Ich Treatment

[Sherita]

I'm fighting ich in my predator/aggressive fish again. This time I got in touch with Bob Fenner and learned a thing or two. First off, hyposalinity, in his opinion, is a waste of time. I tend to agree with him, since these fish just came out of hypo three weeks ago, and they have ich again. They were removed from hypo and placed in a "clean" tank that had sat fallow for two months. I believe that hypo supresses the ich, but does not kill it. So, I'm treating with cupramine this time. I have a designated tank for this, since copper is deadly to inverts, crustaceans, and your filter bed. It will also permanently contaminate any tank it is used in. The tank has been permanently marked so that I will never confuse myself and use it for something that might be sensitive to the copper residue that will surely remain in the tank. The tank I'm using is a beat up, scratched up not suitable for public viewing seaclear 75g acrylic. Treatment starts tonite, I'll update this thread as I go along. Fish in treatment are: longhorn cowfish, copperband butterfly, flame angel, scopas tang, harlequin tusk, lunar wrasse, dwarf lionfish. The moray eel from the aggressive tank will not be treated, as they are fairly resistant to ich and extremely sensitive to copper. They will remain in copper treatment for 14 days, then I will remove the copper using carbon and cuprisorb.

I'm really tired of this fight, hypo hasn't worked, and I am not a fan of the "feed them and let them fight it" method. And I want an ich free tank when I set up the new 140. And, despite the commonly held belief, ich is not in all tanks, you can get rid of it.

**NEVER USE COPPER TREATMENT IN YOUR DISPLAY, EVER** You must have a dedicated quarantine tank!

[EpicWin]

I fought ich for a very long time. I then discovered metronitozole. Now there will be people who are going to say that it dosent work, however I know it does. I'm a disease ecologist and my father is a vet. We both agree that with ich being a protozoan metronitozole will kill it. I've been adding a small amount in my fish food for a little over a year now and have never gotten ich again. When I first started using it I brought an entire tank if infected fish back from the brink. You will need metronitozole, focus, and garlic concentrate all mixed into frozen food. Running uv also really helps.

[Sherita]

I used metronidazole two years ago in an infected tank. Unfortunately, my experience didn't mirror yours. I lost most of my fish. Those that survived were treated with copper, they tank was allowed to lay fallow. And that particular tank has had no more issues. I'm going to do the same with the tank I am having issues with now. I'm glad that folks are having luck with metronidazole, but it doesn't seem to work for everyone. When I used it, my corals also reacted negatively, so I won't be doing that again.

You say you feed it routinely, which would be another issue for me. I am dead set against adding any medication constantly to a tank. Removal to qt and treatment with copper, along with letting the tank stay fallow, will get the ich gone.

[Dominican]

IME, there's usually some source of irritation that needs to be identified and removed. One example from my past was low grade electrical leakage from a pump wire in my sump (that was a serious pain to ID). Outside that, water changes (obviously), GARLIC, and as big a UV sterilizer as you can find. I run a 12watt. You've already mentioned UV, garlic and water changes, so maybe there's some fighting going on (have you noticed any)? Find the source of the stress, since a healthy unstressed fish will fight off ich, unless there's just too much of it floating around in the water.

I'm not an expert, just speaking from my early battles with this pestilence. Today when I see it, I don't go into DEFCON-1 anymore like I used to. Lol. Used to be when I first saw ich, you'd see me walking around with a tin foil hat and waving around a crucifix to ward off the impending armageddon.

[350gt]

GL sherita...

[Sherita]

GL sherita...

Thanks :) It's all good. I've just tired of dealing with a low grade infestation, and it's time for it to go. There are so many things out there that folks believe will help, but in reality and truth, the only way to get rid of it is qt and copper treatment, and leaving the display fallow for at least two months.

There is no fighting in this tank, everyone gets along quite well. Garlic does very little to nothing for ich, and uv sterilizers only remove a very small portion of the parasite from the water column. Ich is opportunistic, and will continue to be a problem until it is eliminated. Stress does not "cause" ich, it can make it worse however. Hyposalinity seems to suppress the ich, but does not eliminate it. Cleaner wrasses and cleaner shrimp do nothing for ich.

Ich does require a host, and in a fallow, fishless system it will die out. If the parasite is eliminated from the host (fish) using copper in a qt tank and is returned to the dt after fallow time, the ich will not return. It can't, without a host, it dies. Ich has so many urban myths and legends surrounding it, everything from "all tanks have ich" to "you can treat it with cleaner wrasses/garlic/midnight riruals". Copper/cupramine is a very effective treatment for the removal of the parasite from the host, and the dt can be treated by leaving it lay fallow for two months. Where most people wind up with it again after treatment (this includes me, LOL), is letting their guard down and introducing it via new fish or other livestock.

I brought this problem on myself due to inattention, that's where the original infestation came from. And now it is going to be banished once and for all. Bob Fenner had some great insight on ich, treatment and prevention. I should have just listened the first time.

[350gt]

I don't have much experience with ich, The one outbreak I did have when starting up took a few fish but spared a couple.... Idk if it was the garlic supplement I was using but something removed it from the tank.. Cause I have yet to have another issue since ::: knock on wood::

Maybe it wasn't ich that I had, who knows..... But I know the pain of losing or seeing your fish sick..

[kkiel02]

Good luck. Been there done that. Sad to say it didn't work for me. Maybe you will more lucky than me.

[allan]

I've never lost a fish to ich. Occasionally I see some signs, particularly after stressing the fish which compromises their ability to fend off the parasite.

I've never done anything about it. If the fish is eating, given time, they tend to recover. Never had to resort to garlic to stimulate eating, but I can't dismiss the healthy aspect that garlic gives to the fish. Because of that I introduce it to their food stuff.

[Sherita]

Allan, I was about to lose my longhorn cowfish. Hence the war was declared. Plus, my dwarf lionfish was acting depressed and not himself. This is not acceptable. If it were just a sign here or there, I might tolerate it. My view is this, since I am moving them into the new 140g, now is a really good time to cast out the evil.

Plus, that cowfish is my bud, can't have him feeling bad. He's the coolest thing with fins around here. Follows me up and down the tank, nibbles on my fingers, and will leave little hickies on my arms if I am not careful. He's a hoot.

[kkiel02]

If you are set on this I would recommend doing copper for at least 3 months. I did two months and that was not long enough.

[allan]

Yeah, the cow fish is awesome. Broke my heart when mine started rolling across the sandbed. I might get another one... Of course they hate cleaner wrasses.