AHHHH!!! I have Ich

dabandit · #1 12-15-2008, 03:56 PM

cleaner shrimp I think they are called,I've never tried but I remember hearing they will eat? the i.c.k

chris121277 · #2 12-15-2008, 03:58 PM

I have 1 in there, should i get another one today?

Aquattro · #3 12-15-2008, 03:59 PM

Chris, there are lots of threads existing on ich here, do a quick search and you should find something. Maybe search for garlic as well...

dabandit · #4 12-15-2008, 04:08 PM

Sorry man I dont know anything about the shrimp,I've never had ick. I did have a fish showing a couple spots once and the garlic extract as mentioned above cleared it right up. Heck I'd be curious to know if the shrimp works,let me know how he's doing. I know everyone will disagree with me but I dont believe in quarantine,netting a sick fish and changing the water parameters even slightlly puts alot of stress on a fish that cant deal with it,but thats just an opinion
I feel for you,watching your fish die never gets any easier

dabandit · #5 12-15-2008, 04:10 PM

I have heard though that increasing the number of shrimp in your tank will induce more active behavior and less hiding.

dkcrx · #6 12-15-2008, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabandit

I have heard though that increasing the number of shrimp in your tank will induce more active behavior and less hiding.

true, the more the beter, they will set up a cleaning station that your fish will practicly line up for, "depending on the size of fish".

untamed · #7 12-15-2008, 08:46 PM

I have a number of cleaner shrimp and the fish love to be cleaned. It is a daily evening ritual for most all of the fish.

However...the cleaner shrimp do NOT do a very good job of removing the ich parasites and I would not suggest that this is a cure in any way. In fact, I'm not even sure that it even helps in any way.

I am in a similar situation. My achilles tang has shown signs of ich for nearly years now, but it is getting worse of late and I'm concerned.

chris121277 · #8 12-15-2008, 04:11 PM

when the tan first started showing a few spots the shrimp seemed to be eating them off, but now the tang doesn't seem to visit him as often.

robzilla · #9 12-15-2008, 04:20 PM

i've got a bottle of garlic xtreme if you need. and selcon

Slick Fork · #10 12-15-2008, 04:26 PM

The ONLY ways to completely eliminate ich are hyposalinity or copper. Neither of which are particularly agreeable to anything else in your display tank. Garlic will help stimulate a feeding response and a fish that eats may be able to fight it off temporarily but you will then always have Ich in your display.

The best solution is for you to now remove ALL the fish from the display into a quarantine tank and treat with either hyposalinity or copper.

The other route would be to remove all coral, live rock, sand and invertebrates into a rubbermaid tub and apply the hyposalinity treatment to the display. DO NOT use copper in your display as it will leave traces that linger and cause problems for ages.

Either route you choose, the fish and everything else should be kept seperate for 6-8 weeks to allow the Ich parasites to go through their life cycle. That means no fish at all in with your liverock, sandbed, corals, etc. Once you have completely eliminated Ich from your system QUARANTINE everything properly before it goes into your tank and you won't ever have this problem again!

Good luck