Very Tired of dealing with parasites...

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Ya know, I'm not sure what I do or why I don't have problems, but my last ich carrier was a sailfin tang I brought home last month. I did nothing but feed a bit of garlic on nori, and turned the lights out for a day. Within two days, the ich was gone. I had the same thing with my powder blue. Ich gone in a day. Not saying it was garlic, since I only fed once to the sailfin, but I figure a calm tank, good water quality and an environment that provides hiding places causes the fish to relax and use it's own immune system to fight off the ich. Just my experience with this....

Oh I hear this all the time but its just not working for me. I feed very heavily with garlic and all kinds of vitamins. I do water changes once a week now to keep nitrates down to 5 or below. Usually 0 though. There is no aggression in my tank. The fish usually seem fine and happy but right now my dogface is not looking great and thats why Im feeling like I want to give up for now. It had been soooooo long since I saw ich and then last night to find it again was horrible. Temperture does not change more than 1 degree a day, EVER. I have the tank set up better than ever. Big skimmer, ozone, big refugium. Water quality is better than I have ever kept it but still they just keep getting ich.

My burrfish seems to have IP again too. I have heard they have to be dewormed throughout their whole lives sometimes though. I don't know if thats true but this would be the third time she has to be medicated for IP in about 6 months. She is a VERY tough little fish though. So active and nothing seems to bug her.

[Aquattro]

Ya, that's weird. My temp hit 90 over a couple of days, no ich for me. Other than getting the fish home with ich, I've never had it pop up. Maybe something else you haven't considered? Electrical shorts, etc?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Ya, that's weird. My temp hit 90 over a couple of days, no ich for me. Other than getting the fish home with ich, I've never had it pop up. Maybe something else you haven't considered? Electrical shorts, etc?

I have checked that too

I have everything on GFCI, so if there was stray current, it would shut down. Especially everytime I put my hands in the tank.

I just can't figure it out. I think all the "wasted" time QTing is what has really discouraged me. About 4 months for most of the fish. Plus I have been still QTing the last few new additions even though ich is already in the tank. Just didn't want to make it worse. Amazingly the rabbitfish has never had it. The Niger did for a day but otherwise nothing I can see. The coral Beauty none either. Its really just the puffers and I see the damsels flashing a lot too.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

It kind of makes me miss freshwater where I never QT'd and never once had any disease in all the years I had freshwater. Not to mention how much cheaper it is. Feels like Im paying so much money just to keep sick fish.

[Chad]

Maybe find a friend who has some spare moments every day to help you with your QT? Place a few in different peoples care.. then in a month and a half or so bring them back home to your tank. Where by this time the ich should have cycled out.

The QT would need to be hypo, so your QT babysitters need to have the ability to maintain that.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Chad

Maybe find a friend who has some spare moments every day to help you with your QT? Place a few in different peoples care.. then in a month and a half or so bring them back home to your tank. Where by this time the ich should have cycled out.

The QT would need to be hypo, so your QT babysitters need to have the ability to maintain that.

Yeah I had thought of something like this but I don't want to ask people to do this even for pay. Its a lot of responsibility. And if anything happened to them during QT I wouldn't want someone else to feel really guilty.

If I do decide to QT, I will try to QT them myself. I think if I set up my ozone in the QT then I can keep the water quality up. It would be crowded but Im not as concerned about that as I am about water quality.

[robert J]

Just need to set up an UV Sterilizer (more than 30W) with 55 GPH only, ich will be gone in 2 weeks. After that you still need to run for another month or so to make sure ich is gone forever. It worked for me, I never used any medication or quarantine.