The chronicles of ICK

[jap1]

What a great thread. My clowns had a bad outbreak of ick last January. They were in QT since then and sadly, last week, I lost my male. Although they seem to have been completely cured of the ick for a long time now, the female always seemed to beat up on him. I think she may have killed him. Is this possible? He seemed to finally be healthy. Well the female is still doing well and looks very healthy. I'm going to put her back in the main tank this weekend and I am praying that she doesn't get ick again. I HATE ICK!!! BTW, I used hyposalinity along with lots of feeding of garlic soaked mysis along with Focus and Metronidazole. Seemed to have worked, but I will only know for sure when she's back in the main tank.

[jason]

Ok...so what the heck is a ecoaqualizer??

Jason - don't worry about being bashed for stating something that worked for you. Lots O ways to skin a cat.

This is what I like about MAAST!

When I saw the 180 day money back gaurantee, I had to try it. I don't know if it's been benificial but I have no complaints about it. 1 Year NO ICK

[GaryP]

As fat as that purple looks in the pic I'd say he is definitely feeding well. That's definitely a plus IMO. If you can get them to feed they will often pull through. Its when they seem to get lazy and lethargic and are not feeding that they seem to go fast.

If there is a plus to this situation, as Richard said, your other fish are get getting the equivalent of a vaccination against Ich. That's how vaccinations work, you expose the organism to a disease, or something like it, and they develop an immune response to the disease. The next time they see the disease, they recognize it faster and their immune system responds more quickly and the disease organisms are killed before it develops into a full blown outbreak. Its when their immune systems are compromised due to stress or malnutrition that the disease takes its toll. Richard's comments about temp. swings are an example of this. Just another type of stress. I have been dealing with that earlier this week and have been nervously watching for the first signs of Ich. That is also why I have never been a big fan of cutting back on feeding as a way to control nutrients. If you only look at it from a cost standpoint, phosphate remover or a refugium is a lot cheaper then replacing dead fish.

[don-n-sa]

Update.

It has been about a month and a half and guess what?

The Purple is still doing great, just about all cleared up. HE/she has been eating so good that I stopped adding garlic to the food about two weeks ago.

Here is a pic taken today.

[don-n-sa]

So here is a before and after pic, and remember that I never removed this purple tang for treatment.

Before



After

[JeremyGlen]

Glad to see the fish is doing great. It seems this post died or something.

I have been very lucky in my time as an aquarist to have only fought the ick twice, or one long battle if you look at it like this thread has stated. I had an outbreak in my 10g tank that just wouldn't go away. I hadn't added any fish, rock, corals, anything in over 3 months and along came the first hot day of spring. The temp outside went up like 25 or 30 degrees and that one tank got ick. I don't know how or why it happened, but it did.

I lost a fish or two to secondary infections. I fed the garlic to all my tanks just in case.

Every time I even see a suspect spot, I break out the garlic extreme and feed away. I have a feeling that the garlic in the food seeps out of the fish's skin/scales with the water that is constantly balancing the salt in their bodies. The parasites don't like the garlic and don't burrow. Its like all you older folks who had to take sulphur tablets before going and seeing the grandparents on the farm. Garlic acts as a deterant to the wouldbe predators lurking in the water.

[shanker]

I guess I have been lucky and have never had ICK in my tank, I have a 58g w/ a large Leaflip Grouper and a HUGE stars and stripes puffer, I have had the grouper for 4 years and the puffer for 2. I was told by Greg Bridgman (s/p?) at Bidgemans Aqua Life in Waco that garlic only stimulates a fishes hunger, is there any truth to this?

-Patrick