ich treatment?

[dflint]

Hi I have a clown that has ich, and was wondering if there is a nontoxic (to soft corals) medication that I can treat him with in my display tank?

I have a small 10Gal tank in the basement that I could possibly move him to, but it needs a heater and a light. does a hospital tank need a skimmer?

Thanks!

 

[Phyl]

I treated my brand new (Absolutely Fish purchase went straight into QT) purple tang for ich with hyposalinity.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

I did it in a 15g QT that I put about 20# of base rock into. The base rock took a while to kick in (so I was doing frequent water changes to keep up). The only other thing in there was some PVC and a powerhead (and a heater, of course).

When it was all over (1 week to get to treatment levels; 1 week with spots; 6w with no spots; 1 week to bring the salinity back up; 1 week to ensure he was spot free) I put him in my main. One week later he ended up with ich. I guess my main has always had it. None of my other fish have ever been symptomatic so I've just been dosing with garlic and selcon any time I see spots on him and within a day or two he's clear again. If he gets it bad again I'd also try fresh ground ginger before doing anything drastic like treating the entire livestock with hypo and fallowing the main for 8w.

!

 

[concept3]

Dan, I find that adding a cleaner shrimp SOMETIMES helps on any parasites....

I've done a full freshwater dip on saltwater fish (5 minutes) and they usually lose the parasites....Ich however, may live in any given system all the time, they are like the common cold. Once a fish stresses or its immune system goes down, they get Ich. So, try soaking fish food in Crushed garlic, that may boost up the immune system (garlic supposedly has specific antioxidants that boost their immune system)

 

[concept3]

Yeah, Phyl makes me look bad. I say freshwater dip she says "hyposalinity"

Quarantine tank: Usually some PVC pipe for coverage/refuge and a heater + small powerhead is sufficient. Hang on the back filter with just floss and no need for a skimmer. If you can, set one up now with water from the tank since you're going to "NUKE" the Q-tank with medication anyway.

 

[Phyl]

My tang was actually at 1.09 (not quite FW) for 7 weeks!

 

[dflint]

I have a cleaner shrimp, he's pretty good about cleaning the tang and the others. I moved the two with ich into the sump to get them away from the striped damsel that I think is picking on them (I need to get that guy out of there!), but one of the clowns with ich died today =C

I have a QT tank w PVC and old tank water. Like I said I need a smaller heater and a top to finish it off, maybe a small powerhead or hang on filter.

The last time I tried a freshwater dip, it didn't fair well for the dipee... =/

 

[Phyl]

Sorry to hear about your loss, Dan. Hopefully the other one recovers ok.