Chris, good luck with the ick treatment. In theory, your method should work. I think another reefer tried to quarantine all his fish (Matt??) before intro to his show tank. Some fish still got ick. Hypo is great if your able to use it...cyst burst at the low salinity and oxygen levels seem to be higher in low salinity. The fish will be fine as long as the bioload is processed in your hospital tank.
Help I Got Ich
- Thread starter Chris L
- Start date
NateHanson
Non-member
There are also a lot of experienced fish keepers and reef keepers who think it's pretty foolish to think you can completely remove/prevent introduction of ich in a tank. The important thing is keep healthy fish and crystal clean water.
The hospital tank is not a bad idea, but make sure you have a big enough one and have plenty of filtration capacity to keep water quality high. Moving six unhealthy fish into a 20g tank with inadequate filtration sounds to me like a recipe for trouble. Not to mention that catching your fish may be difficult.
I know opinion on this subject is not unnanimous, but I really think the primary concern is not whether there's any ich present in the system, but whether the fish are generally healthy and the water is free of any measurable ammonia, and nitrites with stable salinity and temperature, and nitrates as low as possible.
The hospital tank is not a bad idea, but make sure you have a big enough one and have plenty of filtration capacity to keep water quality high. Moving six unhealthy fish into a 20g tank with inadequate filtration sounds to me like a recipe for trouble. Not to mention that catching your fish may be difficult.
I know opinion on this subject is not unnanimous, but I really think the primary concern is not whether there's any ich present in the system, but whether the fish are generally healthy and the water is free of any measurable ammonia, and nitrites with stable salinity and temperature, and nitrates as low as possible.
~Flighty~
Now with more baby
Keeping the temperature, ammonia, salinity, and everything else stable on a highly over stocked 20g with no live rock or sand will be quite a challenge. I couldn't do it with two fish in a 29g with a canister filter that had been running on the main tank for a month to get seasoned.
OP
OP
Chris L
Nano reefing
im just getting nervous because the lemonpeel didnt make through the night. the maroon is still in the main but he is pretty covered , but he is acting normal. i dont have anything larger to hosp them in. am i just wasting my time or should i let it ride itself out and see if they can fight it off?
chris
chris
NateHanson
Non-member
GO GET KICK ICH!
There's seriously no reason not to. You don't want to lose another fish, and there are no side effects to KI. It's sitting on the shelf one town to your north, or I'll sell you what I've got. I'm on East Haverhill St.
Nate
There's seriously no reason not to. You don't want to lose another fish, and there are no side effects to KI. It's sitting on the shelf one town to your north, or I'll sell you what I've got. I'm on East Haverhill St.
Nate
I also have used Kick Ich in a softy tank without any ill effects - and the fish got better.
In my stony tank I have a UV sterilizer and I highly recommend one - it only cost about $100 and it has done a wonderful job. Just make sure you use a very small pump on it.
I tried garlic alone - but it didn't do much. I really think the UV sterilizer is the way to go. Garlic is better as a preventive measure I believe.
Good Luck!
In my stony tank I have a UV sterilizer and I highly recommend one - it only cost about $100 and it has done a wonderful job. Just make sure you use a very small pump on it.
I tried garlic alone - but it didn't do much. I really think the UV sterilizer is the way to go. Garlic is better as a preventive measure I believe.
Good Luck!
Aquaman_68
too many gadgets to fail
nativemic said:
Ich is in every ecosystem even if it is not visable. Like we have colds & many virus in our ecosystem.
Ich does not burrow under the flesh of the fish. That is another type of parasite or worm of some kind if you have lumps & no visable spots.(that is if your fish show these signs) Don't believe everything you read about ich. When I started over 15 years ago with salt I bought every book known to the hobby. (pre internet explosion on this hobby) I had one I recall by steven spotte a marine biologist. His claims were that if you get ich your tank is doomed as you will never rid it of this parasite. (as well as oodium & other ones I can't remember) He had justation periods for each as well as life cycles etc for each different pest.
When I first set up my reef I had a pair of true percs (which I still have) I put into the system & I added a peice of live rock that wasn't cured. Boom ich came to visit the two percs. I dropped a couple cleaner shrimp into the tank & refused to dose the new system with any kind of meds. Alas.....ich went bye bye!!! Sometimes when you start removing the fish into a treatment tank you end up stressing a fish out more by doing so. They are already weakened by this ich trauma & most times all your doing is giving them a double dose of stress that they can't handle. Then they go to fishie heaven!!!
Try to get a few cleaner gobies if you can find them. They will clean the fish & they are pretty cool as well. They should be fine with your other inhabitants. Make sure you cut down on the feeding too. Any cleaner will not be as effective if they have plenty of food in the tank other than the parasites to chow.
Bri
Last edited:
MarkO
...
I believe ich is a single celled parasite that burrows below the skin of the fish as a cyst (early life form). So it's not a bacterial nor viral infection like the flu or common cold. I'm of the opinion that it does not exist in every tank.
I once had an outbreak in my 90 gal tank 4 years ago right after I set up the tank. I quarantined the fish adn left the main tank free of fish for a month. Since then, I've quarantined my fish and have never seen an outbreak.
I do believe that ich can exist in a tank and lay low in a relatively dormant stage, and only be exposed when water parameters are not right. But stating that ich is everywhere, in my opinion, is not a correct statement and may mislead others into making bad decisions.
Just my $0.02
I once had an outbreak in my 90 gal tank 4 years ago right after I set up the tank. I quarantined the fish adn left the main tank free of fish for a month. Since then, I've quarantined my fish and have never seen an outbreak.
I do believe that ich can exist in a tank and lay low in a relatively dormant stage, and only be exposed when water parameters are not right. But stating that ich is everywhere, in my opinion, is not a correct statement and may mislead others into making bad decisions.
Just my $0.02
NateHanson
Non-member
Not that this is too important, but in the interest of avoiding confusion, the parasite that causes ich is not single-celled.
Here's an article I have found informative.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/
Here's an article I have found informative.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/
MarkO
...
Great link Nate!
I found a part 2 of the above:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/
I found a part 2 of the above:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/
NateHanson
Non-member
I should add that I don't necessarily agree everything this guy says, but I found the "Biology" section in the first article helpful in understanding what sort of beast we're dealing with.
Clam Man
x reefer
kick ich is there any hard proof that it works ? i think its the same as drinking orange juice when you are sick lets see some facts before we pay $40.00 i have tried it in my moms tank when she over stocked it in my opion it doesnt work cleaner shrimp do let nature do its job more fish die in 10g sick tanks than live just my 2 cents
NateHanson
Non-member
There's no evidence that any of this stuff works. It's all anectodal. That said, I had a hippo tang with ich that got worse and worse until his body was covered, and his eyes were cloudy. I treated with Kick Ich and he improved immediately. I agree that you can't conclude with certainty that there's a causal relationship there, but if this guys got fish dying on you wouldn't you try a treatment that many people have used with success? Letting things be hasn't worked so far.
MarkO
...
What worked for me was a QT tank and gradual hypo over about 2 days down to 1.009
One week at that density, then a copper treatment for whatever the recommended dosage was. After 3 weeks, I gradually brought the salinity back up to 1.025 over the last week.
Biggest concern was the additional stress of the QT tank and ammonia (even with a light feeding, my ammonia still reached 0.25).
This treatment worked fine for me. During this time, I also bumped up my display tank to 84? day / 82? night to speed up the life cycle.
One week at that density, then a copper treatment for whatever the recommended dosage was. After 3 weeks, I gradually brought the salinity back up to 1.025 over the last week.
Biggest concern was the additional stress of the QT tank and ammonia (even with a light feeding, my ammonia still reached 0.25).
This treatment worked fine for me. During this time, I also bumped up my display tank to 84? day / 82? night to speed up the life cycle.
OP
OP
Chris L
Nano reefing
nate i did buy kick ick at aa and i am treating as recommended. i will continue that intil the bottle is gone.but with the kick ich i still havent seen any signs of improvement yet. i have tried the shrimp but like i said the hawk and wrasse were all over it so i removed it before they could kill him ( he is now safe and happy in the 12 gallon nano ). i then tried the cleaner wrasse and he was picking at the lemonpeel, but again it didnt seem to do anything as the lemonpeel did not survive. i have done what most people here have suggested to no avail. with that said i think that i will continue with the kick ich till it is gone, start feeding with garlic soaked food, and monitor my parameters. i guess i just have to ride the storm out and hope everyone else survives. like i said the lemonpeel did not look good ( swimming, breathing ) but the other 2 fish that are showing signs of ich still seem to be acting normal.
ill keep you posted and anymore suggestions are greatly appreciated
chris
ill keep you posted and anymore suggestions are greatly appreciated
chris
NateHanson
Non-member
nativemic said:
Sorry if I missed you saying that above.
Although it's a bummer that it hasn't given you any results. Still I think it's worth a try, and I think you're right to continue the treatment. Have you turned off your skimmer and removed carbon while you are treating? If yes, make sure that your nutrients are still under control, and do water changes if needed. I wouldn't mind stopping by to help out, but this week isn't great for me. I'm pretty much taking care of my daughter all week because my wife is working 6:30a-8:30p every day. Maybe on Saturday before or after the meeting?
Nate
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