Ick?

[coraline79]

I have a pseudochromis purple, and a clown with what appear to be tiny(almost invisible) white spots on the fins and the head of the clown. is this ick and what should I do?

[erebus]

It sounds like it. This is what I did...

I bought garlic oil supplements. They are little gel pills and poke a hole and squeezed it on to some food. I did this every night and it was gone in 3 days

[coraline79]

awesome! can this wait till tomorrow afternoon? this just showed up in the last 4 hours or so.(I stare at my tank entirely too much)

[chapel210]

Garlic oil supplements?? Where can you get them?? Any specific store?

[erebus]

I bought mine at walgreens Finest Natural brand

coraline: You should be fine to wait, but you might want to check all your levels to make sure nothing is stressing the fish.

[coraline79]

I just added the pseudo purple Saturday. I am almost positive he is the culprit. The fish aren't acting funny, and he has it slightly worse than the clown, and I have a diamond goby that hasn't contracted it yet.

[Fish4life]

if it gets worse you can find a product online called sano. its suposedly "reef safe". i used it many times at the pet store with no problems.

this is a perfect example of why, as reefers, we must qt fish before placing them in our reefs.

cheers,

kurt

[ST3PH3N]

I had the same problem with my clowns. I bought some KENTS garlic extreme and i add a few drops to there food. I have never had an outbreak since. I also have a neon goby, so that might also help.

[coraline79]

cool, I will give it ashot this evening and see what transpires.

[RayAllen]

So far (knock on wood) i havnt had to battle ick. Never had it in any of my saltwater tanks. When I buy I pay very close attention to the fish appearance. I have a large Blue Hippo and now a large Sailfin tang and we know how prone tangs are to ick so im really carefull.

[MixedGas]

Check your tank temp, if it is correct, increase the temp 1 degree a day until you hit 85 to 86 degrees. Leave that way for a week as long as you see no ill effects on the livestock. After a week or very noticable recession of ick, start to drop the temp 1 degree a day until back to normal. This temp range will subdue any active ick and keep inactive ick from becoming active.

[copperband]

you can try a cleaner shrimp everyone knows that yellow tangs cant sit still cuz they dont like to well my cleaner has been cleaning my yellow tang and almost all the ick is gone and my shrimp tries to keep the tang from moving its funny

[MissT]

Check your tank temp, if it is correct, increase the temp 1 degree a day until you hit 85 to 86 degrees. Leave that way for a week as long as you see no ill effects on the livestock. After a week or very noticable recession of ick, start to drop the temp 1 degree a day until back to normal. This temp range will subdue any active ick and keep inactive ick from becoming active.

85 is too high for a reef tank. I'd say take it no higher than 83 or else your corals will start freaking out. Garlic works like 90% of the time to get rid of ich, so do that and you should be fine.

[envy]

i agree with misst with the temp to high for a reef. the highest i would set it on a heater is maybe 82 and thats pushing it. you also have to take into consideration that your light will also heat the water a bit. i also disagree with adding a shrimp since any type of crab, shrimp are also known to be carriers of ich(read this in a book at borders). thats why using a CuSO4 (copper sulfatewill kill most inverts(made of the same thing as ick). here is the life cycle of ich
http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/blank/blichcycle.htm

good luck with ich and hope this helps

[envy]

here is another link that might help it talks about marine velvet and coral fish disease
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/ichparasiticdiseases/a/aaich_oodinium.htm

(didn't know algea are carriers as well) learn something new everyday. just to let you know the reef safe ich medications didn't work with me so i wouldn't waist money on it. use a hospital tank if possible with a CuSO4 chem just remember to remove the carbon in your tank if you do this.(carbon can or will neturalize Cu)

[copperband]

i agree with MissT and i would consider adding a cleaner shrimp and if it doesnt clean your fish they are cool looking so its a win win situation

[coraline79]

thanks for all the help! i am soaking the food in garlic, and feeding t times a day. The fish are still active and eating, and only my purple has the dots noticable. You really have to look at the clown to notice the 3 or 4 spots. the diamond goby still doesn't have anything, I am not sure they contract ich easily.

One thing I noticed in the tank that has changed, may or may not be related. On the underside of one of my tonga branches has some sort of white hairy growth on it, possibly deterus. I don't know, but this portion of the branch was formally in the substrate.

[coraline79]

just an update. I picked up Garlic Guard from alamo on the way home from work and in 3 days of single feedings, and there is no physical sign of ick left. Worked great and I will continue to soak the food once a week from here on out just as a precaution. Thanks for all the help again!!

[MissT]

glad it worked out for you!

[erikharrison]

You may want to invest in a UV sterilizer. It's great for preventative!