ich!

[stephensturman]

my clown has ich what can i do to try and get rid of it? all options please! thanks

[jasonh]

dude there's a boatload of info right on RC in the fish disease forum. You don't even have to search. It's all stickied.

[CCall]

What else is in the tank? You will need to set up a QT tank. You can use copper to treat her and other fish.
Please list other fish mates because some fish don't do well in copper.
The tank needs to be left empty for 30-35 days.
Copper treatment for 30 days. Need to get a test kit to keep it up but not to high.

[jasonh]

doesn't hyposalinity also work for ich?

[CCall]

I've heard a few people use that. I have personally used the copper and had zero loses from that.

[jasonh]

good to know

[Y-DesygnGuy]

I told you last week man what to do about those fish you bought Im waiting still for things to settle down before I go back and get new fish from there. I am missing my clowns as well, but I want to make sure they live this time.

I'm sorry to hear that though, I wish you the best!

[30reef]

You probably knew this but don't treat your display with copper, it will be lethal to much of the life in your LR.

Have you had any abnormal temp swings lately? Check your heater for proper operation and settings.

[oct2274]

hypo does work for almost all strains of ich. it is also not as hard on your fish as copper - tangs especially shouldn't not be copper treated. Here is the problem. You still can't hypo your display tank cause it will kill all inverts and kill a good portion of your bacterial filtration. It will also kill any coraline you have. Basically it will make a huge mess of your display tank is what i'm saying for the most part. Here is the other part you aren't going to like. since you have ich in your diplay tank, your only option to totally eliminate it in that tank is to take every fish out of it and leave it with no hosts = fish for a minimum of 6 weeks. some strains of ich could possibly live past 6 weeks but it isn't likely. You can very slowly raise the temp to maybe 83 degrees or so during this time to speed up the ich cycle to ensure its demise. sorry to hear about this cause it really is a pita once it gets in your display tank. some people use UV to help keep the ich at a minimum, but once it is in a display tank there is no way to kill it all without either kill all your inverts, live rock, and sand or without leaving it fishless. i truely wish you good luck.

Unfortunately this is hard learning experience for many people that don't quarantine their fish before introducing them to their display tanks. I keep my QT tank cycled at hypo salinity always. QT tanks can be dangerous to because if they aren't cycled your fish have to deal with ammonia. watching the water quality in QT is probably even more important then in the display tank because the fish are already stressed. definitely watch pH and ammonia levels when the fish is in QT. Hyposalinity will help their respiration while in QT which is definite benefit of QT'ing in hypo.

[stephensturman]

im going to try the garlic and selcon treatment! but i have a canary blenny, scooter blenny and pair of black and white clowns!

[CCall]

Some LFS do use copper on tangs. I've used on an achilles and a sailfin tang with advice from an LFS and had great results.
If you use copper make sure that everything is only used for your QT tank.
Good luck!

[nate487]

i know alot of people dont agree with this but when i had ick i treated it with ick attack and extreme garlic it is completely organic reef safe i did this for 1 week and then did a water change now i treat once a week and feed the garlic mixed in with all my foods twice a day. im not saying its 100% EFFECTIVE but it did work great for me and its less stress on them in my opinion.

[oct2274]

the reason you shouldn't use copper with tangs is that it destoys something in their digestive system. You can read about in the disease forums.

here are a couple of links that talk about it as well

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bstyeltgfaqs.htm

http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/s...ead.php?t=2321

[stephensturman]

i dont have tangs!

[a&cbowman]

Stephen, i have had ich twice, the first time i was a noob and didn't know what to do and it wiped out my whole tank. Second time, i fresh water dipped my clowns with a little bit of formalin 3 in the dip. then i placed them in a 10 gallon tank with the salt at 1.018. after a week or so there were no signs of ich whatsoever. This method as also worked for me on two clowns that ad brook. Leaving the tank fallow for six weeks is definitely a must. I have never heard of any natural way that has worked like melafix or anything like that, that has completely killed it. I have learned from these experiences tat you always, and i mean always no matter what, quarantine and dip your fish before adding to the display tank. hope this helps you out. i hope you don't lose your fish.

[scorpiocasper]

We have used Copper with minimal ill effects. Also done the temp at 80 degrees and fresh dip the known infected fish. Not an expert, but there's my 2 cents. Good luck!

[racecaraz]

I tried the garlic route and it didn't really help. Maybe helped strengthen their immune system but definitely not a cure. I did hypo and cured the fish. Unfortunately as oct2274 mentioned my QT was not properly cycled and the 20 gal with a big bio load got toxic. So they went back in the display before a proper fallow period... ...Got lucky I guess.

[sixball]

Copper and hypo are the only 100% effective methods, and both need to be done in quarantine. I have found hypo to be much less stressful than treating with copper. As others mentioned, there are lots of good links in the disease forum.

[Philwd]

The garlic you would be using does not work!!!!!!! The reason that nate saw his go away is the natural life cycle of the ich. It falls off in 3-5 days. Fish may get temporay immunity that helps prevent massive re-infection. But ich can hide in your tank for years and only rear it's ugly head when something stresses out your fish. It will live at a very low level in the gills. You won't notice your fish have any problems.

How do I know this? Read up on what happened to Terry Siegel's fish when he moved(Terry is editor of Advanced Aquarist mag). We have had a few unfortunate examples here in town too. Even more unfortunately one is me.

I had ich about 3 years ago. Got all but 1 fish out. Even drained the tank but he hid somewhere. He never showed any signs of infection. So we treated all the rest of the fish and put back in the display after 6 weeks. Never saw a sign over next 3 years. Newbie mistake. Big newbie mistake.

Fast forward to a month ago. Added the most gorgeous big male rhomboid. One of my other fish takes an intense dislike and literally hunts that poor fish. Creates such a stir EVERY fish in the tank comes down with a massive infestation within 3 days. We're talking 20-30 spots on each fish. Now I know that it didn't come in on the new fish. End result we lost our fav 3 fish(including the rhomboid), our most hated fish and $$$ total out the window. Please get all your fish out. That means all fish into a QT. Use copper or hypo. Both have drawbacks but both work.

What am I doing? Since I can't QT the 8 remaining fish I am going the control route now. Only choice I have left. Added a big UV. Rest of the fish look fine now. But they looked fine for 3 years....

[30reef]

Good info Phil, sorry about your fish. Yours too Stephen. Hope they pull through ok.