F me ...

[j_electric]

Finally happened to me after 3 years .. I have Ich, I recently got a CBB from tricity . It is very healthy I watched it in my Qt for a week he was eating and looked great. Well it has been two weeks since he went into the main tank and yesterday I saw hints if ich in his fins. Now today may yellow tang that i have had for over two years has full blown Ich.

I need some help from the seasoned veterans on dealing with this. I remember a long while ago people talking about a "cocktail" of meds that you can feed . Is this reef safe I have alot of sps and don't want harm the corals. Also I don't know if I will be able to catch either fish.

TIA

--joe

[Live Water Aquariums]

The "coctail" you are talking about is a mixture of Focus, Metronidozole, and Garlic extreme from Sea chem. You mix it with frozen food and if the fish are still eating, it is quite effective, if caught early-it's reef safe. There are instructions on the bottle for how much to use. Cleaner shrimp will help too. If the fish don't eat you can try a product called green-x, a malachite green based treatment that claimes to be reef safe but I've never tried it with sps. During treatment it helps to raise the temp of the tank, for faster recovery, up to 82 or 83 if your corals don't mind. If you treat right away, and you have had the tang a long time, it should be tough enough to recover well. Good luck.

[OceanBeach1502]

I have a 120 and have never treated for Ick. I have had it twice and the fish had it for a few days. Was told that its only a problem if its around their gills? Not saying its a great idea, but I have had it go away on its own.

[DaveMorris]

Cleaner shrimp dealt with it for me a while back. I do not like the chemical approach. I did start soaking the food in a garlic vitamin elixer that I got from AW.

[NGN8DOGG]

I used garlic extreme awhile back when my tangs got it for some reason? It worked well for me and at the time my 75 was almost full blown sps

[treylane]

When your fish show outward signs of ich, it's because they're stressed out in one way or another, and their immune systems aren't working as well as usual. You should be asking yourself, "have I been slacking on water changes lately?" and "is fish A harassing fish B?" and "am I feeding enough?"

Basically, you'll need to FIX any problems with water quality, make sure you don't have large temp swings, FEED the heck out of your fish, and they should get better all on their own.

[socalaly]

you can also try a cleaner wrasse?

[Yolo]

Garlic, Garlic, Garlic...water changes...any cleaner shrimp. Dry food soaked in the liquid garlic along with garlic based foods for immunity. Also the water changes, IMHO the new fish might have introduced it, now you have to ride it out. Need to keep up on a proactive approach after its "gone"... don't buy the liquid, chemical addatives, use the cocktail or the soaked food. AW has a gel ($18) that is sort of premade right in front of the counter. I have four tubes of the powder and liquid Ich treatments I bought you can have if you are anywhere near Grossmont College.

M

[JAHGYDI]

thats why i dont buy fish from tricity

[Bogg]

Hey Joe is the temp stable?. In the past I have noticed if I swing the temp sometimes my blue tang would just get ich and then it would go away and then come back, repeat. It was the temp. swings.

[JAHGYDI]

every time ive ever had ich i just let it go for a couple of days and it disapeared.

[semifan1]

I recently got a yellow belly blue tang that had it, made the cocktail and rode it out lucky no other fish showed signs of it.

[j_electric]

thats why i dont buy fish from tricity

this is the first fish I have bought from tri city that had a problem . I have been shopping with them for over 10 years and buying Marine fish for over two



The tank is very stable, I am religous about water changes , done every sunday... I will try the garlic for now. I try to soak food at least one time a week , time to do it daily for a while.
Thanks for all the input

-joe

[Retzius]

Definitely get a cleaner shrimp or two since you have a big tank. I had the same problem and adding a shrimp did wonders. The garlic soak method is also good. You should do it in addition to your cleaner shrimp.

Quarantine is also good but its a hassle trying to get your fish out and setting it up.

[socalaly]

i agree keep the fish in the tank... I just recently acquired a flame angel from someones personal aquarium, it was fine and healthy...Took awhile to catch him and after acclimating in my tank he went in just fine...Didn't seem to be chased or anything, however the next day i noticed ick... From times ive had it before I tried to take out the fish and qt, further stressing the fish and resulting in death most times :( This time i left it in, feed garlic soaked food, overfed, and my Fire shrimp set up his station and cleaned away. They were literally fighting to get cleaned my my shrimp... I have a cleaner and he didn't clean anyone but the goby. It has been a week and my fish is looking great...very small amount of ick left but eats great and still getting cleaned. So my advice get some shrimp over feed and garlic :) here is a picture of mine....

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m70/socalaly/cbeautyshrimp.jpg


not the best picture of him actually getting cleaned but he and shrimp stayed back there for a day and kept getting cleaned... I just couldn't get a good picture without scaring them.

[j_electric]

I have one cleaner now is there any problems in adding 1 or 2 more?

[Live Water Aquariums]

Cleaner shrimp will accept newcomers quite well, especially in bigger tanks. Try not to get tiny ones if yours is large. Contrary to other opinions, ich is quite serious. If in it's early stages, cleaners may do the trick, but in my opinion garlic by itself is more of a preventitive and will not cure ich! As stated temp. swings are the most common cause and what makes thing worse. Obviously the new fish brought it in, which is why proper QT. is so important. Personally I would go with the medicated coctail at least because make no mistake, Ich can be deadly, and can spread rather quickly.

[Clownaholic]

Garlic is a feel good solution. There is "ZERO" scientific evidence supporting any effectiveness on "ich." Since you cannot QT your display tank. Increase the feeding, IE: feed to saturation at least once a day. You'll need to increase your water changes during this time. Do a 10% change every two to three days. This will keep your D.O. from shooting through the roof. The cleaner shrimp will help some too. Even though the fish will start to look better, ich has a life cycle. The visible is actually the cysts dropping off into the LR or sand bed. They hatch back out in anywhere from a day to months later. I'd suggest heavy feeding/increased water changes for a month. Then cut back to normal. (RESEARCH Chryptocarion... get smart, don't do anything drastic... as Jessica already pointed out this is a stress related disease.)

What garlic does do is enhance a fishes ability to sense the food there-by enticing them to eat. It does not help the fish's immune system ward off ich by itself.

[ricenoodle]

I lost my whole tank a while back from ich in 2 weeks. Keep a close eye on it. It's serious, and hopefully the fishes are still eating for you. Mine didn't eat and went away 1 by 1 in 2 weeks.

[Trickman2]

Focus, Metronidozole, and Garlic extreme from Sea chem

ALways worked for me...use it

[estamm]

Its good to know that there are 2 ichs so to speak; Cryptocaryon and Oodinium. The later is to be feared its refered to as marine velvet and is the one that usually shows up in the gills. For the most part the treatment techniques are similar. Without repeating the good advice already given Ill just add --- I have used a fresh water bath with excellent results..if you can catch the fish early without stressing him too badly, like at night. The fish can easily withstand the osmotic pressure change but the parasites swell and burst in the fresh water. I usually dunk new fish too. The bath can eliminate nearly all of the cysts on the fish...Ridding the tank of Oodinium is another matter, I concentrate on the fish and help them fight it off and break the cycle rather than go directly after the Oodinium. I personally dont do massive water changes or anything else. As others have stated STRESS is the worst thing you can bring on and its one thing you DO have control over. I personally lower the temp slightly to slow down reproduction and lower the salinity, make life easier for fish and harder for the Oodinium. Good luck....Happy holidays---ES

[DiverDave]

I used the cocktail by mixing it in with the normal food I was feeding. Did this with about 6 weeks worth of food. Never came back. All the thoughts on stress and tank husbandry are also correct; keep it clean, keep it stable.
Dave

[OSIDEARNOLD]

has anyone used chem-marin "stop parasites"?

[Jessy]

has anyone used chem-marin "stop parasites"?
No treatment like that works. NONE. The only thing that will do well for ich is the cocktail, cleaner stable water, or the garlic food treatment I choose to use. You can't fix ich with a bottle.

[SDguy]

No treatment like that works. NONE. The only thing that will do well for ich is the cocktail, cleaner stable water, or the garlic food treatment I choose to use. You can't fix ich with a bottle.


Well, actually, copper in a hospital tank kills ich.

Cocktails, clean water, garlic etc etc. all may or may not help to varying degrees. Many will help enough so that the fish's healthy immune system will fight it off on its own.

[Yolo]

"Garlic is a feel good solution"

JJ...Garlic seems to help me out with my fish all the time?

All I do is add a little butter, salt, and pepper, saute the fish in a flat pan for a few minutes on each side...

[johnny_trombone]

$.02
Had ich spots on most of my fish (2 clowns, yellow-eyed tang, yellow tang) inour reef tank a month back.
was so worried I called in to work ich'sick! (luckily my boss has had a saltwater tank before and understood the emergency. I don't recomend most ppl telling their bosses "uh, I can't come in today because my fisies look sick" heh)
Just did a 10% water change and fed them garlic seaweed from AW all day. It was gone by the next day.

I also added 10 tablets airborne to the tank to increase their vitamin C input (BTW just kidding!!! don't do that and then blame me :P

-J

[mikeyfromsd]

I've tried several things to stop ich, and the best thing that i have found was garlic and time. Dont push the water changes, as this stresses the fish out more. Just keep your water changes the same. If one fish has ich, and you do more water changes, chances are you are going to stress the other fish out, and they will end up with Ich too.

Has anyone else tried Kick-Ich. The reef safe stuff. I tried it, never had any luck. Like I said, the only thing that's worked for me is garlic. I've had ich several times, due to changing tanks and stressing the fish out trying to catch them. But I haven't had one fish die on me yet from it.

[Jessy]

Well, actually, copper in a hospital tank kills ich.

Cocktails, clean water, garlic etc etc. all may or may not help to varying degrees. Many will help enough so that the fish's healthy immune system will fight it off on its own.
I stand corrected ... forgot copper comes in a bottle.

[barometer]

I stand corrected ... forgot copper comes in a bottle.

so does formalin/malachite green. Worked great for my QT'ed fish when they had ich and doesn't 'ruin' the tank for future reef use. Still not to be used in the main display though. FWIW, none of my fish will touch food that has touched garlic :(

[Technoviking]

I got some kind of natural ich remover from Vets Pets that worked like magic. Added to my display tank with no noticeable effects to the rest of the inhabitants. Got rid of the ich in days.

Don't remember what it's called though, I'll check when I get home.

[DiverDave]

J,

I have all the chemicals for the cocktail ( I love that word on multiple levels! Caveat: Not ***!)
I also happen to be getting out of the hobby for a while. Come see me Wed or Thurs for a hookup.

Dave

[OSIDEARNOLD]

my yellow tang seems to be getting worse. looks like a very very bad case of acne!!! the tang just chases the wrase around the tank for a fixin, i think its starting to infect my other fish!!! help!!

i'll pick up the cocktail tomorrow. i've been using garlic extreme and have done to water exchanges since i last posted. i dont have a qt tank and i dont know how the heck i would catch that tang! good thing is that the tang is finally flirting w/ the cleaner shrimp.