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Ich
- Thread starter lefkonj
- Start date
Ive heard good things about kick ich but it only attacks the theronts (swimming stages of ich). Because of this is can tend to get expensive as you will have to treat for atleast a month to make sure nothing makes it the free swimming stage. If some of them do then the cycle will just start over again.
The absolute best way is copper but that doesnt work for everyone (most people) unless you have a big quarantine.
You can also go along the route of hyposalinity if you can keep the levels steady.
The absolute best way is copper but that doesnt work for everyone (most people) unless you have a big quarantine.
You can also go along the route of hyposalinity if you can keep the levels steady.
Isolate the fish in a hospital tank that you slowly drop the salinity (hyposalinity)…..do a search on how to do this and how long. You don’t want to do this in you DT (unless it truly is a FO), because hyposalinity will also kill all pods, crabs, snails, inverts, etc. Let the tank sit for the four plus weeks while you treat the fish in 1.009 SG hospital tank.
unlike freshwater - (where you can possibly save fish after inception of disease) - my experience with trying to save fish from disease is dismal. Granted this was like back in the 80s when I thought UGF, bleached corals and cannister filters rocked. So presuming you will be purchasing more fish in the future - do yourself the favor and start thinking about what the QT set up is going to be. It does not have to be fancy - for small fish a 10g with a powerfilter and a spongefilter would work. A qt would theoretically catch ich first in that tank before spreading into your DT. Then the loss is mitigated/limited to whatever was in the QT.
Secondly - can you take a pic of the infected fish? you are sure it's ich? I've seen people's fish get coated with some sand grains and they think it's ich. On the flip side the disease is far worse and not ich.
If it is ich - there is a lot of literature out there - some if it internet baloney and some of it valid. Understanding the life cycle of ich, the fact that you SEE them on the fish means that there were eggs, they hatched, and then attached to the fish - and have grown to the point where now you can see them. Some may have already dropped off the fish as eggs to start the cycle again. To break the cycle the only sure-fire way is to remove the fish and leave your display tank fishless. The inverts can stay. So I agree with redfishbluefish.
With the fish in the separate hospital tank, it's very important you do not mix your nets etc. Like if you leave the display fishless, do not take the net you are using to catch the hospital fish, and then use it to fish out a dead invert from the display. In the hospital - how you "cure" the ich is going to be up to serious debate.
That would be the route I would take - remove fish. My other choice (not mentioned in this thread) is to ignore it. Yes ignore it. feed the fish heavily and hope that their own immune systems can come back and fight the ich off.
Of course I have no idea what you have in this tank - if it's a 10g with 100 tangs, feeding heavily will not help. My point is that something has caused the immune system to drop in the fish - that can be a change in diet, a switch in your water change regime, or simply rushing and adding too many fish (unquarantined). Or water from a tank that had ich.
mind you - it's probably best to hear from folks who have battled ich before. I've never battled it and won. Knock on wood my current tank has never had ich.
Secondly - can you take a pic of the infected fish? you are sure it's ich? I've seen people's fish get coated with some sand grains and they think it's ich. On the flip side the disease is far worse and not ich.
If it is ich - there is a lot of literature out there - some if it internet baloney and some of it valid. Understanding the life cycle of ich, the fact that you SEE them on the fish means that there were eggs, they hatched, and then attached to the fish - and have grown to the point where now you can see them. Some may have already dropped off the fish as eggs to start the cycle again. To break the cycle the only sure-fire way is to remove the fish and leave your display tank fishless. The inverts can stay. So I agree with redfishbluefish.
With the fish in the separate hospital tank, it's very important you do not mix your nets etc. Like if you leave the display fishless, do not take the net you are using to catch the hospital fish, and then use it to fish out a dead invert from the display. In the hospital - how you "cure" the ich is going to be up to serious debate.
That would be the route I would take - remove fish. My other choice (not mentioned in this thread) is to ignore it. Yes ignore it. feed the fish heavily and hope that their own immune systems can come back and fight the ich off.
Of course I have no idea what you have in this tank - if it's a 10g with 100 tangs, feeding heavily will not help. My point is that something has caused the immune system to drop in the fish - that can be a change in diet, a switch in your water change regime, or simply rushing and adding too many fish (unquarantined). Or water from a tank that had ich.
mind you - it's probably best to hear from folks who have battled ich before. I've never battled it and won. Knock on wood my current tank has never had ich.
I had some luck using Ich-Attack. It is invert safe but i have lost some corals while using it for 5 plus days. This could be because the skimmer was off during this time, instructions state this plus no carbon, or not enough water changes. The other thing is my corals may not have been in the best of health either.
I also had luck with garlic, as Hawkeye said getting the fish to eat nutritiously would be a big plus and I feel that garlic helps in this way.
Good luck.
I also had luck with garlic, as Hawkeye said getting the fish to eat nutritiously would be a big plus and I feel that garlic helps in this way.
Good luck.
+1 to Hawkeyes suggestions.
There are some of us who have ich in our water (my 57g tank is an example of this). I get ich outbreaks about half the time when I add a new fish. Typically, the new fish will have "spots" within 4-7 days of introduction. If the fish has a few spots on it, on fins primarily, I leave it alone. If it progresses, and the fish is getting worse, or still has spots a week later, I drive Mike nuts and rip the tank apart and qt as many of the fish as i can catch and treat (the ones who can tolerate copper) with copper.
There are some fish I never treat with copper (mandarins, angels, jawfish).
I have used both kick ich and copper, I have had much better luck with a qt with copper for fish that can tolerate it. My survival rate with kick ich is dismal, 1 in 4. My survival rate with copper (for fish that can tolerate it) is better, about 3 out of 4. In the instance where a fish has shown signs of ich and I have gone with the feed heavily method, if ich is not gone within 7days of starting to feed heavily, I tend to lose the fish, and my other fish tend to show signs of the parasite enough that I do typically pull the fish.
I have also had good luck with hypo and freshwater baths for fish like angels and clowns. Unfortunately, I have no experience with tangs, but i know Hawk does and Paul (redfish bluefish) does.
There are some of us who have ich in our water (my 57g tank is an example of this). I get ich outbreaks about half the time when I add a new fish. Typically, the new fish will have "spots" within 4-7 days of introduction. If the fish has a few spots on it, on fins primarily, I leave it alone. If it progresses, and the fish is getting worse, or still has spots a week later, I drive Mike nuts and rip the tank apart and qt as many of the fish as i can catch and treat (the ones who can tolerate copper) with copper.
There are some fish I never treat with copper (mandarins, angels, jawfish).
I have used both kick ich and copper, I have had much better luck with a qt with copper for fish that can tolerate it. My survival rate with kick ich is dismal, 1 in 4. My survival rate with copper (for fish that can tolerate it) is better, about 3 out of 4. In the instance where a fish has shown signs of ich and I have gone with the feed heavily method, if ich is not gone within 7days of starting to feed heavily, I tend to lose the fish, and my other fish tend to show signs of the parasite enough that I do typically pull the fish.
I have also had good luck with hypo and freshwater baths for fish like angels and clowns. Unfortunately, I have no experience with tangs, but i know Hawk does and Paul (redfish bluefish) does.
I forgot to add - I've used Garlic, 1-2 drops with feeding. And above Ich outbreak happened after I ran out of garlic solution.
So to me - prevention is in stable temperature, and garlic.
Blenny is gone and one of my 3 clownfish isn't looking so hot. Damn it this really slapped me around. If this looks like this tomorrow a hospital tank is going online. I just have never done that so will have to figure that out. OTherwise the tank will be empty of fish and stay that way for a few weeks. Frustrated and somewhat dis-enchanted but things will look brighter in a few days when i am not loosing a fish every few days.
They fish that died, did they eat ?
I've noticed that ich affected fish did not eat. I usually mix the food and it comes into water in small pieces.
So I thought, may be their eyesight was bad.
Then I tried giving them bigger flakes (easy to see), and that ate it.
Not sure if that helped or something else, but you can try.
I've noticed that ich affected fish did not eat. I usually mix the food and it comes into water in small pieces.
So I thought, may be their eyesight was bad.
Then I tried giving them bigger flakes (easy to see), and that ate it.
Not sure if that helped or something else, but you can try.