my fish has ick - help!

[djmc7300]

i have a beautiful purple tile fish that i recently purchased up in houston and brought him down to SA. he was fine yesterday and this morning to my knowledge until i fed him just now. i noticed some ick all over him and a small wound on his left side near his tail. what can i do to help him out. i would purchase those small blue neon fishes but i'm scared my silver batfish will eat them. can someone pls give me some suggestions before my fish gets worse? thankx!! :(

[oceancube]

i would buy some garlic extract and add it to the food, ive noticed when i get ick breakouts i use a little and gone in a couple days, works great! just my experience

[djmc7300]

where can i get that and how would i put it into the food and how much in the food?

[oceancube]

if you like i can hook you up with some if you wanna stop by or i think alamo has some forsale, not sure can't remember wherei purchased it!

[oceancube]

in my 58 gallon i used to add like 3 drops of it every other day, in that nano you have i would say one nice drop.

[ansonluna]

I had Damsels that got it when I switched to the big tank. I gave them strait minced garlic and they ate it up. It worked for me. If your fish is picky though, he may not go for the chunks.

[carlinsa]

yes alamo has some of the garlic..............that stuff works great for feeding and ick

[djmc7300]

he's in my 55g, he's pretty active, eating well and everything. he just LOOKS sick, but acts fine. i heard something about using copper but i would have to set up another aquarium to quarantine him. too much trouble, i think. what about cleaner shrimps??

[oceancube]

well the cleaner shrimp deal to me doesn't work.. at least for me it didn't, like i said i think the garlic extract is a good choice, plus it's supposed to make finiky eaters eat and give them an appetite, just dont over dose the tank and be very careful not to get it on your fingers or your wife/hubby will ignore you for a while!! ;)

[Kylaohhh]

Ask around to see if someone has a quarantine tank and will let you "board" him there for a week or two. My friend has a ten gallon set up for strictly icky fish. That's all you really need. FinAddict also lets people quarantine fish sometimes if they have the room.

[djmc7300]

LOL

[oceancube]

forgot to mention, dont dare add copper to your tank :angry , bad ..very bad stuff..

[djmc7300]

yeah. i spoke to sarah at fin-addict a few minutes ago and she told me to get a seperate tank but i'm going to call back tomorrow and see if they can care for him for me just in case i dunno what i'm doing.

[Kylaohhh]

Copper kills all your corals...so if you do decide to set up a quarantine tank, don't put anything in it except maybe sand and *gasp* fake stuff.

[carlinsa]

what does copper do. only ask cause i never heard of copper for a tank.

[oceancube]

copper will destroy your reef tank, kinda like drinking a whole cup of bleach yourself, like i said bad, very bad!

[djmc7300]

yeah, i know. but i just think it's too much trouble for one fish. but i'm going to ask fin-addict to see if they can "board" him for me to watch him and care for him. i think aquatic warehouse does it too. i have to call around in the morning.

[Kylaohhh]

Copper actually does a fine job of killing ick. It's found at most LFS's and is pretty affordable. One word of caution though...get a bottle that's fresh. It does seem to go bad if left on the shelf for a longer period of time. It's a very good idea to quarantine all fish before introducing them to your tank. My friend is the "queen of spots" so she can tell you how important it is. However, I cannot usually wait to get my babies into my tank. That's why I am so glad she only lives a few blocks away. lol

[djmc7300]

how long should a new/sick fish be quarantined before introduced to the actual tank?

[Reef69]

...garlic does NOT cure ick. It prevents it.

The ONLY things that cure ick..Copper and Hyposalinity. IMO..Try them both together.

[NaCl_H2O]

Ick is also (mostly) cured by a healthy fish fighting off the parasite itself. Lots of debate, but Garlic itself probably doesn't "cure" ick, but the increased feeding improves the fish's health, and thus their ability to fight off the parasite. Ick isn't a "disease" it is a parasite that is always present in the aquarium, unhealthy/stressed fish are more susceptible to the parasite.

Copper & Hyposalinity are also cures to remove the existing parasites, but the fish's health needs to be restored or they will simply be re-infested.

Simply soak some food (flakes, brine, mysis, whatever) in a little water with 2-3 drops of "Kent Garlic Extreme". draine it through a small net (don't rinse it) and feed to the fish. If they are already eating well, this may not help much and you may need to go the other route.

[djmc7300]

how do i use both Copper and Hyposalinity at the same time?? sorry, new at this.

[NaCl_H2O]

how do i use both Copper and Hyposalinity at the same time?? sorry, new at this.
Oh, sorry ... you DON'T !!!!!

One or the other - I would think copper is less traumatic to the fish. IMO I would try Garlic for a day or so, if no improvement, a copper treatment (don't know how long, never used it), and finally the hyposalinity method.

FWIW - I have never used anything but Garlic. How bad is the Ick? Tell us in "Number of white specs", or "Percentage of body covered"? Are they swimming OK, or floundering around?

[Reef69]

...get a QT (Quarentine Tank), add existing water from your tank and add RO water until the salinity in the QT is around 1.018- 1.019..Thats Hyposalinity, bringing salinity down..

Copper, just follow the instructions..

[djmc7300]

the purple tile fish is very active, eating very well. he's body is fully covered with ick, i mean from head to toe. but percentage wise, couldn't tell ya. ummmm....maybe likeone spot every like few millimeters. maybe like 100 spots, i have no idea. he also have a tine like 1-2 millimeter wound on his left side about 1/2 inch near the tail. i dunno where he got that. wasn't there earlier. he acts fine, just LOOKS sick. i'm just worried. he's a beautiful fish.

[NaCl_H2O]

I have never had a Purple Tile Fish (Hoplolatilus purpureus), but read This (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/tilefishes.htm) You may have been sold a beautiful but VERY difficult fish to keep?

Sounds like a serious case of Ick, and no doubt the wound has contributed to the stress that has brought on the Ick. I really have no experience with copper or hyposalinity, so I will let others offer advice in that area.

Do a google search on Hoplolatilus purpureus and read more about your fish.

... Good Luck!

[GaryP]

Copper Sulfate kills the parasite that causes Ich, but it can also kill your fish if you overdose. If you are not up on medicating fish you are better off trying to treat the fish in your tank as was explained earlier. Just give it lots to eat. Some fish have an outbreak of Ich just from the stress of being moved. Its not always lethal. The garlic they are referring to is Kent Garlic Extreme. Most LFS carry it. Just add a few drops to the food and let it soak in for a few minutes. It works well with flake.

[djmc7300]

i'm fixing to feed his again and i also add a bit more RO water to the tank. he seems to be doing fine physically. but still the same visually.

[Dozer]

IMHO I have to agree with GaryP and NaCl on this one. When I first started the hobby I read everything I could possibly get my hands on. There are some very well known/respected authors who are... for lack of a better word more "drastic" in their approach to things like ick. You will find that they will recommend fairly invasive, intense treatment involving removing the fish, medicating, freshwater dipping, hyposalinity and some other things. I would never pretend to know as much as these people, and I think if one has been in this hobby for as long as they have and literally do this stuff for their careers, many of the treatments probably make a ton of sense. In all honesty, I think most of us hobbyists (sorry to generalize, but it's a hunch) don't have the experience and expertise to be able to apply many of these treatments to such delicate animals as we are dealing with here- especially in an already weakened state. I think we might often do much more harm than good even though we would mean well.

This is my long-winded way of saying unless you're one of the "pros", of which this site definitely has some, you're better off going with the least invasive approach you can, which in this case is doing everything you can to reduce stress on the fish and encourage eating. That's why many people like garlic because it seems to encourage fish to want to eat for whatever reason, plus it's harmless and easy to try.

I was reading some old posts the other day about tangs and I found one that might interest you. One of the posters mentioned something about how he had a blue tang that would get ick all the time, so he would freshwater dip the tang, the ick would drop off, but then come right back. He started suspecting the whole catching and dipping the fish routine was maybe making the fish even more stressed, thus making the ick problem even worse. So he decided to leave it alone and it went away on it's own. Here's the link: http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=605&postd ays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=dip+tang&start=15

All JMHO of course. Good luck, hope any of this might help you in some way!

[djmc7300]

thnx for the info guys! i'll try my best to get him better, but will try the garlic thing and maybe cleaner shrimps. i dunno about the quarantine tank and copper, such a hassle. but if u have any more info, pls let me know. thnx!!

[CD]

but will try the garlic thing and maybe cleaner shrimps. i dunno about the quarantine tank and copper, such a hassle.


Personally, I would just forget the copper. Too risky. Try the Kent Garlic Xtreme first to get the fish eating well so he/she can fight the ick. If the fish still shows no improvement after 3 days or so, prep. (set up) a hospital tank (best to use water from the tank it is in to cause as little additional stress as possible) and
S-L-O-W-L-Y lower the salinity in the tank to about 1.020 by taking small amounts (depends on size of the hospital tank) of the saltwater out and replacing with fresh RO/DI water. Slow is the key here, because lowering the salinity too fast will kill the fish. You would do well to also purchase a refractometer so that your salinity adjustments can be monitored. Once you have reached the desired SG, then just top off the tank with RO/DI water as you normally would do in your display tank. Once the fish is looking good and eating well, wait about another week to be sure the ick doesn't return, then raise the salinity (again - very slowly) back up to where it is in your display.

The hyposalinity "cure" really works well for parasites - I have a False Perc that had Brooklynella. Even though I was using formalin treatment along with the hyposalinity, I don't think the formalin was what cured the clown...I feel it was the hyposalinity. It does take a lot of patience to cure a sick fish, but it is sooo worth it. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you...after reading the link Steve provided, these seem to be nervous little fishies. Good luck, and keep us posted. ;)

Wendy

[djmc7300]

thnx for the info wendy! i'll try that out too. i do what to try the garlic thing for about a couple of days or so, then the hyposalinity. but rt now i'm feeding him w/o the garlic and he's eating very well. but i'll try the garlic thing too to help him eat more. i'll drop a few pieces of brine (about 10-15 pieces), he'll eat them very actively, then stop. then i waited like an hour, he did the same thing. weird...i'll check on him again in the morning and look for the garlic extract and try that as well.

[Thunderkat]

Yeah, copper is poisonous to aquatic life. Thats why its not nice to throw pennies into a goldfish pond. If you put copper into your tank it will kill your invertabrates and then get absorbed my the calcium carbonate in your tank and not do you any good.

Don't have any calcium carbonate in your quarantine tank.

[Polkster13]

Actually, copper is only hazardious to invertebrates, not fish! In fact, when I use to raise and show freshwater fish for fish shows, dropping in a couple of pennies was a cheap way to kill off any parasites. Putting pennies in FW tanks is fine. If you have SWFO tank, it is okay to put them in there as well as long as you don't have any invertebrates you are trying to keep alive (like snails).

[CD]

i'll drop a few pieces of brine


You may also want to consider feeding mysis shrimp (I like P.E. brand the best) in lieu of the brine. It is MUCH healthier...higher protein content.

Wendy

[djmc7300]

oh yeah, i use the mysis shrimp...they love it!! but i need to run and get the garlic extract rt now and try it out as well, tho he is eating fine w/o it.

[jaded]

after a temp swing (81° up to 88° down to 78° in roughly 10 hours) my Hippo and Scopas both, very understandably contrated cases of ick... I just fed normally and got the temp under control. They fixed themselves. I have a cleaner shimp, but if he did anything it was when I wasnt watching (which wasnt very often).

I still need to get some of that garlic stuff...

[djmc7300]

I was thinking about purchasing the cleaner shrimps at fin-addict, waiting for them to open. but for now i'm gonna grab the garlic extract rt now and feed him again. gonna try that for a couple of days.

[Richard]

I would suggest you just try feeding the purple tile fish frequently. Meaty nutritious foods such as mysis shrimp and feed frequently. Did I say feed frequently already? Garlic in the food won't hurt and MAY help. Tilefish are actually quite resistant to so called "ick". Most literature says purple tilefish are hard to keep but I have found them to be pretty easy. Give them plenty of room and some buddies to hang out with and you guessed it...feed them frequently. They prefer to hang out with other tilefish but mine has adopted a group of scissortail gobies, they are much cheaper than getting more tilefish.

Lots of misinformation/partially true information concerning "ick" but what would expect about something that doesn't actually exist in saltwater.

Oh, in case I forgot to mention it...Feed that tilefish frequently.

[djmc7300]

funny, i was just up there at CB pets about 130pm or so buying the kent garlic xtreme. lol. yeah, he eats a lot, but it's ok. i've been feeding him more often since he got the ick. actually, when i got back from CB he only got like about 5-10% of ick left to go! i was amazed to see him soooo much better. like a huge weight off my shoulder. but i don't want to keep my hopes up too soon. let's see how well he does til the end of the week. *crossing fingers*

[oceancube]

well i wish you luck as well, sometimes a newly added fish will get ick and get rid of it within a couple weeks with no medication or quar. tank., hopefully the fish will get over it!!!

[gjuarez]

Yeah, do not add copper. You might want to try hyposalinity in a QT tank.

[gjuarez]

BTW, you must lower the salinity gradually to 1.09. That salinity level will kill all live sand and live rock. The beneficial bacterial will not tolerate such low levels. Good luck with your problem. It has happened to us before too.