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ICH !!!!!!

D

diverrk

How do you deal with Ich in a reef ? I have no quarantine tank setup, looks like my Hippo tang has white dots on him and my Starry Blenny has been biting at himself and scratching.
 
R

Rbu1

In a reef you feed the fish good and pray for the best......If you can't remove the fish there is nothing you can do. Most of the time fish will not die from ich if they are healthy and not under a great deal of stress.
 
D

diverrk

I'm hoping, fingers crossed.

I have a tank I could setup if I really need to, but does that even really help much. If 2 fish have it wouldn't it most likely be in the water, which can cause it to spread to others ?? I've read a couple of articles, but they seem conflicting.
 
R

Rbu1

Yes you would have to remove all fish from the tank and leave the main tank fishless for 8 weeks. That will cause the ich to die off without a host. If your fisha re healthy they should be ok. Just be prepared to get a breakout any time the fish are stressed.
 
T

tbone212371

Yes I used it with corals and inverts...
I did not have one issue except for some minor algae...
Due to no skimmer use..
Great Product....
 
D

diverrk

I'll take your word Tbone, but there seems to be a lot of controversy online about this product, whether it works or really is safe. My tank is loaded to the max with coral, it's scary to think something could go wrong.
 
R

Rbu1

In my opinion all the reef safe stuff is snake oil. Don't waste your money. I think by adding that stuff to your tank you are stressing the fish out more. Just keep your water quality as good as you can and feed a varied diet. As stated earlier if the fish are healthy they will fight it off. Just be careful when aquiring new fish. If you get a new one that is real stressed things will go bad real quick.

My 300 had ich in it. The spots on my hippo tang would come and go everyone was happy. I feed my fish very well mostly food that I would make with all kinds of good stuff in it. I made the mistake of introducing a fish that did not eat at the LFS. Turns out that fish had what we believe to be velvet and it wiped out my entire tank. Fish that I have had for several years were gone in a matter of days. So in my opinion fish can live with ich but if you introduce something worse the chances are greater they will not survive.

There is a sponsor on here called Dr. Jim. I will not buy fish from any other person than him. I really do not want to go thru what I did with losing my entire tank. You should check him out.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
You may want to get some garlic, apparently it helps out with the slime coat on your fish. We had ich in our 20g, quarantined everything and still lost fish. We used some stuff that did not work at all. The only thing that cured our fish was copper which is like using a sledgehammer but can get the job done. You just have to be really really carefull with the levels, and it is extremely non reef safe.
 
D

duijver

Rbu1 said:
In my opinion all the reef safe stuff is snake oil. Don't waste your money. .....

There is a sponsor on here called Dr. Jim. I will not buy fish from any other person than him. I really do not want to go thru what I did with losing my entire tank. You should check him out.
Click to expand...

I have to agree on the snake oil thing based on dozens of articles/posting that I have read.

Now, some/many would argue that ICH cannot be removed from a reef tank without going fish free for 72 days. Different ICH parasites have different life cycles and the longest, common, one can last in a tank for 72 days until it does off without a host.

I should know... I just got finished with running my 72 days. My understanding is that if you introduced ICH to your tank, and you didn't remove it, it's still there just not prospering well. Then one day, when your fish get sick, hurt, etc the parasite takes advantage of the situation and spreads. Then, since there are more ICH parasites in the water column, the healthier fish have a harder time fighting it off and many will get infected as well. This is exactly what happened to me when I introduced a blue tang to my tank that had ICH. I'm not saying that the blue tang had ich, but once it got infected it took out my entire tank.

Good luck with getting rid of it. My suggestion is to talk with Dr. Jim and get some C.P. and QT all of your fish and give them a treatment. Then after 72 days, or 5-6 weeks (if you want to chance it), you can reintroduce the fish.
 
ricwilli

ricwilli

Man, this is some scary stuff. Do you know how the fish got it? If I were you, I would remove the fish. I've seen your tank and you do have alot of corals. I would not take that chance to treat the ich in your DT.
 
M

Mbodell

I had really good results with paragaurd. Also be careful where you buy the paragaurd at. It cost $8 at THR versus $20 in other stores I went to. I dosed 10ml/gallon per day per the instructions. After a week the fish were mostly cured and not showing signs of stress. I lost zero fish (thankfully)
The only mistake I made was that I only waited 4 weeks which wasn't long enough for the display ich to die. So I will be doing another 2 month qt after I move in a few weeks.
 
D

diverrk

Thanks for all the advice guys, it's so hard to decide what to do right now. Not that I don't believe the people that these things worked for, it's just that there are more negative comments to dosing the DT. For now I think I'll use some garlic and keep an eye out.

PS

Are Tangs most susceptible to Ich ? Seems like it .

Thanks again everyone

Rich
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

I would say that in the wild tangs roam so far and so fast that it would take a really beaten down fish (while resting) to be infected.

In our tanks - they have no place to go (and a closed system)- and ich can multiple very quickly - making tangs appear to be more susceptible.

Hippos do seem to get it the worst - though I wonder if it's more because of their deep blue color that makes the white dots stand out more.
 
G

Gonzapa

I had ICH 2 times both times I started feeding the fish food soaked in garlic juice and it dissapeared within a couple of days
 
Z

zubr74

I would stay away from any "reef safe" medicine and go only with QT or natural fight with ich. unless you want to save $50 fish and lose $$$ in corals. I wouldnt take a chance on it.
 
R

Rbu1

I have to agree.....Feed good and keep the water quality up. My thought is Ich doesnt kill people do. Meaning that all the treatments and things we try only stresses the fish more causing more problems.

Good water quality.
varied diet.
 
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