Greenex

[Sherri]

Can anybody give me any info on Greenex? I bought my first fish (blue tang) and he has ick. Was told at store that I needed to use Greenex and it was reef safe. My scallop doesn't look too happy. :wtf: Don't trust it...

I've treated twice and decided to put my poly filter back in and get the medication out. Cleaner shrimp do the job instead????

Thanks

Sherri :rotf:

[Sherri]

What about a cleaner shrimp to keep with tangs?

[Tim Marvin]

I tend to stay away from medications and use natural methods. Garlic extract on flake food seems to work pretty well. Also feed a good natural diet of algea. Caulerpa works. All tangs are prone to ick. Blue hippo tangs break out off and on for no apparent reason. Maybe it isn't ick, but I have a hippo that used to break out about once a year, but since I started doing the garlic I have not noticed a single outbreak. I just feed occasionally with garlic, like once a month. Cleaner shrimp are good for maintenance, but poor for outbreaks. Cleaner wrasse do a much better job on outbreaks. Preventive feeding is the best way to combat the problem. Also a UV sterilizer can be useful for this problem although it will kill a lot of good organisms in your water as well.

[Ed]

The garlic idea sounds good. What type of garlic do you use and where do you get it?

[Sherri]

Thanks Tim. The blue tang is eating a lot of algae and I don't see any visible spots on him this AM, but he is still every once and a while scratching up against a rock. He was real stressed when I got him last Wed., but seems to have really calmed down and checking out the tank more. At 1st, he just paced the glass at the end of the tank. Think I may go ahead and get a cleaner shrimp for maintenance anyway since he is gonna be notorious for doing this. I don't see that there is a "breakout" at this point. I reacted immediately once I saw some white spots on him. Gonna try this garlic method out too. Heard the fish love garlic.

Good news: My flame scallop is open and happy this AM too. Was worried that the 2 day application of Greenex may have hurt him.

I've had africian cichlids for the last 12-13 yrs. and I need to get in the habit of taking care of things "naturally". Never really had any major probs with my cichlids over the yrs anyway.

Sherri :rotf:

[Tim Marvin]

You can get th garlic extract at the grocery store or just buy the fresh crushed garlic and use the juice from the jar. You can also get cloves and just crush them yourself with a garlic press. The fish will eat some of the small pieces.

[Ed]

Thanks for the info Tim.

[Isis]

Did you not quarantine him?? If he had ick when you bought him or after you got him, it was more than likely stress induced. But why would you want to contaminte your display? You can also try the hypo-salininty and even fresh water dips. Also, it is good practice to fresh water dip your new fish, for those who can tolerate them, before adding to a new tank if you don't have a quarantine tank. But you don't want to treat the main display. Garlic can be a great tool, but I have heard to be best used as a preventative, and not a treatment since chances are the actual ick organism can live anywhere in a tank, and all it takes it a small amount of stress to your tang or ick prone fish for it to break out and possibly infect the remainder of your charges.

[Triggerman]

sherri,

i've been out of town all weekend but i received your message. if you still need cleaner shrimp i have 3 of them and a pair of blk.& white T/R ocellaris. i wouldn't use any medications on your reef tank. it'll do more harm than good. blue tangs are usually prone to getting ick especially under stressful conditions. try the garlic and as long as it's not a full outbreak he should recover. cleaner shrimp are a good way to help to prevent ick but if you have a full outbreak sometimes they can't get it back under control. i would recommend having some.

ray

[Yves Nobleza]

Kent makes garlic extreme available at any lfs... kinda pricey but good stuff. I had problems with ich in my reef so i bought a rid-volt grounding probe. Pumps, filters, powerheads , ect. can release magnetic and electrical impulses into the water that can stress fish...havent had any problems with ich since.

[Hammer]

A note: The important part of garlic is released when the garlic itself is crushed and releases the chemical. This chemical also looses it's potency with time, and freshly crushed garlic works the best.
That being said, I used Lowry's garlic extract from HEB. A little goes a LONG ways, and works well for cheap.

Biggest thing with tangs is removing the stress rather then the ich. Rock solid parameters. Especially temperature and lighting schedules. If the outbreak isn't bad, I usually do nothing more then soak the frozen food in garlic, and then look for the culprit causing it in the first place.

Of course in your case it would seem that it was initial stress of adding the fish. But I would still keep a very close eye on parameters.

[Sherri]

Thanks for all the great info you guys...I DON'T have an outbreak...He is the 1st fish I've put into my tank along with a green mandrin. I noticed the tang was pretty stressed...His water in the bag was .020 and my tank was .024...so I slowly acclimated him. This was last Wed. He is doing just fine. I don't see any white spots on him, he has calmed down, but still shy. He does every once and a while scratch himself on the rocks.

I did manage to find 1 cleaner shrimp, but wouldn't mind getting another one Ray. You can PM me and let me know. And yes...would love to talk to you about the clowns! :D

Also, I am in the process of breaking down my 30 gal cichlid tank to turn it into a holding tank...And I'm already eyeing my 55 gal cichlid tank. Arrgh!

Sherri :rotf:

[z28pwr]

Sherri, when I first started in this hobby I used Greenex to dose my 180 gallon tank since it said it was Invertebrate safe (I know dumb idea). The next morning all my fish and my invertebrates were dead.

That's my 2 cents on this product.

[Richard]

Sherri,
I'm glad to hear you are setting up a quarantine system, it is a requirement IMO. I would recommend you keep your quarantine tank simple (bare bottom, only plastic decorations such as pvc pipes, plastic plants etc.). This will allow for much easier treatment of new fish should they develop problems. If you need to treat new fish in the future I would recommend Organicure for treatment of parasites. It contains copper and formalin and is effective against crypto, oodinium, and brooklynella. Just disregard the statement on the package about being safe for shrimps and crabs. To my knowledge there are no effective parasite medications on the market that are safe for inverts although many advertise as being "Reef Safe".

Also natural methods such as garlic, cleaner shrimp & gobies, etc. are methods of living with the parasite present in your system not ridding your tank of the parasite. Stressful conditions such as poor water quality, fluctuating temperatures, etc. can result in another outbreak. Due to the life cycles of these parasites it is very common to have another outbreak 2 - 4 weeks after treatment, so keep a close eye on your tang for the next few weeks.

[Sherri]

Wow Jose....guess I lucked out. I did 2 days of doses. My scallop didn't look too good, but now he is fine. Glad I got paranoid and put my poly filter in to filter out the medication. That's what I love about having this group to ask opinions. It really helps "starting out." :-D

Sherri

[Sherri]

Thanks Richard...I'll keep an eye on it. Getting in the aragonite sand from the group order and I'll start up the quarantine tank as soon as I can.

Sherri :rotf:

[MikeP]

Sherri, I have a quarantine tank but have to admit I don't quarantine everything like I shoudl still. I also have a blue tang (assume we are talking about regal or hippo tang? not atlantic blue?) and he broke out in a few spots after a week in the tank. My cleaner hasn't been helping but don't forget about neon gobies. I have 3 in my tank and they are parasite eating machines - they are inexpensive, fun to watch and a vastly underrated cleaner IMO. Note that you can get Aquacultured ones from ORA and some people claim these are not as apt to clean other fish. All 3 of mine are ORA and they clean like champs and the bioload from them is negligible since they are so tiny and don't produce much waste.

[Richard]

Sherri,
I second technoshaman's recommendation. Neon gobies are great in helping to control parasites probably better than the cleaner shrimp. I keep one in my quarantine tank and 2 in my main tank. I've only used the blue's ...don't know if the yellow/gold neons are as effective of a cleaner.

Think I have a few left at the store - $12

Richard
CB Pets