All confused about ICK

[silvercvic]

I've done a search on ICK and I've read too many, getting confusing. Damn marine fish, wish they were as hardy as freshwater, I have plenty of medication for ICK for that. Now my question, due to my searches on RC:

Can a cleaner shrimp help with the ICK problem?

Can a cleaner wrasse help with an ICK problem?

I have a mixture of both fish and corals, so I know....NO COPPER, but what is the ultimate 'in-tank' medication to use for an ICK outbreak?? I already have 6 different tanks up, so no more space or equipment for me.

I guess my achilles Tang got the ICK and I believe is spreading to my porcupine puffer...(and I heard they are ICK magnets, but very hard to tell on him, since he got som many color/designs) and possibly my baby seabae clownfish.

I am wondering if ICK affects corals in any way?

And should I do a freshwater dip? I am preparing water now...should it be established freshwater (freshwater tank water) or just clean RO water. My tank temp is kind of high now anyways due to my lighting so will this help things out. I've already caught the tang and have him in a drilled plastic container floating in the corner of my tank.

Please help!! I don't want to keep him in there too long...stressing him longer won't do him any good, and I don't want to let him loose because its too hard to catch him.

What should I do??? I need medicine now

[silvercvic]

Also, I got a ozonizer and a UV, but not hooked up to my tank, will this help cure the ICK. The Aquazone is becoming a hassle to hook up, not sure if the skimmer I have won't deterioate. Anyone use an ozonizer with a seaclone? WOuld it be hard to hook up?
Or should I go the UV route?

[silvercvic]

One more thing...
I do have a bottle of Quick Cure by Aquarium Products for ICK, it says it can be used on marine fish, but nothing on inverts or corals, anyone got experience with this medication??

[anthem]

I think there is little confusion over marine ich. It sounds more like you're unwilling to accept the reality that their is no reliable invert safe method to cure crypto. Copper and hyposalinity are the only reliable methods and neither can be done with any sort of inverts inside.

Cleaner shrimp/gobies/wrasse are minimally effective at helping and even less effective at curing crypto.

Ozone and UV also help but you have to match the water flow to the UV power. The UV bulb should also be new, and the quartz sleeve clean. Don't get your hopes up as UV isn't likely to help much. Ozone is similar to UV, it takes a pass through to be effective and not everything is going to pass through it. And you'd be crazy to inject ozone through a seaclone. . . Ozone is /much/ safer in LARGE skimmers that have big reaction chambers to off-gas much of it before it then runs through activated carbon.

[tapper of spines]

I agree with anthem. Medications are not the way to go. The best way to treat the fish is to take it out of the tank and treat it with either hyposalinity or copper. However, since it's already in the main tank, you probably need to treat all of the fish.

However, if you are unable to set up a hospital tank, then there are some things that you can do while keeping the inhabitants in the main tank. One is to get a cleaner shrimp. These, as anthem mentioned, are minimally helpful, but they're better than nothing. Do not get a cleaner wrasse, as the odds are you won't be able to keep it alive (few people do), and removing them from the reef is very bad for the local reef environment. Another thing you can do is increase your photoperiod, since ich infects during the night. Third, get some medicated flakes. These may help.

I'm trying to quote an article I read in a fish mag from memory. Fish and Reef USA 2002 I believe. In it the author treated his tank for ich, using some of the methods I mentioned above. I've got it at home. I won't be able to directly quote from it until I get home, which won't be for 12 hours.

HTH. Keep us posted.

TOS

[silvercvic]

hmmm, I guess I will have to kick the bucket on either the ozonizer or the skimmer. But so far right now, I made a small area in the corner of the tank to help medicate the fish...the quick cure, which I am using only 3-4 drops driectly on the fish is helping with the problem, though I don't know about the other fish.
The lights I do keep on the most part of the day, and the temp is already up...so hopefully this will all go away.