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Help!! I got Ich from a new fish! What do I do?

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I got a new Powder blue Tang and after a few days he has Ich all over him. Now my Flame Angel has it too... Please, help!!!
 
evstyle said:
I got a new Powder blue Tang and after a few days he has Ich all over him. Now my Flame Angel has it too... Please, help!!!
I've been setup about 8 months and have a bunch of SPS and Lps... Will my cleaner shrimp help at all?
 
The best treatment is to QT all your fish and run hypo in the QT for six weeks while running your DT fallow for that time. There are other methods that people use but this is the one that I feel is most effective that doesn't harm your fish.
 

MadReefer

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Most meds are not invert safe. I doubt the shrimp will get rid of all the ich on your fish. You may need to quarantine the fish and treat separately. There is a product called "No Sick Fish" suppose to be reef and invert safe but is expensive. I have no idea how good it is.
Here is an article with different treatments there is a second link at the bottom of the first read.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

Good luck.
 
Thanks for the replies... And, I know in a perfect world, I would have quarateened the fish before putting him in the tank... But, now lets cut to reality. I dont have a qt tank. Did anybody ever try garlic soaked food? Did it work?
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
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Garlic soaked food, lower your SG a couple of points (1.025 down to 1.020, for example), lower your temperature two to three degrees. These things will all help your fish get stronger to fight it off naturally.
 
Garlic isn't really a medicine more of a immune boost for your fish.
Just do everything Phyl said and cross your fingers,she gave you all the right answers as usual, or go get a QT tank and set it up.

Bare bottom, daily or near daily water changes...since it will be bacteria-less, your choice of treatment as per the article that Mark gave you.
 
We tried the lower temp, and garlic for our helfrichi's just recently, leaving salinity at 1.025. I am sad to say we lost them. So if you leave them in the display, do keep in mind you need to do all three things.

I've been successful with very mild cases of ich by adding garlic to food and lowering temp, letting the fish fight it off naturally, but it if is anything other than a very mild outbreak, be warned, this likely will not suffice.

You can also see if anyone has a QT tank you can borrow, or go pick up a large brute container from home depo and set that up as a QT with a spare skimmer or a HOB.

Good luck.
 
The lower temp might help put more oxygen in the water, but from what I have read it doesn't do anything to the ich itself. I have read that garlic can cause liver damage in marine fish.

I had ich really bad when I started out. I quarantined all of my fish in a 30 long using paragaurd for 6 weeks. I seeded a sponge and used a cheap hang on back filter. I lost one fish that died the first day of the treatment because he was too far gone, all of the other fish I still have. Hyposalinity works well also, but I found the paragaurd to be easier and less stressful. I have never had another outbreak since.

Make sure you wait out the lifespan of the ich. It can take up to 6-8 weeks for all traces of it to die off out of your system.
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
None of those things that I suggested hurt the ich. They all help by boosting the fish's immune system to allow them to fight a better fight. With this approach there's always a chance that you'll lose the fish. These aren't treatments, per se.

I hypod a new fish for 8 weeks that had ich when I bought him and he ended up getting it back when I put him in the display. He was able to fight it off after that and lived a healthy life.
 
Are the fish eating? If so then feed garlic.It can be easier for healthy fish to heal itself of this parasite.

However if someone is offering a tank for a QT then take it and set it up ASAP.
 

MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
You can also get fresh garlic cloves and set them in the tank to saturate the water. I have hung 4 cloves in 55g tank. Some fish will peck at it but the idea is for it leach into the water. Your skimmer may go nuts with this approach.
 
Been doing the Garlic thing... This fish eats like a champ so, its not hard to get him to eat it. I'm in the process of setting up a second tank but it wouldn't matter cause theres no way in hell I'll be able to fish him outta there. I'm not gonna start uprooting almost 200lbs of rock to catch him. If he doesnt make it, so be it. Dude, do fish have taste buds? The rest of my fish who usually eat like fat kids dont really care for the garlic soaked food. Its no big deal but its funny that some fish are anti-garlic. But hey, Thanks everybody for all the advice. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Thanks again,
Evan
 
My fish hate garlic!! Also, even if that fish doesn't make it, the ich will still be in the tank to infect your other fish. So I know it's a pain in the ass but QT'ing all your fish is the only real answer. Get a fish trap...I've used mine on my sailfin, foxface and naso successfully. I
 
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