Ich Attack???

[bocareefguy]

Has anyone used Ich Attack by Kordon? It's a 100% organic treatment. I cannot tell if it is really working? Any suggestions on treating ich in a reef tank?

Appreciate any feedback.

[oyinbo]

Hey! Check out this older thread... Inconclusive but interesting:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...postid=4002176

I am fighting an outbreak right now and using Kordon Ich Attack. It seems to be fine on my reef tank, my infected six line wrasse recovered fast, but my clown is still struggling (it's been a week for the poor guy!). Most distressing is that the poor guy is getting dark in color and his fins are looking a little frayed. :-(

Digging around tonight I found this:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...2004/mini4.htm

Of most interest to me was the section on anti-malarial drugs to fight ich. If you look at the active ingredient on Ich Attack is seems like it could be from the anti-malaria family of drugs. Per the above link, these drugs can cause the symptoms I am seeing on my clown (dark, frayed fins).

At the end of the day, short of a quarantine tank (I don't have one) and leaving your display tank fishless for six weeks, I don't think you can guarantee you've ditched it. However, it also seems that while Ich is scary most fish will fight it off on their own if they are healthy and not stressed. Supplimenting their diet with food soaked with anti-biotics is probably a good idea too since it will help them deal with and secondary infections (which many believe are the true causes of death from ich).

I feel like I am slow torturing my poor clown and he looks like crap. Luckily he is still vigorous and eating, so I think I am about to discontinue my Ich Attack treatment and let him fight it off himself. If the forums are to be believed, I will probably experience future outbreaks if my guys get stressed (and simply weakened and vulnerable), but they will probably survive those too.

Lots of luck!!
~Oyinbo

[forceinjection]

After having a puffer die from using copper I sworn never to use meds again. Also it seemed like the other ich medicines were not working and just making the fish more ill.

I have found that the best way to get rid of ich is to do freshwater dips and then quarantine your fish. If you do not have an extra tank lying around even a bucket will work, and all you need is maybe a heater and a powerhead, filter, or even air stone so that the fish can get air.

What I usually do is a 2-5 minute fresh water dip daily. I make sure the water is at the same temps and I make sure there is an air stone inside so the fish can breath. While the fish is in the fresh water I watch it. If it starts to breath too hard then I will transfer it into the quarantine tank instantly. Freshwater dips will weaken and even kill a lot of ich that are attached to the fish. It does not instantly get rid of it, but it does help a lot.

Along with the freshwater dips I usually do a 100% water change inside of the quarantine tank every 2-3 days. While doing these water changes I usually fill up the tank with freshwater first and let it set for around 10-15 minutes.

I do this water change every 2-3 days because as the ich falls off the fish it settles inside your tank for around 2-10 days before they hatch again and attach to your fish even worse than before. I figure that if I change the water and let it set inside freshwater it will kill most of the ich that is waiting to hatch. It seems like usually I have to do this 3 or 4 times before there are no more ich present.

I usually will stop the freshwater dips once I do not see anymore ich on the fish. However I still do the water changes a week after the ich is gone. Once no more ich is not present I usually keep the fish in the quarantine tank for a while, just to make sure the ich is gone.

The good thing about doing this is that it really works. Also since your fish are quarantine it allows your main tank to basically complete the life cycle of ich. If ich cannot find a fish to attach itself to in a couple of days it will die. Since your fish are quarantine it will give your main tank enough time to basically get rid of ich naturally.

Doing this may sound a little extreme, but honestly it has saved my fish and it did get rid of the ich. I do not trust any meds any longer and this also has seem to be the quickest and safest way to get rid of ich.

I would also suggest that you do some reading on ich so you can learn about the life cycle of it and how ich works. Once you understand the life cycle of ich it will help you when you are fighting ich. Ich can go from nothing to something bad very quickly and it will kill your fish if you do not do something about it instantly.

So far this has worked for me a couple of times. So I know it works.

[Purple Penguins]

what i do to get rid of ich is raise my tank temp 1 degree a day till its up to about 82 degree's (speeds up life cycle of the ich) and leave it like that for 2 weeks, and dose everyday with garlic xtreme everyday either to the food soaked in it for 15 mins or straight to the tank water, I see results in about 2-3 days usually, I dont mess with any kinds of chemicals in my tank if i cant help it

[matt_schultz]

i have a skunk cleaner in my tank. when i got my sixline about 3 months ago he had ich from the LFS but the cleaner shrimp has done amazing i would suggest getting one of them. they are also really fun to feed and are loaded with personality.

[Purple Penguins]

I agree, although some fish dont like the skunk touching them, my clowns wont let mine near them, but my blenny just lays there forever lifting his fins and such to be cleaned

[junkitu]

Originally posted by matt_schultz
i have a skunk cleaner in my tank. when i got my sixline about 3 months ago he had ich from the LFS but the cleaner shrimp has done amazing i would suggest getting one of them. they are also really fun to feed and are loaded with personality.

I totally agree about cleaner shrimp. My flame angel was showing signs of stress when I first added it to my tank but my cleaners were all over him and he was fine after a few days.