ICH UGH I am so bummed...

[Fishgirl]

I have a beautiful blue tang and singapore angel both are COVERED in ICH I treated them with quick ich, turned up the temp, dropped the salinity gradually to .019 was at .024, took carbon out of filter, did a 15% water change tonight, started feeding with garlic. Picked up a garlic clove cut a chunk off one of the cloves and mashed it and soaked some mysis's and dried food in it for about 10-20 mins. They devoured it. I am so worried about the rest of my fish getting this and losing the ones that have it bad now. so far knock on wood they are eating swimming, just covered in the nasty lil ich things. UHG I hate this helpless feeling of not being able to do anything. IS there ANYTHING else I can do to help this clear up so I don't loose anymore fish? I know there is TONS of information and I have read TONS and TONS. Will my UV starilizer make the meds not work? should I unplug it or just leave it. I am picking up some seachem garlic extract tomorrow and some vitamines thanks to someone here :) And I am picking up a cleaner shrimp from someone here as well tomorrow. Anyother advice so I don't loose my babies would be great, as silly as this my sound I'm panicking and can't sleep over this. UGH and ppl say they are just fish???? please

[BlueTang<3]

how big is your tank ?

[banditpowdercoat]

Get some garlic extract from the LFS. Much more powerfull than soaking in a clove I think. And Selcon. My tang has goten ich 2x since I have owned him. Feed them good, Don't do stuff that will stress them, like re aquascape, etc. and can even lessen lighting a bit for a couple days.

[dsaundry]

If they are still eating I wouldn't get too stressed just yet, mine have gone through a few bouts {usually when they get stressed}but have come back no problem. Garlic {liquid} is good and I don't think I would try to adjust water or temp to drastically as that can stress them out as well, If your water parameters are within spec's I would probably just wait and observe. If they are not eating then I would be real concerned, make sure you are giving them some Nori as well. Good luck.:biggrin:

[Frenchie2]

+1 on liquid garlic & Selcon. If you get "Garlic Xtreme" liquid, just mix 2 drops with their food, i.e frozen food. Also, when you do a change of water, add a number of garlic drops in your tank ( I do approx. 14 drops for a 90 gallon). Something I found out that works really good is a pellet food named "biofish Food" by Dr. Bassleer. It has a bit of copper in it which will NOT harm your invertebres or reef. I find to give that on a regular basis to my fish helps tremendously. Get more than one cleaner shrimp. I have 3 in my 90 gallon and they all have separate "cleaning" stations which the fish can go. Good luck!

[BlueWorldAquatic]

The best way to combat Ich is the following points, the more you can do the better.

1 - Raise temperature slowly to about to 80-81c
2 - Lower salinity slowly a few points (1.019-1.020).
3 - suppliment diet with garlic extract mixed with frozen. (garlic guard, selcon)
4 - products like ImmunoVital added to water
5 - Cleaner wrasse, cleaner shrimps don't touch ich
6 - useage of herbal Ich meds like Ich Attack or Rid-Ich work well too

If the Ich isn't too bad (10-20) spots, and if the fish is eating. Garlic is best choice, most will fight it off.

Ken - BWA

[fishoholic]

The best way to combat Ich is the following points, the more you can do the better.

1 - Raise temperature slowly to about to 80-81c
2 - Lower salinity slowly a few points (1.019-1.020).
3 - suppliment diet with garlic extract mixed with frozen. (garlic guard, selcon)
4 - products like ImmunoVital added to water
5 - Cleaner wrasse, cleaner shrimps don't touch ich
6 - useage of herbal Ich meds like Ich Attack or Rid-Ich work well too

If the Ich isn't too bad (10-20) spots, and if the fish is eating. Garlic is best choice, most will fight it off.

Ken - BWA

I agree with everything but the cleaner wrasse. My regal tang gets ich all the time and while my cleaner wrasse doesn't get all the spots off (mostly because the tang wont let him) he does pick off some of the spots. Sometimes when the regal has it my pink tail trigger get a few spots too, and within 2 days my cleaner wrasse picks all the spots of the trigger. I also feed garlic soaked foods which help. Usually the ich (if it's not to bad) goes away on it's own after 4-5 days.

[bvlester]

I agree with everything but the cleaner wrasse. My regal tang gets ich all the time and while my cleaner wrasse doesn't get all the spots off (mostly because the tang wont let him) he does pick off some of the spots. Sometimes when the regal has it my pink tail trigger get a few spots too, and within 2 days my cleaner wrasse picks all the spots of the trigger. I also feed garlic soaked foods which help. Usually the ich (if it's not to bad) goes away on it's own after 4-5 days.

I agree also but raise temp to 82 Deg both cleaner shrimp and wrasse will pick off the parasites but a neon Gobi is the best cleaner out there they eat the parasites very quick. I have also seen peppermint shrimp picking ICK off fish on occasion. herbal remedies are suspect most do nothing some help Kent RX-P seems to help with ICK. I do not use copper for treatment of anything unless it is marine velvet then copper is the only cure. you can also add garlic extreem to the water.

Bill

[globaldesigns]

Hey Jenn,

Hope things go well, others are already giving great info, so I don't need to repeat things. Let me know when you want the garlic and vitamins.

Rick

[hound96]

i'm having kindof a similar problem i got a lionfish some time back that ended up with ich now keeping in mind the other fish i have as you will see in my signature have all been fine for a long time and still are, anyway long story short the lionfish got better and i kept treating just in case now just recently i got my harlequin tusk fish from the same place and after 3 days he is covered in ich and yet the other fish are still fine including the lionfish i would like to quarantine but don't have that option as i only have one other tank and thats a 16 gallon with my little percula clown in it all of my food is soaked in garlic and i treat my tank with reef solution , copper is not an option for me as i have a 6" peacock mantis in my sump/fuge all i can say is HELP PLEASE

[bvlester]

The ICK can be residing in your tank and your fish are healthy enough to fight it off and when introduced a new fish into the tank it gets lambasted for lack of a better word. Or the place you are buying fish from are not very good pet keepers. Some LFS's don't care about their customers tanks and just want to sell fish and believe me they sell them fast these types of stores 2 for 1 sales and all the goodies. You have to QT and feed garlic and selcon for 2 weeks minimum and fresh water dip before going into QT and after the QT helps the fish get ride of any stragglers.

Bill

[hound96]

the store i got them from is pretty good to their customers these are the first fish i have had an ich problem with from them as far as qt or freshwater dip before hand its too late for that so what do i do as a counter measure for my obiously huge mistake so as to not lose this fish i am feeding with garlick soaked food every second day (fresh garlic mixed with saltwater) also every second day i pour some garlic water directly into the tank i was dosing with the reef solution but am now out as well as out of money , also the selcon stuf you are talking about is it a copper based medication?

[trinac]

From what I understand, once a tank has Ich it will never truly go away until you remove all the fish from the tank and leave it for a few weeks so the cysts have nothing to host to and multiply, instead die. The fish who have Ich would have to be quarantined and cured. Freshwater baths, Ich medicine, formalin baths? I can't remember all that is required, you'll have to look into it if you want to erradicate it for good. If not, I imagine whenever the tank is stressed, Ich will pop up on the more susceptible fish. Let me know if you want me to forward on the exact instructions, I have a few books that address this. Or book recommendations.

[hound96]

yeah if you wouldn't mind that would be great

[bvlester]

THe selcon is vitamins and amino acids that are vital for health if fish and use garlic extreem it last longer than garlic guard. but garlic guard has some vitamins in it.

[hound96]

i've been pureing reel garlic and mixing it with saltwater

[naesco]

Some reefers have not had success in controlling ich with garlic. I suspect that the reason is that they are not hitting a serious infestation hard enough.

IME, at the first outbreak of ich, you have to start feeding garlic extract or a product like garlic extreme Watered down garlic juices are not effective.

You should you try foods because dry food will absorb more garlic than wet foods.

You should overfeed the fish with only garlic soaked foods. The idea here is get a much garlic into the fish as fast as possible.

A drop or two here and there or putting it in the water may be a preventative measure but for an infestation you have to approach it hard to save the fish.

[trinac]

I am out of town right now on business so I can't refer to the books that have the directions. But you might want to head to the fish store and pick up either "Marine Aquarium Handbook" or "The Marine Fish Health and Feeding Handbook". The second has lots more info on diseases than the first. The first book is more of a general book, but has a good section on most common diseases.

But here's an article on some treatment options for now.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.php

And Amyloodinium, since its similar:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/sp/feature/index.php

If you are going to quarantine the fish to a hospital tank, I would do a freshwater dip for a minute or so before adding to the tank, that'll get rid of a lot of the parasites on the fish. Let your main tank remain empty for 3 weeks for sure so the remaining parasites in the water have nothing to host to and die. Treat the fish with whatever you choose in the quarantine tank.

And I don't even have to say it, cause we all know it and some us actually do it... quaratine your fish first for a few weeks to a month before adding to the main tank. And freshwater dip is always a good thing too. It basically creates a hyposmotic environment making the parasites burst. Its effective for quite a few diseases.

For freshwater bath, make it same temp and pH as your main tank to reduce stress. Fish may lay sideways during the bath, but if looks really irritated take it out for sure. The only fish I didn't freshwater dip was a dragonet, because they don't have scales I wasn't sure it would be okay or not. Plus they are pretty disease resistant anyways, for some reason. The article above also notes some species which are not as tolerant, and advices against some species like a lionfish.

Anyways, try and get ahold of some books to see what kind of treatment is something you want to go ahead with. I trust books more than the internet. Any jabroni can write something on the internet and sound educated :lol:, I feel like books are more legit. Just passing along the information I have.

Good luck.

[bvlester]

Garlic extreme is the oil of the garlic not garlic juice which has some garlic oil in it. they crush garlic take the juice and dehydrate the water out of it and you are left with the oils or garlic essence. as said before I feed my fish garlic and selcon every 2 to 3 days and if there is a out break I feed once a day. I find newly bought and added fish are more susceptible for parasites due to the stress they have been through. Marine Velvet is the only thing I would treat with a copper medicine.

Bill

[hound96]

thanks for the helpful advice guys i will pick up some carlic extreme on friday as i have no money till then and i guess the next question i have is i can't afford to buy another tank right now so as i have 5 fish to quarantine one being a snowflake eel does anyone have a 50 gallon tank i could use for 3 weeks to quarantine my fish also how would i set it up so as not to go through a mini cycle and kill all my fish and i also have a large peacock mantis living in my sump would this guy keep the ich alive or would it be fine to keep it in there?

[bvlester]

THe mantis is fine ICK need a fish to host it. Inverts and rock will not host the parasite but the eggs can lay dormant for a while. so tank should be devoid of fish for up to 6 weeks. but the next time you get a fish it can come in on that fish. so at this point I would not worry about catching the fish to QT them treat them and feed them where they are as the stress of catching them could be too much for them at this point. They have had the ICK for a while already. just feed them garlic and selcon for the next 2 to 3 weeks every day and then every 2 -3 days there after.

Bill

[hound96]

its only been 3 days for the harlequin tusk and the lion had it 3 weeks ago but right now just the tusk is showing any ich