Ich: it has finally happened to me :-(

[Recife]

OK, so I tried to watch the "baby" go to sleep. It's behind the rocks in the back of the tank. Rearranging the rock work is not an option for me and I;m starting to think of extreme measures.

Is there a way I can poison the fish with something (food, etc) without affecting the corals to kill it?
I also heard of people who literally fished stubborn guys out. Could I do that with such a tiny fish as a chromis?

 

[liveforphysics]

I could likely kill him with a 10watt/mm^2 laser... It would be a PITA to bring over the setup though, as I didnt build it for portability. Might get ugly with unplanned reflection and refraction...

However, I dont like the idea of killing something that should be live trappable. Its not like the chromis got to choose to get tossed in an aquarium.

I have a hunch if you put the word out that you would like to borrow a fish trap from somebody(I dont own one) that you would be pleased with the friendly support this group offers.

 

[NaH2O]

Recife - I would try the fish trap. Feed only in the trap, and eventually the fish goes in. It took me a couple of days to trap a bicolor blenny one time, but he was eventually caught.

 

[Recife]

OK, I will try this one.
Where can I buy one around here? Better still, does anybody have one I could borrow?

 

[charlyclown]

I have had a powder blue tang for quite some time and although I quarantined the fish for a month it developed ich, so did the blue tang and a yellow tang. Having 200+ lbs of rock and corals and quite a few fish, I tried several quasi “reef-safe” products directly in my reef tank. Here are the experiences that I acquired over the last years:

• 5-Nitroimidazoles: expensive. Appears to be effective at first without affecting my corals, but Cryptocaryon returned after a few weeks, although less intense. Probably, it developed resistance to this agent.
  
• Metronidazole (Flagyl): heavily infected fish showed significant improvement of breathing and reduction of spots after 24 hours and no spots after 72 hours. I did not notice the corals to be stressed in any way, but the cleaner shrimp was and it eventually died. I co-administed metronidazole with garlic and soaked food in the medication to facilitate better absorption.
  
• Hyposalinity: before initiation of above treatments I slowly dropped salinity to as low as 1.015 and maintained it. I removed corals and invertebrates which showed distress and placed them in separate quarantine tanks for a month. I started above treatments when exacerbation of symptoms occurred for 5 or more days.
  
• Garlic: I did not notice any improvements of symptoms of infected fish. It’s antibacterial-like effects probably work best in improving overall health and immune system.
  

I am lucky and I probably got rid of ich without placing the fish in a quarantine tank. I did not observe any signs of ich for about 7 months now. However, I would highly recommend that everyone quarantines ALL the fish from the first on. I did not quarantine one clown fish a year ago and I think that is the reason ich got in my system in the first place. Although the fish did not show any signs of the disease, it was there and it did infect the properly one-month quarantined and pre-treated powder-blue tang once it was introduced to the tank. I am truly fortunate that all fish survived and are in good health now.

 

[SaltyTemple]

Don't waste your money on meds, that's my two cents. I spent over 100 on "ich treatments" and they didn't work in the slightest. I agree with nothing and ensure good water conditions. A healthy fish should be able to fight it off yes? But take that as a grain of salt, I'm still dealing with it

 

[steve-s]

I'm still dealing with it

Not to offend but had you dealt with it appropriately (QT, proven cures), you would not be in the situation you are now.

Can a fish gain limited immunity, sure. It is just as likely the fish will die given the same reasoning. The odds would be skewed much greater towards loss than immunity though. It really makes no sense to me why you (anyone?) would want that cloud continuously luming over your head when it's so easy to be rid of.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Recife]

I learned my lesson and won't take the risk again. No fish will go into my tank without quarantine. That's after I manage to get my chromis out of the tank, that is!

It can be frustrating to wait, but it's certainly better than being upset for killing fish.