Another Ich question!!!!

[SA-DSM]

I go to the tank today and my puffer has ich. I though that it was just sand, and while I was looking over him I noticed that my yellow tang has it as well. I also have a lionfish and a blenny. I can not tell if my blenny has it but he is eating off the rocks like usual. As I type my tang is eating seaweed. I have not fed my puffer yet but he is waiting for his food every time I pass by. My lion is hiding as usual, he mainly only comes out at night when I have the moon lights on. I have heard to use garlic, but what is that for? Is it to encourage eating or to help cure the fish? If it is to cure the fish, my puffer only eats live feeders (ghost shrimp and rosy reds). My tank started off as a FOWLR however on some of the live rock that I bought, I have polyps growing all over them, and I would rather not loose them. My tang is about three inches and so is my puffer, and I only have one 10 gallon hospital tank, so they will not fit in there. How do I get rid of ich? What have people done to help ich on its way?

Lion is still in hiding, but he did eat. The puffer ate like a pig as always.

[safeuerwehr]

about three weeks ago i had 13 fish in my tank, all of them very healthy and eating like there was no tomorrow, I introduced a Fiji fox face and within a few days i noticed it had ich, didn't think anything of it so i let pass....about a week later my powder blue tank came down with the white flakes he was gone in three days, and i lost 9 fish in the week that followed....all my fish had ich the only ones that made it was a sail fin tang, the fox face, and a yellow tang...i read about this little devil bug and it has a continuous life cycle, in that it attacks the fish, matures in a few days releases its offspring into the water and then re-infest the fish again...the only way to stop the cycle is by killing the offspring while it is in the water....now from what i read the jury is still out on the garlic treatment, some say it does have some healing qualities to it and others say no, but most agree that it makes a great attractant for food. I used "Ich Attack" which happens to smell alot like garlic and claims to be reef safe, been treating the tank for a week now without any problems and all my corals seem to be happy. In addition i have been mixing "Garlic Xtreme", "Metronidazole", and "Focus" which is an antibacterial polymer or binder, with all food feedings. The three remaining fish are doing 100% better. The problem with ich as i read is that the fish usually don't die from the ich attack, they end up succumbing to the secondary infections brought on by the open wounds caused by the ich worm...Good luck treating your fish, i hope your fish do better thank mine...let us know what route you take and what the out come is...

alfred

[SA-DSM]

I will try that "ich attack" since it seems as a direct answer. What is "Metronidazole", and "Focus"? The problem with adding things to the feedings is that my puffer only eats live food. I have tried to feed him dried krill but he will not eat it. I think he likes it when he has to hunt down his food. There are times that he gets a fish (he chews on it until it is tender and then swallows it) and kills it, but it slips out of his mouth, but if it no longer has enough fight in it to swim he will leave it and go and get a shrimp or another fish swimming around.

Anybody ever dip live food in to a medication and would it work?

[lt1z28]

Several months ago I helped my friend battle ich with his newly set up reef tank. We used kent's garlic extreme, a uv sterilizer, and a cleaner shrimp. All three worked together. Not a single loss. Ich has not come back. :)

[SA-DSM]

I would love to get a cleaner shrimp, however I believe he would just become an expensive feeder.

So I went to a LFS that is near my house and they recommended I get "Quick Cure". It says not to use it in a reef aquarium, however I have a few polyps in my tank. Will this affect my polyps?

[lt1z28]

If it contains formalin it will kill your polyps.

[SA-DSM]

Yeah, I went out and got "ich attack" like I said I was. I am just glad the lady that told me to get the other stuff was not there any more. It says on the bottle safe for reef and live rock. On to medicating.

[Zenofex]

just curious but wouldn't it also have been possible to pull the fish out and do a fresh water dip?

[SA-DSM]

I have heard of that, but do not know exactly what to do. I have been told that temp and pH have to be right but not sure exactly how to do it. Also I have a puffer and bought him bagged, how difficult will it be to pull him out, and will his spines get stuck in the net?

It does look like it is passing, and I say this because the don't have as many white spots as they did yesterday. Now it is mainly on their fins. The lion and blenny do not seem to be affect at all.

[safeuerwehr]

What is "Metronidazole", and "Focus"?


Focus is an antibacterial polymer for internal infections of fish. It may be used alone or mixed with other medications to make them palatable to fish and greatly reduce the loss of medication to the water through diffusion. It binds the medication to the food. Metronidazole is used to treat infections such as abdominal infections, skin and tissue infections. The label says that Metronidazole is an effective and safe treatment for several protozoan and anaerobic bacterial diseases of fish (Cryptocaryon, Hexamita, Ichthyophthirius). Both are made by Sea Chem

[safeuerwehr]

just curious but wouldn't it also have been possible to pull the fish out and do a fresh water dip?

I tried this as well just make sure that the water in your dip is the same as the tank water temp. I almost killed one of my fish doing this, luckily i was stand right there when he started to spaz out....

[safeuerwehr]

Remember that Ich is only susceptible to treatment when it is in its "free swimming stage". So you cant kill them in there tomont cysts stage which is when they are actively feeding on the fish and form the white flakes. For this reason your treatment should be carried over several days usually up to three days after the signs of the white spots. They also recommend increasing your water temperature to >80 deg. because the higher temp accelerates the life cycle of the worms.

[safeuerwehr]

one last side note...the major cuase of ich is stress...so make sure you make the fish as comfortable as possible and that all your tank levels are with in range....

[JeremyGlen]

Put on a movie, get them a good book on tape, classical music.........

[Zenofex]

Remember that Ich is only susceptible to treatment when it is in its "free swimming stage". So you cant kill them in there tomont cysts stage which is when they are actively feeding on the fish and form the white flakes. For this reason your treatment should be carried over several days usually up to three days after the signs of the white spots. They also recommend increasing your water temperature to >80 deg. because the higher temp accelerates the life cycle of the worms.

how can you tell what stage the ick is in? The little white bubbles on the fish? thanks -Amir-

[safeuerwehr]

the white flake is a sign that the worms are closer to the end of the trophont stage when its fixing to release itself from its host.....once released they float to the substrate and attach themselves where they form a capsule around themselves and then mutilply which eventually hatch and swim in search of a new host or to reinfect the same host. The free swim stage is the only time that you can kill these worms. and it usually takes about three days to a week for them to hatch from the capsule depending on temp.

[Richard]

This two part article will give you a complete understanding of disease and all of the treatment options available. Everyone has their preference on how to deal with ich. My two preferences are either copper in a treatment tank or relying on natural immunity depending on the situation.

PART 1 (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php)

PART 2 (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.php)

[SA-DSM]

By any chance can you see them when they attach themselves and form the capsule? Just wondering.

[safeuerwehr]

I read somewhere that when they release from their host you can see them and appear stringy...i never saw any on my fish....

[MKCindy]

I just ran across some info on ich and sixliners that might help.

http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/e_sixline.php

[SA-DSM]

I was really looking into to getting a wrasse a couple of weeks ago also. Has any one else had any experience with this. If so then he will probably be a good addition to the tank.

The tang really never stopped swimming around the tank like he always did, but the puffer had stopped. He would eat but he did not swim around as he always did. Now he is back up and swimming around. He does still have it on his fins but not on his body. As I have read, I guess this is the most trying times, when I have to go and get rid of this bug.