Reef safe way to fight ich

[wwildcats04]

Just as the title says, is there any way of fighting ich that is reef safe? Because I really do not want to pull appart everything in my tank to catch some fish but if I have to, by all means I will

[aquaman7]

FW dips; A slight temperature increase (both procedures have their risks but work well, they fo require you to remove the fish from the tank though). FW dips are VERY streesful they work well but shouldn't be attempted on delicate fish. I've preformed FW dips on clowns with great success. A temperature increase shouldn't be attempted in a display tank especially if it has corals or invertebrates in it. It is best done in a quarintine/isolation tank. I usually go for those old-fashioned methods. However sometimes it isn't enough. Luckily I personally haven't had to use a treatment other than the above mentioned. There are many other methods you can use with various success rates. Preform a search, you should find a good amount of information. Good luck.

[rleon3003]

my fish once caught ich. i bought ich attack and a cleanershrimp and some fish but i cant remember. the shrimp would clean the diseased fish and so would that one fish. i dont remeber wat it was called but it looked like a neon goby but with a yellow stripe. everything turned out good and nothing died.

[wwildcats04]

I already have a fire shrimp and a skunk cleaner and I never really witness either of them doing much cleaning. I bought a product called no-ich and Im going to see how it works out I have heard good stuff about it.

[formerly icyuodd/icyoud2]

this product comes highly recommended, but i've never had experiance with it as of yet.

 

i've been asking around and alot of people swear by it (not to many here though) it was never intended as a cure for ick, it just happened to be one of the side effects.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=84749

 

i've been using it as a preventive measure for a few days now.

[PatrickB]

the only cure for ich is to remove the fish and treat them with hyposalinity. and always qt everything u buy. all the other stuff is a myth. if they think they got rid of ich. stress your ifsh out real bad and you will see it come back. right now they are just heathy enough to fight it off.

[SplitSequence]

these solutions all seem reasonable, but wouldn't a skunk shrimp work just as well (and much more permanently?)

[PatrickB]

these solutions all seem reasonable, but wouldn't a skunk shrimp work just as well (and much more permanently?)

 

Skunk Shrimp -

they eat very little ich that it makes them not worth having for ich control. and when you see them picking at your fish it usually ripping bigger holes in the fish where the ich was which could cause a secondary infection to already sick fish. .

 

 

 

take your fish out treat them with whatever method you want. i perfer that you gradually lower the salinity for the first week. then they will be in hyposalinity where the saltwater ich cannot survive. and let them be in there for a few motnhs just keep the water levels good in there and bam you should be good

[twkenny]

these solutions all seem reasonable, but wouldn't a skunk shrimp work just as well (and much more permanently?)

 

The ich you see on the outside is just that, on the outside. The gills are very susceptible. FW dips are useless IMO because the parasites still exist in the tank if you have an infected fish. A healthy fish in a healthy system shoud be able to get over it on it's own if fed very well and was healthy to begin with. I rarely hear of a properly stocked, well established system losing fish to ich. I have a Regal that will show a spot or two every 6 or 8 months. If I see a spot or two I feed him every day instead of every two or three days and soak his nori in garlic to stimulate his appetite.

There is no reef safe cure. Anyone who tells you there is is incorrect. Kich Ich is a worthless product that has been proven to be ineffective.

Stock properly, keep water quality perfect, feed properly and you won't have a problem.

[SplitSequence]

Skunk Shrimp -

they eat very little ich that it makes them not worth having for ich control. and when you see them picking at your fish it usually ripping bigger holes in the fish where the ich was which could cause a secondary infection to already sick fish. .

take your fish out treat them with whatever method you want. i perfer that you gradually lower the salinity for the first week. then they will be in hyposalinity where the saltwater ich cannot survive. and let them be in there for a few motnhs just keep the water levels good in there and bam you should be good

 

True, but to control infections as they start, a skunk would be better than randomly dropping the salinity of the tank.

[PatrickB]

The ich you see on the outside is just that, on the outside. The gills are very susceptible. FW dips are useless IMO because the parasites still exist in the tank if you have an infected fish. A healthy fish in a healthy system shoud be able to get over it on it's own if fed very well and was healthy to begin with. I rarely hear of a properly stocked, well established system losing fish to ich. I have a Regal that will show a spot or two every 6 or 8 months. If I see a spot or two I feed him every day instead of every two or three days and soak his nori in garlic to stimulate his appetite.

There is no reef safe cure. Anyone who tells you there is is incorrect. Kich Ich is a worthless product that has been proven to be ineffective.

Stock properly, keep water quality perfect, feed properly and you won't have a problem.

i agree with you. but you can get rid of it. if you take your stock and treat them for 2 months outside of the main tank with hyposalinity. any halfway healthy fish can stand hyposalinity if you gradually introduce it. i am not s aying throw the fish into fresh water. but you can drop the salinity to .1 and keep them there for a few months feed your tank and them put them back. or you can go your route. just keep them healthy. but i feel sorry for any new additions cause they won't be as healthy has they could be stressed and on top of that theres ich... its a bad reciept. but your right NOTHING is reef safe that can really kill ich.

[O Fs]

you gotta throw in the variable of the fish as well...

 

my clown hates my cleaner shrimp, everytime my cleaner shrimp tries to clean it, the little runt swims away.

 

best way is to treat it in a QT tank like the majority of people have already stated

 

if QT is not an option, I remember from memory someone saying "Kick-Ich" was reef safe and could be used in the display tank, but you would have to double check !

[PatrickB]

True, but to control infections as they start, a skunk would be better than randomly dropping the salinity of the tank.

 

 

no no they wouldn't and i am not saying u drop the salinity of the main tank. pull the fish and gradually drop the salinity. is the only solution and leave the fish in a wt for 4-8 weeks.

[twkenny]

i agree with you. but you can get rid of it. if you take your stock and treat them for 2 months outside of the main tank with hyposalinity. any halfway healthy fish can stand hyposalinity if you gradually introduce it. i am not s aying throw the fish into fresh water. but you can drop the salinity to .1 and keep them there for a few months feed your tank and them put them back. or you can go your route. just keep them healthy. but i feel sorry for any new additions cause they won't be as healthy has they could be stressed and on top of that theres ich... its a bad reciept. but your right NOTHING is reef safe that can really kill ich.

 

I said I did not agree with FW dips. Hypo is the best cure, but prevention is the ticket! I think you actually need to get the salinity below 1 for an effective hypo treatment. Leave th etank empty for 8-10 weeks while the fish are in QT and you should be good to go.

[PatrickB]

I said I did not agree with FW dips. Hypo is the best cure, but prevention is the ticket! I think you actually need to get the salinity below 1 for an effective hypo treatment. Leave th etank empty for 8-10 weeks while the fish are in QT and you should be good to go.

 

 

aight we completly agree!

[snowlancer2720]

i use this stuff called kick ich, or ick..or something.... its great, completely reef safe and invert friendly. I used it a few months ago and didnt loose one fish, best part is, it only took about 2-3 days to see some results

[oceanhighz]

Just incase you wanted a medication, I have used Kick-Ich made by Ruby Reef on my reefs and it has never caused a problem. I had an ich issue when I brought a tank with me to college and didn't quarantine the fish. I used this product and it didn't have any ill effects. Read the directions properly and if I were you, I'd use the directions for a bad case instead of the first set, they seem to work better either way.

 

Brandon

[snowlancer2720]

^^^^ yea thats the stuff

[Adam]

^^^^ yea thats the stuff

here U go guys: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/sp/index.php

 

good luck using this stuff

[formerly icyuodd/icyoud2]

the only cure for ich is to remove the fish and treat them with hyposalinity. and always qt everything u buy. all the other stuff is a myth. if they think they got rid of ich. stress your ifsh out real bad and you will see it come back. right now they are just heathy enough to fight it off.

 

i was under the impression ick is always present.

[PatrickB]

i use this stuff called kick ich, or ick..or something.... its great, completely reef safe and invert friendly. I used it a few months ago and didnt loose one fish, best part is, it only took about 2-3 days to see some results

 

it doesn't work

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Get yourself the Coralife UV unit, it has cured my tank of the massive ich epidemic that was on the verge of distroying all my fish.

 

I kid you not, it has been the best investment I made for my fish; don't bother using the reef safe meds, they don't work. And if they do, it's a one time deal never to work again.

 

I speak from experience and all the readings that I did. Trust me, UV will bring your tank under control, don't believe people who have not used UV, they read articles and have never ran the gauntlet themselves.

 

UV with time on any tank will bring the ich to a crawl, won't kill all of them, not even close but it will bring down the epidemic where the fish have a fighting chance against them.

 

Please trust me on what I say, I've been reefing for a long time and wouldn't say something like this if I didn't have the proof to back it up.

 

If I can help in any other way, please feel free to post....

 

Mike G

[snowlancer2720]

it doesn't work

 

sorry to hear that

 

i have to completely agree with mike with the coralife uv unit...i got one of those twisty uv units...i havent seen any ich over a year, especially in my tangs

[Fishfreak218]

if i were you.. i would get some kind of Garlic Additive to put in there food.. When i had my baby blue tang he would get ich every once in a while and i wouild just let the frozen mysis soak in some Garlic additive and then feed it to him.. it would always clear up.. hth

[aquaman7]

i was under the impression ick is always present.

 

Once it's introduced into a tank it essentially is, until all possible hosts are removed. Removing all potential hosts from the infected tank will eventually kill off the ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) as the organisms are an obligate parasite and need a host to continue there life cycle. It takes time to completely destroy the marine ich by depriving it of a host, if I recall from my reading, 6 weeks or more (a UV sterilizer is supposed to speed up the process).

 

Hyposalinity will get rid of the ich, however, it's quite difficult or impossible to do in a display tank, although it is more possible in a FO/FOWLR system. Fish well-infected may require FW dips which will promptly destroy the ich (C. irritans cells rupture in such a hypotonic solution). Hyposalinity is the strived for method. As it is less stressful, although treatment time is longer.

 

According to Burgess and Matthews (don't ask me who they are, I read this part from an aquarium book), 82% of fish that had been previously exposed to high levels of theronts were immune to a secondary exposure. So if your fish can make it through the first onslaught, chances are they'll be ok in the future.

Irradication, however, is ideal, as you may be adding more inhabitants to the tank once you think the ich is gone.