Serious Ick Problem

[flavescens]

Hello everyone.

I am having the worst ick problem ever, and it just wont go away. It started almost two months ago, first appearing on my Coral Beauty. I went to Skiptons, and they sold me some of the reef safe no ick fluid. It worked at first, but then the CB started getting it back. I pulled him out and tore down my nano tank to use as a quarantine tank and again went back to skiptons and this time they told me to use this copper stuff. I continued the no-ick in the main tank and everything was fine for the next month. The CB meanwhile goes through periods of looking better, then back with the ick, then looking better, then back with the ick. Then, yesterday, after a month of doing fine with no ick anywhere, the main tank broke out and now my Hawkfish and a clown have the ick. I am out of the no ick, but what gives, a 50 dollar bottle and three weeks of treatment later should have done the trick! And what about the CB and the copper, that is not working either.

I need some advice, so if anyone has an idea or saw somehting that I did wrong, please let me know. I was planning on switching over to a 55 gal this weekend, but I dont want to infect that tank too. Any advice on how I can kick the ick would be really appreciated.

Chris

 

[RayD]

Try a UV sterilzer. You can usually find someone here that has one FS or would be willing to let you borrow. You would need a minimum of say 15 watts. I've read that the lower wattage ones aren't effective against Protozoa. Also keep the water flow through the unit slow. I use the MiniJet 600 or 6-something or other ...

Worked for me when I first started my tank and I got hit. Haven't been without it since.

 

[MarkO]

I'm a firm believer that optimum water conditions will work better than any "reef-safe" snake oils.
What are your water parameters?

 

[Andy O]

Some people have luck and others don't with reef safe ich products. As far as ich reef safe products are a crap shoot.

As far as I am concerned the only way to completley erradicate it in a reef system is to remove all possible hosts -- namely the fish -- and let it run fish free for 4 to 6 weeks. Hypo would probably not be good for your corals.

Many times for the ich to come out the fish needs to be stressed so you may want to look at that. Is it possible that there is some form of stray current running through your tank.

I know that UV can be helpful but not sure that it will totally solve the problem with regard to ich.

 

[JohnK]

To make the copper treatment effective, all the fish need to be treated and the display kept fishless for 6 weeks or more. Otherwise there WILL be ick present in the display even if you don't see any symptoms.

If you QT one fish and treat with copper, it will be clean (if the treatment was done right), but will get reinfected as soon as you put it back in the display. That's probablly what happened.

Also, if your goal is to eradicate (and not manage at low levels by keeping stress low) a lot of people prefer hyposalinity treatment over copper. I've used this method with great success.

 

[gordonzoo]

I also had an outbreak last year. My 25w UV along with garlic helping the fish immune and appetite. It took a few ich cycles but each time there were fewer and fewer. The UV for sure helped as I tried most everything else with no luck.

 

[Matt L.]

I'm a firm believer that optimum water conditions will work better than any "reef-safe" snake oils.
What are your water parameters?

I agree with Andy here. Low stocking density, stability, and optimum water parameters are the best solution.

In my opinion, most fish come down with ich for a reason, other than there being ich in the tank. For example, I had a system with ich present, but even the Hippo Tang, a known ich magnet, never came down with it unless something went wrong with the system.

Matt

 

[65wannabereefer]

i had a horrible ich problem aswell but i used the reef safe seachem Metronidazole mix for $7 it worked great with in 4 days i saved my dog face puffer my clown fish my alge blenny and my bicolor blenny and 2 fire fish gobys and it didnt affect and my corals or inverts great stuff and it cant hurt

 

[JohnK]

"In my opinion, most fish come down with ich for a reason, other than there being ich in the tank. For example, I had a system with ich present, but even the Hippo Tang, a known ich magnet, never came down with it unless something went wrong with the system.:

I agree with matt on this, but I also emphasise the fact that the ick does have to be in the tank for stress to bring it out.

If it's never introduced at all then no amount of stress willl cause Ick. It's a lot easier said than done to never intorduce it, but it's possible and arguably worth the effort. At least that's my understanding and my experience supports it, but there are a lot of opinions on this subject?

 

[Ba19Ma88]

You can also lower salinity over time and keep it for a while then you can raise it back to normal over time....do a search for further info on this it helped my tank and no ill effects.

 

[sulcatadragon23]

try KENT MARINE GARLIC XTREME IT REALLY WORKS it's about $15

 

[Triggerfish]

The CB meanwhile goes through periods of looking better, then back with the ick, then looking better, then back with the ick.

Part of the lifecycle that can continue for many months

I am out of the no ick, but what gives, a 50 dollar bottle and three weeks of treatment later should have done the trick!

problem here is there is no documented scientific evidence that the product works. it really would have to do tricks to work which it may for 1/2000 c.irritan strains.

And what about the CB and the copper, that is not working either.

what brand copper and what test kit did they give you to monitor?

Any advice on how I can kick the ick would be really appreciated.

I've had ich for about a year and have been experimenting with different possible eradication solutions. nothing has worked to date.
my advice to you would be what i plan on doing next:
1. remove all fish from main tank for minimum of 10 weeks
2. treat all fish removed in a cycled qtank with cupramine copper monitored 2x daily with seachem test kit for 3 weeks.
3. monitor for remaining time to ensure treatment was successful(you will need to use a bright light to see spots)
4. if parasite continues to appear, wait a week and retreat. do not add anything back to main tank after fallow period unless they have been ich free for minimum of 6 weeks.
5. Pray

Ich journal can be found here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=595224&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[merk1_99]

Please QT all incoming fish for 4-6 weeks.....I know a lot of ppl say they can't afford a QT setup. Pickup a 10-15 gallon tank at a Walmart type store for 10-15$, get a power filter for $20, and get a single strip NO flourescent light $10. When I think I am going to buy a new fish I put the power filter on my main tank for a week or two to start getting the media inside seeded with bacteria. I do a water change into the 10 gallon tank from the main tank a day before. Then I put the new fish in the next day. Then I sit and watch for 4-6 weeks. If an out break starts then I treat, and when the cycle is done on the ich or whatever the fish remains in treatment for yet another 4-6. Spend the 40-50$ bucks and save yourself from the pain and cost of a major outbreak in the main tank....This is a hobby of patience...I have read countless ich outbreaks threads from newbies and veterans that could have been avoided if a simple qt tank was used.

 

[Andy O]

Please QT all incoming fish for 4-6 weeks.....I know a lot of ppl say they can't afford a QT setup. Pickup a 10-15 gallon tank at a Walmart type store for 10-15$, get a power filter for $20, and get a single strip NO flourescent light $10. When I think I am going to buy a new fish I put the power filter on my main tank for a week or two to start getting the media inside seeded with bacteria. I do a water change into the 10 gallon tank from the main tank a day before. Then I put the new fish in the next day. Then I sit and watch for 4-6 weeks. If an out break starts then I treat, and when the cycle is done on the ich or whatever the fish remains in treatment for yet another 4-6. Spend the 40-50$ bucks and save yourself from the pain and cost of a major outbreak in the main tank....This is a hobby of patience...I have read countless ich outbreaks threads from newbies and veterans that could have been avoided if a simple qt tank was used.

I agree entirely with this but there is also one other thing to take into account. There are certain species of fish that when put into such a small environment may stress out to their detriment. Something like a hippo which is an ich magnet anyways I would be a bit fearful of putting him in such a small tank -- may do more harm than good. With my hippo I took my chances and put him directly into the main -- i know that it is like playing with fire. This is why I do my best to remove as many stress factors from the main tank as possible.

 

[Triggerfish]

Something like a hippo which is an ich magnet anyways I would be a bit fearful of putting him in such a small tank -- may do more harm than good.

this is obviously meant to be a judgement call..if you're buying a show sized hippo that wouldn't be able to turn in the 10g, a larger setup would be needed. most of the small hippos available would be fine.
planning is key.

Side Note: Always ensure to qt any LR that came from a system with fish..that's how the ich got transported into my system.

 

[Andy O]

Side Note: Always ensure to qt any LR that came from a system with fish..that's how the ich got transported into my system.

Never would have thought of this.

 

[65wannabereefer]

I Think His Fish Dont Like Each Other Lol!!!!

 

[65wannabereefer]

reef safe seachem Metronidazole works wonders!!!!!!!!

 

[merk1_99]

Absolutely if you have a large enough system to keep a hippo tang then you should have a qt system large enough to handle it. Its a matter of planning and patience. You have to avoid the impulsive buy, and the rush to stock. And I understand how it happens because I have fallen prey to impulse buys before. Now I have created a stocking list of specimens that I have researched. And when the time and opportunity rises I then go to the list and begin my search....

 

[MarkO]

=Side Note: Always ensure to qt any LR that came from a system with fish..that's how the ich got transported into my system.

I'ts also how I intorduced ich into my main display as well.
Prior to that instance, I was ich free for about 2 years. So yes, it can be completely erradicated from your tank.
To get it ich free, I moved ALL fish to a 20 gal QT for one month (go an extra week or 2 to be safe). I bumped up the tank display to 82-84º to speed up the ich cycle.
Unfortunately, there is no way for me to remove all fish from my current tank, so now I'm stuck with the ich. Fortunately it has only reappeared once since I added the LR in December... and that time is now. I believe it has appeared due to a quick temp swing.
The only thing I'd recommend doing is going with hypo. In my experience, it seems to be less stress on the fish than copper.