med is safe to use with Inverts? Methylblue I was told...what about any of the Mardel line fish meds??

 

[wrightme43]

Do a search on parisites on the search button. Alot of people have typed in what to do a bunch of times. Mine is simple, quar. the fish for 3 weeks in a tank with no live rock and no sand. Use uv on the quar and keep it bare bottom. Dip the fish in fresh water like you did and dose copper in the quar tank. The trophants are in your reef tank. They are going to keep recolinizing your fish untill you let them die from a lack of host (read fish) feed garlic but do it in a different tank than your display. Once you lose a couple 150-200$ fish you will see that a quar. tank is a cheap and effective method of prevention. Ick sucks and I hate it. Quar. procedures whip it everytime. Leave your tank with out fish for at least 21 days better is 30. Then put only fish that have been quar. with uv and copper if necessary for 21 days after the last dot of ick is seen in that tank and you will never have another ick problem again. Do it any other way and its not a question of if, its when. This is my opinion and I am not a expert, am someone that had to learn the hard way. Steve

 

[wrightme43]

If you have shrimp or crabs they are inverts just like ick. Killing dose for the ick is very close to killing dose for the shrimp. Corals the same way or even more sensitive. Its best to medicate in another tank. HTH Steve

 

[cavyroo]

Ya, that is what I want to do....Med in another tank. I just cant catch them. I have so much live rock in this 80 gal. argh..will keep on trying.

 

[cavyroo]

Yes I believe in a Q tank. I have a 20 gal set up as one..but I didnt treat them for ich..when I did that..Darn. I just watched them in there for 2 weeks before adding. For now on.do you think it wise to do a treatment for ich for new fish in the Q tank.

Where can I buy a UV sterlizer? And do I use it only on the Q tank or in main display.

Thank you.
Misty

 

[spongebob lover]

Steve you rock !!!
I'm sorry about the Scopas tang
I do not know about medications, and if you wanna try meds you should search first what kind and if they are good for your tank, but like Steve says : Killing dose for the ick is very close to killing dose for the shrimp. Corals the same way or even more sensitive.
I guess i would really try catching them,and putting them in a quaranteen tank i know its hard with all the rocks, but i think it's worth to try saving your fishes and cheaper than buying quemicals i guess .
If you don't have a quaranteen tank like me ( i know i'm bad ), Then if i was you i would put my rocks in a huge kind of bucket with already made saltwater and catch the fishes, deep them in fresh water and put them back and hope nothing dies
Again this is only my opinion and i'm not an expert, i really hope your tank gets better let us know ok.

 

[spongebob lover]

sorry i didn't see more posts, but ya if i was you i would put every fish you buy in your quarantine and see how they act for a few weeks and About the UV i believe they sell them at the fish store or you can order them online

 

[CarlaW]

My bluejaw trigger died of ich in my 300, and I ended up just riding things out. 2 out 3 tangs got it, but it cleared up in about a week. I have been watching things pretty close ,and I haven't seen any more outbreaks. I wouldn't throw any meds in your reef. Sometimes you just have to ride the tide, so to speak. Hope things work out for you.

 

[fishermann]

Cavyroo If all you have left is the damsel ant the anthias, they are both pretty tough fish. Sounds like you have some issues, like maybe this is a fairly new tank. What are your amon. and nitrite levels, How old is the tank? If the tank is in good shape and seasoned the fish should get rid of the ich on their own in time, if they are being stresed by the above then you need to wait. Also almost all tangs well get ich, it is just the way they are, You need a QT and if not buy only from very repetable sources and have your tank in really good shape because alot of fish well get a bout of ich and if things are good in the tank they well get rid of it themselves.

 

[Terry B]

Cavyroo,

There are a lot of ineffective treatments for ich including freshwater dips and cleaner shrimp. Once you get ich in a reef there is no easy way to get rid of it. Move ALL the fish for treatment. I would use hyposalinity (not dips). If you want to become well informed on the subject and seperate the facts from the fallacies then read this five part series on the subject:

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/aquarium_fish_1.html

Cheers,
Terry B

 

[aquaboythes]

I had a Hippo Tang with Ich - really really nasty mean bad ich. I added a couple cleaner shrimp and they helped, but couldn't get completely rid it. I found a product called No Ich, used the recommended dosage - and am happy to say that the tank looks clear. The shrimp are as active as they were at the store, and everyone seems happy. Unfortunately you have to get rid of all carbon filtration, and turn your skimmer off - so for a tank loaded with fish, you may not be able to get away with it, but if its really bad not a bad try.

 

[Peterock]

OK people I have a few questions on this topic.
1) I had my tank set up for about a month and had 1 damsels and 2 false clowns and one of the clowns came down with ich and died, then the other clown started showing signs of ich and I started treating the tank with garlic and ginger mixed in with there food to build their immune system after about 3 days of feeding with that mix I havent seen any spots on the clown and he is looking happy. I have made my own food that constanly has garlic and ginger in it to keep there system up. Can i say that the ich is gone from my tank or is it still there?????
2) I am thinking of adding 2 more fish to the tank would it be safe to QT them before adding them to the tank to insure they dont catch ich or will it be ok to add them and just keep feeding the mix i made with the garlic and ginger.....

 

[Abissus]

What timing, i just lost a red sea sailfin tang to ich this morning. I bought it last saturday, first noticed something may be wrong 2 nights ago. Yesterday the tang seemed worse but is still hiding whenever I approach the tank, and I did not have time to get it. Well this morning it looked even worse and it is easily catchable. it turned ont o its side after I put it in the medication tank and died very soon after.

ARGH. a whole 4 days from the LFS, that's about $25 a day.

If I do not see any outbreak for a month, can I assume my tank is free of ich? Or should I remove all fish for a month to make sure the tank is clear?

I know, I should have quarantine

 

[wrightme43]

I have found that the only way to get ick out of a reef system is a min. of 30 days with no fish. Ick hides on the gills, it hides, and waits and even if you wipe out 99.9 percent of it, there are still a few left, each one of which can make thousands of babies (trophants) in 72 hours. Let the temp drop, add a fish which is just a tad bit sick or bullied, and bam there it is, back again. Quar. is the only answer. I have seen that no ick, and ruby reef and all of that stuff. again it may kill 99.9 percent but that is not good enough. I hate ick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate it. If I forgot to mention it I hate ick. I Quar. so I can, know I dont have ick and when rarely it shows up, I love to watch it die. Copper!!!!!!!! Mwaa Mwaaahhh Mwaahhhh. I could blow smoke up your butt and tell you its all going to be ok, but that is not true in my experince. I have worked at the LFS, and now own a business setting up and maintaining tanks. Its good for me. I get the experince that comes with maintaining different tanks, and lots of them every month. I really hate ick. Steve

 

[Abissus]

That's what I am afraid of. time to catch fish it is not going to be easy

Should I move all my fish to a medicated tank for 30 days? Like using copper or formaldehyde for the entire 30 days? Is 30 days enough?

 

[CarlaW]

I have found that the only way to get ick out of a reef system is a min. of 30 days with no fish. Ick hides on the gills, it hides, and waits and even if you wipe out 99.9 percent of it, there are still a few left, each one of which can make thousands of babies (trophants) in 72 hours. Let the temp drop, add a fish which is just a tad bit sick or bullied, and bam there it is, back again. Quar. is the only answer. I have seen that no ick, and ruby reef and all of that stuff. again it may kill 99.9 percent but that is not good enough. I hate ick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate it. If I forgot to mention it I hate ick. I Quar. so I can, know I dont have ick and when rarely it shows up, I love to watch it die. Copper!!!!!!!! Mwaa Mwaaahhh Mwaahhhh. I could blow smoke up your butt and tell you its all going to be ok, but that is not true in my experince. I have worked at the LFS, and now own a business setting up and maintaining tanks. Its good for me. I get the experince that comes with maintaining different tanks, and lots of them every month. I really hate ick. Steve

Does Mcgarnicle hate ich?

 

[Terry B]

Did you ever try reading the articles that I linked to? It will seperate fact from fiction.

Terry B

 

[bigdave]

This is what I use in my reef tanks. It is Marc Weiss coral vital It dosn't kill ich, but it discourages ich from adhering to fishes skin. I currently have a powder blue, soho, purple, blond naso, mimic, chevron, and a royal tang in my reef setup and no problems with ich. I have had many friends use this and none have ich problems. This is only my experince and a couple of freinds and its good for your corals. Good Luck Dave