HELP!! ICK PROBLEM..!!

[RICKY81]

i had a powder brown tang and it die after being covered allover with ick :angry:about 2 weeks later (today) i wake up and notice that several of my fish have white spots "ick" and the clown fish is starting to act differrently, what do u guys recommend that i should do. i have been feeding them garlic drops, occassionaly Vit. C. and i currently have peppermint fish about 4 in a 75gal mixed reef, but they don't seem to be doing anything compared to some previous cleaner shrimps that i had but they suddenly all die.

>> should i add carbon to the water??
>> what can cause ick problems??
>> should i use any meds.
>> will a water change help
>> do variations (non consistent) of light schedule affect it??

** any suggestions and recommendations will be appreciated**

[Mr Cob]

I'm no guru but here is what has helped me in the past.

First do not freak out over ick...a lot of marine fish carry it, especially tangs, but you only see signs of it when the fish are stressed.

-check your water parameters and if anything is out of whack then gradually stabilize it.
-feed frequently and keep the fish fat and happy while dosing with garlic extract. If you have tangs make sure you are feeding nutritional dried sea weed, keep them grazing on algae and they will thrive. Try letting the algae grow on the sides of the glass by not cleaning it for a week so they have extra grazing areas.
-do SMALL water changes daily until signs of ick start to vanish.
-keep everything stabile and clean...I would skim a little wet too, to compensate for the over feeding.

Again...these are tips that have helped me in the past and every time I freaked over ich the cost was much more heavy than approaching ick in a more "take it back to the basics" attitude. I do not recommend dosing any chemicals. Carbon (in small amounts) may be a benefit for the next couple of weeks to help with the extra fish waste.

I'm sure more people will chime in as there are many approaches to the subject...I just wanted to make sure you got a quick response on the subject.

Also, to answer one of your questions, "yes" an inconsistent lighting schedule could stress the fish and ultimately cause the fish to get ich. Also, peppermint shrimp from my experience do not clean the fish...Skunk Cleaner shrimp do and neon gobies...and cleaner wrasse.

Finally...next time post your tank specs, parameters, equipment used and history along with your live stock and tank details in order to receive the best help possible.

[Mr Cob]

Ummmmm...

So what's the outcome?

[Ping]

U.V. Sterilizer.

[texmex]

uv helps with ick

[RICKY81]

well i did a 15% water change, cleaned out the filters, added some carbon, and have been focusing on feeding the fish more and the fish continue with ick.... but actually thinking in investing on a u.v. sterilizer, but planning on running it occassionally... i thank everyone who took their time to provide some information... not going to give up that easily hopefully everything turns out good

>> any recommendations for a certain brand U.V. Sterilizer

[lt1z28]

Ricky... I second the UV Sterilizer. I used to run a Coralife TurboTwist on my 55gallon and now run an Aquamedic on my 240 gallon. Both have helped with ich outbreaks in the past and I did not loose a single fish when I was running them.

[Mr Cob]

>> any recommendations for a certain brand U.V. Sterilizer

I have a 9watt 3x turbo twist coralife UV sterilizer and it doesn't seem to do much of anything. It made me feel warm and fuzzy along with "ich proof" in the begining. I have only seen signs of ich twice in the last two years in my reef tank and the first time I didn't have a UV and the second time I did have one.

A UV won't solve all your problems though it may help. Personally I think cleaner shrimp and cleaner fish are more useful along with prestine water quality and limiting any drastic changes to the tank :) (stressed fish = ich'd fish).

Good luck.

[Ping]

A large unit with a low flow. Ozone also helps with ORP, and pathogen reduction.

Mr Cob, 9 watts on a 120 is way to small for a tank your size.

[Mr Cob]

A large unit with a low flow. Ozone also helps with ORP, and pathogen reduction.

Mr Cob, 9 watts on a 120 is way to small for a tank your size.

Ping, thanks for the info, the darn thing said it was rated up to 125 gal. Never can trust coralife's rating recommendations! What do you recommend for my size tank?

[slowdog]

Ick is a completely pain to deal with. When my Royal Gramma came down with Ick back in February, I tried various remedies in the hopes of not having to set up a hospital tank. Kordon's Ick Attack was reef safe, but so reef safe that it had absolutely no effect. Garlic supplements did nothing - there is some controversy about whether the active ingredient actually ever gets to the skin of the fish. FW Dips with Methylene Blue only seemed to weaken the fish. At that point, I removed the fish and put it into the hospital tank with a JBJ UV Sterilizer thinking that would do the trick. The result was also absolutely no effect on the ick. Finally, I went with the old fashioned method and dosed the hospital tank with Cupramine. The ick was finally gone after 1 month. I resisted copper as long as I could, but in the end, it seemed to be the only thing that worked. It seems silly now after spending hundreds on other remedies and UV sterilizers that had little to no effect. As with many things in this hobby, I think there comes a sense of comfort with adding technology that one hopes will solve a problem, but in reality does nothing of the kind. I know I did and have an empty wallet to show for it! :)

[jrodriguez]

one solution is to raise the temperature to 85 degrees SLOWLY and it will get to where the bugs(ICK) will not be able to tolerate the heat so they will die. leave it at 85 for about a week or two and you will see a difference. we have done that. it did go away in about a week so we left it at 85 for another week until it was finally gone. and have been ick free for about a month and a half... hope this helps. corals, anenomes, and livestock will be fine.

[tate1]

We use Kick Ick. It works great. When we first got in the hobby, my yellow tang would get ick every time we did a water change. Kick Ick saved his life 5 different times. He has also become used to the water changes and has not had ick in a long time. I hope this helps.

[Dominican]

I'm sure this has already to be said in this thread, but ich is always in your tank, your fish just become susceptible to it when their immune system is compromised due to stress.

1) Find the root cause - water quality, temperature, incompatible tank mates, electrical charge leakage, whatever.. do some research and identify.

2) In the mean-time, what has worked for me is A) Crush up REAL cloves of garlic into a fine paste (without the husk), and include a little bit with the food each feeding. AND B) Run a good UV sterilizer - wattage appropriate to your tank. The garlic helps up their immune system, and the UV helps kill the larval ich that floats in your tank every time the little white balls pop.

[ou812pezz]

I tried the hyposalinty route which didn't work very well. It was a UV sterilizer that did the trick.

[seatrueblue]

Ick is a completely pain to deal with. When my Royal Gramma came down with Ick back in February, I tried various remedies in the hopes of not having to set up a hospital tank. Kordon's Ick Attack was reef safe, but so reef safe that it had absolutely no effect. Garlic supplements did nothing - there is some controversy about whether the active ingredient actually ever gets to the skin of the fish. FW Dips with Methylene Blue only seemed to weaken the fish. At that point, I removed the fish and put it into the hospital tank with a JBJ UV Sterilizer thinking that would do the trick. The result was also absolutely no effect on the ick. Finally, I went with the old fashioned method and dosed the hospital tank with Cupramine. The ick was finally gone after 1 month. I resisted copper as long as I could, but in the end, it seemed to be the only thing that worked. It seems silly now after spending hundreds on other remedies and UV sterilizers that had little to no effect. As with many things in this hobby, I think there comes a sense of comfort with adding technology that one hopes will solve a problem, but in reality does nothing of the kind. I know I did and have an empty wallet to show for it! :)
Cupramine worked for my fish also..I bought two chysopterus 4 months ago they had ich two weeks after they were added to the quarantine tank. I tried all the other remedies too and none of them worked. The cupramine seemed to work within a few hours. In a couple of days they were completely spot free. I kept them in the quarantine tank for 2 months. Then an extra 2 more months to make sure the display tank didn't have any ich.. that was a long wait but well worth it. It is best to use a good copper tester(salifert or seachem) so you don't over dose the tank you are treating. Also make sure you measure it with ML not in drops. This definately works with no side affects. This can even be used on sensitive dwarf angels.

[SoLiD]

First off, please don't take this like I am picking on anyone; :wink_smile: I just wanted to clear up some misconceptions. :)


...Garlic supplements did nothing - there is some controversy about whether the active ingredient actually ever gets to the skin of the fish....

The main purpose for using garlic is to entice your fish to eat. A fish that is eating has a better chance of survival versus one that is weakening from starvation. The other reasons that people claim to use it for have yet to be definitively proven.


FW Dips...

Fresh water or Hyposalinity (lowered salinity) dips work by causing osmotic shock to the Ich (aka Crypt) protozoan single cellular structure. The sudden pressure change will cause the cell wall to rupture or burst. Thus killing it.


with Methylene Blue only seemed to weaken the fish.

Methylene Blue is intended as an antifungal and antibacterial solution. Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) is a single celled protozoan that is considered an external parasite. Ich is not a fungus or a bacteria.


At that point, I removed the fish and put it into the hospital tank with a JBJ UV Sterilizer thinking that would do the trick. The result was also absolutely no effect on the ick.

Ich has 4 major stages in it's life cycle. The use of UV use will mainly reduce\kill the number of "free swimming" tomites and protomonts. If the flow of water is too fast through the contact\reaction chamber the ich will not be destroyed. Most UV sterilizer manufacturers recommend 3 flow rates for eliminating different things such as bacteria, algae, and parasites. The flow rate for killing parasites is always on the slowest recommendation.


Finally, I went with the old fashioned method and dosed the hospital tank with Cupramine. The ick was finally gone after 1 month. I resisted copper as long as I could, but in the end, it seemed to be the only thing that worked...

Copper is a heavy metal that will kill ciliated protozoan's, which is what marine and freshwater ich are.


one solution is to raise the temperature to 85 degrees SLOWLY and it will get to where the bugs(ICK) will not be able to tolerate the heat so they will die. leave it at 85 for about a week or two and you will see a difference. we have done that. it did go away in about a week so we left it at 85 for another week until it was finally gone. and have been ick free for about a month and a half... hope this helps. corals, anenomes, and livestock will be fine.

80F to 85F is the ideal temperature. By raising the temperature it will Shorten or Speed Up the Life Cycle of the Ich parasite. This decreases the time that the free swimming tomites will have to find a host before they Die. Lowering the temperature will slow down or prolong it's life cycle. The warmer temperature will speed up treatment time. This will also give your UV\Ozone a chance to destroy the free swimming ich in the least amount wait of time.

-David