Advice from LFS

[hameen40]

I have decided to never listen to advice from an LFS after this piece of information. My damsels are fighting ick at the moment. I went to ask about what treatment I can use?

 

First he hands me some medication that has copper in it. So I tell him I have LR in there, he is like "So? !!!!!" Then I explained that the copper will kill any life I have on the rocks. His suggestion was to flush down my current fish and get some better fish like a couple of clowns and angels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I am worried about the dozens of people who rely on advice from these guys. Who hires these people???

[hameen40]

By the way I am not planning on flushing my fish down the toilet. I bought a 10g which I will use as a QT. Can I rely on my swing arm hydrometer to do the hyposalinity or should I invest in a refractometer. I would really like to avoid this expense since I have been saving up for a skimmer.

[reefermadness]

Seems like a lot of cash (a ten gallon tank AND a refractometer) to plunk down for a couple of damsels. Try a freshwater dip for no more than a minute or two if they look really bad, if not just feed them well and they will most likely survive. The quarantine tank will do you right in the future, if you use it for ALL new additions. The refractometer is also a great device, far more accurate than a normal swing-arm.

 

Ick is in your tank and will be for a month without ANY fish in the tank to host the parasite. Most healthy fish will not get the parasite unless the tank is teeming with the stuff. Water changes, assuming the parasite is in the free-swimming stage, as well as a UV sterilizer, will help a ton.....Is the temp. in the tank fluctuating more than a degree from day to night? I find that every time I have had an outbreak, I can point to something that stressed the animal (unless it was my powder blue tang, which is an ick magnet). Heater failure, improper adjustment of the heater, a high level of ammonia or nitrite, a fluctuating pH or salinity, carelessness in matching water temps during a water change (or too high a percentage changed), and improper acclimation will cause outbreaks every time. Garlic additives for food seem to reduce the chances for me....Good luck with it.

[hameen40]

Thanks for the info. I have been soaking the food in garlic extract and this has helped alot. The Ick has dropped off the fish right now, but I know it's coming back. My temp does vary by upto 1 degree. I was thinking of getting another small heater to place on the other side. Hopefully this keeps it more stable.

 

I have been looking online and I have seen some ick medication that is reef and inverts safe? Anyone tried these?? What brands has anyone had luck with??

 

Thanks for the replies

[reefermadness]

Ruby Reef Kick Ich supposedly is reef safe. Marc Weiss Coral Vital supposedly keeps the parasite from attaching to the fish, in addition to about a million other claims the bottle makes...

 

I say pick healthy specimens, quarantine them for a couple weeks, feed them a varied diet, keep the temp. stable, water params. good, don't add tankmates that will cause undue stress, and hope for the best. I don't add chemical compounds that I am not very familiar with to my tank. If a fish gets ick, I let it run its course. Rarely do they die on me when it happens. It's not worth the risk of killing everything off, including your whole biological filter, to save a weak fish.

 

The second heater is not a bad idea for more even heat distribution and a failsafe if one dies on you. I use the garlic, too. I soak all frozen food, fed every other day (flake and macroalgae in between) in selcon and a few drops of garlic. A buddy of mine dosed his whole tank with it on someone's crackhead recommendation. It smelled like an Italian restaurant for days LOL.

[Tempest]

Garlic is more of a preventative measure than a cure. From what I've read the only 2 proven methods of curing Ick are hyposalinity and copper. Either should be done in a hospital tank. Just my .02

[HairyClam]

A cleaner shrimp would take care of the ick. The only problem I see is that if you're having problems keeping damsels healthy, you won't be able to keep any inverts. Damsels are the meanest & hardiest fish out there & some of us have had problems even trying to kill them!

 

What do you have in the way of corals? Depending on what you may or may not have, you could turn up the temp to help get rid of the ick. If you have another tank to use as a hospital tank then you wouldn't need to worry about hurting your nano-reef. It's something worth looking into setting up if you don't have one already, it can be done very cheaply.

 

GL