ich in reef tank

scubareef · #1 10/12/2006, 05:07 PM

what is a good reefsafe medication for ich. Just noticed the white spots on my sailfin tang. It is probably already too late, but I am going to try. If I can catch him I will probably do a formalin freshwater bath. If not, I plan on treating tank. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

HDAlien · #2 10/12/2006, 05:09 PM

I haven't used it, but I've heard Maracyn is good (ingredient list is Erethromycin)

scubareef · #3 10/12/2006, 05:14 PM

have you ever used ruby reef kickich?

coraladdict · #4 10/12/2006, 05:56 PM

I'm presently fighting ich with my hippo tang for about 8 days now for which at the beginning had about 30 spots on him ;my yellow tang even got it too.I've been useing garlic in the food everyday since and up until now there is no ich on the hippo or the tang and both are feeding very well.You can try this as a solution that is imo worth giving it a try.I you do, you have to keep the treatment ongoing for three weeks .
Good luck

Tstaub03 · #5 10/12/2006, 06:09 PM

How about some cleaner shrimp ,they will clean a fish if it is willing to be cleaned .

tatoofr · #6 10/12/2006, 06:32 PM

Maracyn , will do nothing for parisites. Its used for bacterial infections

captainandy · #7 10/12/2006, 06:44 PM

A few years ago I used the Ruby Reef product and the fish improved. Since then, When I see ick, I ignore it, especially on tangs, and it's never a problem.

jag1979 · #8 10/12/2006, 07:01 PM

so what does ich do...you just ignore it and everything is ok after a while?

captainandy · #9 10/12/2006, 07:24 PM

I think that Ick is in every tank and on every fish. Just like there is always staph and strep on our skin. We live in a balance with these microbes unless the applecart is rocked. Then we get lifethreatening infections. Does this mean that we should try to eradicate these organisms - we can't. So if you see Ick, your first reaction is to see if all our parameters are okay and if not, fix them. Only if your fish appears stressed, rapid breathing, frayed/off color fins should you treat. An I would treat in a hospital tank with lowing the spg and raising the temp and vigorous circulation. Remember, that's just my opinion based on my anecdotal fish keeping experience.

BryanJ · #10 10/12/2006, 08:50 PM

cleaner shrimp are a must in any reef tank. Get a pair they will create lots of live food for your tank.

To treat ich I have used minced garlic from the grocery store mixed in with frozen foods. It has worked for years and I have not lost a fish to ich since I started feeding it.

DGL · #11 10/14/2006, 12:18 AM

cleaner shrimp --- UV sterlizer --- make sure your water quality is AAA --- ick is around most of the time it jumps on a fish when it gets weak or stressed, just like us when our imune system gets week or stressed we are more likely to get sick

Freed · #12 10/14/2006, 12:25 AM

OMG, I can't believe I even subscribed to all this nonsense.

DrBegalke · #13 10/14/2006, 02:16 AM

This is just empirical evidence, but I have seen the beginnings of ich (a few spots) on my tangs and then feed them new life spectrum thera-A a few times a day.

Each time (about 4 now?), the ich has gone away within a couple of days.

namdrib2 · #14 10/14/2006, 04:31 AM

I have used Kick Ich. It worked great for me and it did not appear to bother any of my inverts or corals.

scubareef · #15 10/14/2006, 05:13 AM

started the kick ich, will check on buying some new life spectrum thera-A. All fish are still eating well, but just covered with ich

ACBlinky · #16 10/14/2006, 08:16 AM

IMO ich is not like the common cold for humans, though I see people say this all the time. It's not in every tank, nor does it have to be. There are two proven ways to deal with it AFAIK - hyposalinity, and copper.

I didn't quarantine in the past and it came back to haunt me when one of my angels recently developed ich. ALL the fish in the tank were removed and I started hyposalinity treament, they're better already. They'll stay in the QT for six weeks so any ich still living on the rockwork, corals, substrate etc. will die off without a host, at which point I should be able to re-introduce them and never see ich again (providing I QT everything wet for six weeks from this point forward).

Freed - keep talking, I'm listening. Some of us take longer than others to catch on, but eventually we get it.

barjam · #17 10/14/2006, 11:05 AM

Freed, whild I don't generally agree with you 100% (practice vs theory on ich) I think it would be helpful to the community if you have a few links ready for these types of threads.

I think these threads are good because one day there *is* going to be a treatment that works well in the reef tank.

I have ich on my royal gramma (and only that one fish) in my tank. The clowns and tang are immune, apparently. If I feed garlic to the fish the gramma will rid himself of visible signs of ich within two days, three tops. If I do not feed garlic the ich will come back and stay with the fish. I have never noticed the "fall off after three days in the cycle" with the gramma (when not feeding garlic) so I suspect that the ich are all on seperate schedules. I have repeated this cycle a few times to verify (for me anyhow) that garlic has some effect.

For my next experiment I am going to feed garlic for thirty days to see what happens. Thus far the ich has returned within two days of me stopping garlic. I would be interested to see how long it stays away after thirty days.

I suspect that the garlic will not, in fact, cure the ich but we shall see.

Back to the non ich fish in my tank, it is interesting to note that no amount of stress that I have provided the tank has brought about even a single visible spot of ich on any of the other fish. I have completely rearanged the rockwork more than once and each week I introduce new coral. I suspect that even some of the tank that are "completely" ich free may not be.

If I were to sell my immunue fish to someone (just an example) and they put them through 8 weeks of QT would they have introduced ich to their system?

Perhaps the primary benifit of quarantine when it comes to ich is to weed out the fish with weak immunity to crypt in the first place and then provide (treatment) and out right cure at best or at worst a much improved immune system not unlike how we are vaccinated.

coraladdict · #18 10/14/2006, 12:43 PM

From what I read Freed, there is not one absolutely 100% method that works.I did some research on ich and they all have their set backs.Ich have survived very low salinity for weeks while stressing the already weak fish which will probably die from another fish disease.Copper/cupramine treatments weakend the fish, sure you'll get rid of ich but you will weakend the fish which will be prone to all sorts of fish disease also if you don't kill it.
And for qt your fish well because of the above non 100 % methods might not work either.There are a lot of reefers that applied those methods and there fish still came up with ich some cured ich.
I'm not saying that garlic is 100% but it's worth giving it a try .
I think a lot of this ich issues has to do with how healthy a fish is.In my present tank I have a hippo with ich and all the others don't have any spots and they are all eating well, this is probably because there immune system is stronger.The only ich problem I have is with the hippo so I'll keep on feeding garlic for which I have as good a chance of curing ity than the hypo and such methods...
Just my 0.02 cents

Freed · #19 10/14/2006, 02:05 PM

Did I say anything besides: OMG, I can't believe I even subscribed to all this nonsense.?

Mark6509 · #20 10/14/2006, 02:37 PM

I've used Ruby Reef's Kick-Ick with success on a Purple Tang, Exquisite Fairy Wrasse, and Coral Beauty in my display tank.

HTH,

Mark

Mike de Leon · #21 10/14/2006, 06:42 PM

Freed,
If you think they are all making a big mistake why don't you step in and help out? Isn't this what it's all about?
Direct them to the proper threads for enlightenment......
Friendly advice.

Freed · #22 10/14/2006, 07:07 PM

It sounds as if that would be a waste of time to begin with. You can only beat a dead horse so many times until won't listen.

scubareef · #23 10/14/2006, 07:35 PM

Is everybody using garlic extreme additive? I am considering adding a UV sterilizer, would that be a good remedy for the long run?

Mike de Leon · #24 10/14/2006, 07:52 PM

You see Freed, you're already wasting time........just remember where you started. We all went through it.

68551 · #25 10/14/2006, 07:55 PM

Why hasen't anyone reccomended "Stop Parasite"???? I think it is the best treatment because it can be used in a reef tank....Normally the treatment is 5 days but my Purple Tang had it so bad it took 15....That was 2 months ago & there has been absolutely no re-occurances of ich....They also have wonderful customer service...Al the owner is hands down the BEST!!!