"Cleaner Organisms"

[jrnannery]

I would like to get some opinions on cleaner fish from my fellow MAASTers.

I have purchased a Regal Tang, the "King of Ich fish", as we all know from my previous posts. Shortly thereafter, I learned the value of a Cleaner Shrimp from ya'll. The problem is, the darn shrimp seemed more enamored with my Fluval 2 power filter, and the bounty within (yeah, he was picking stuff out of it), than with my pimpled-up tang.

WEEEELLLL....tonight I came home to catch my tang swimming up to the shrimp, dutifully maintaining his station at the Fluval. The shrimp would turn, address the tang, and then "Dory" would swim off, only to return in a few minutes. Needless to say, I am thrilled.

WEEELLLL...a few days ago, a friend gave me a Mimic Blenny. We call him "Slim!" Yesterday, upon arriving home from a romantic weekend at a Fredericksburg bed and breakfast with my wife (celebrating our first anniversary), I noticed what I thought was ich on his very translucent fins. Today I saw him scratch.

SOOOOO.....I have a mated pair of Perculas that are also, of course, scaleless fish. This means, if all the books and medicine labels are right, that they are also prime candidates for an ich infestation.

I really am looking for assistance with this other than the FW dips, the Hypo-salinity QT tank, etc. I want to add a couple of cleaners, and possibly another cleaner shrimp. What does everyone think.

[eddie]

i used garlic with my food and over time that cured my fish

[jrnannery]

How did you eating garlic cure ich in your tank??? :huh

Just kidding. I think that might have had something to do with them "pulling through" because they were well fed, and in return, able to resist secondary infection from the wounds caused by the parasite.

Opinions on the subject fly fast and furious, but I like to stick to the idea that ich is a parasite, and that it has a life cycle in which it goes through various stages. :o It burrows into the animals skin/gills, consumes what it needs, detaches ( hey, my fish is cured :roll ), creates a cyst in the tank bottom, :angry hatches into many new parasites, :( and is back on the prowl. h34r

Therefore, I would like some advise on how to best deal with it by increasing bioload. Blue or Gold Neon Gobies are an immediate choice, as is another cleaner shrimp, although I need advice on having multiple CSs in a 29 gallon BioCube.

[demodiki]

Some type of cleaner fish, at best, may keep ich at bay and, at worst, probably get it themselves. Sounds like you already have a pretty well-stocked tank. Adding even more of a bioload/stressor will probably not help.

[alton]

If you have large fish a cleaner wrasse, cleaner gobies are nice for others. The problem with cleaner shrimp is they are great when you first add them, but then they learn to eat fish food and get lazy. With Regals, Garlic soaked foods worked for me. Shockingly I had one that would swim into my anenome and clean himself.

[jrnannery]

Thanx for the replies. i assume that this means noone really has a problem with adding a neon goby? Anyone have one they want to get rid of? For less than $20? What about a second cleaner shrimp? Do they generally get along in pairs?

[blueboy]

cleaner shrimp do seem to get along well in pairs, IME.

[jroescher]

I have 4 of the cleaner 'skunk' shrimp in a 120. There doesn't seem to be any problems with them. Sometimes they are all together, or scattered all over the thank. They only thing they attack is my hand if they think I have food.