PLEASE HELP!!! REALLY DISCOURAGED that i cant get help from any1 at LFS

[SALTFISHDUDE]

Hey, two out of my five fish in my 55 gallon have "ich". The two fish are my yellow-eyed tang and my clownfish. I had them in my 10 Gallon QT tank with copper and after two weeks decided to put my clownfish back in my display tank. I KNEW IT! More ich the next morning me so stupid. Anyways, I think i will put Nemo back in the QT with copper but should I just put all my fish (1 Yellow-eyed tang, 1 Percula Clown, and 3 Green Chromis) in the 10 Gallon QT tank for a month to totally wipe out the ich in my main tank???

And, if i decide to do this, is it possible for ALL these fish to go in a 10 Gallon QT??? (Keep in mind my tang is EXTREMELY small and seems to being doing ok in there now)

THANKS FOR ANY HELP!!!

[nysbadmk8]

I never had to use copper to get rid of ich, and i dont like copper either... when i first started reefing ich was a problem, i used kents garlic drops in the food, used uv for a little bit, and it took care of itself. I suggest Hyposalinity in your case, and keep any fish out of the display tank for 6 weeks

[SALTFISHDUDE]

Ok...i will use that suggestion but will my 10 Gallon QT handle all teh fish i mentioned???(Keep in mind my tang is EXTREMELY small and seems to being doing ok in there now)

[Spider_Whistle]

Copper has always worked for me. Cleaner wrasses and garlic also help. You can usually find wrasses for under $15 at a LFS, just make sure that if you get one, you pick one that is cleaning other fish in the tank.

[Schism]

Please don't get a cleaner wrasse. THey DON'T live in captivity long and are very valuable to natural reefs. There are cleaners that live long and clean well, don't get a wrasse.
Shrimps and neon gobies are great.

[Aquarookie]

Cleaner shrimp have worked very well in my tank and they seem to live longer. AND, 3 for $12!

[Schism]

3 for 12??? WHA?
3 at $12 ea maybe, but I'll bet you got something else if they were $4 ea... Maybe you got peppermints (technically a cleaner, just a moderate to poor one)?

[Aquarookie]

Lysmata amboinensis - scarlet "skunk" cleaner shrimp - 3 for $12 at Delta Pet Slidell Louisiana - around October of last year. I guess he had a lot to get rid of.

[Aquarookie]

Hey schism, this is a picture off the web of the same type of shrimp I got, and that is the name that the pet store sold them under. Is that right or did I get screwed?

[wcb123]

I've used a freshwater dip in the past to cure ich. As long as the ich is not in the water colum but just on the fish. I've read that 2 to 10 minutes is ok for the fish in freshwater. I have not dipped fish for longer than 4 minutes and it looks stessful for the fish but it has always worked. Be sure that your freshwater is the same temperature as the tankwater. Two dips spaced over a couple of days should do the trick. I think there are also additives you can purchase to help reduce the stress to fish but I have never tried them.

[Tat2dBrownDude]

Delta Pet was cool, I used to live in Gulfport and drive there for some things. I got a gold stripe maroon clown for 13 dollars from them.

[Aquarookie]

It seems when they get a shipment they sell it @ clearance sale prices!

[Aquarookie]

Hey Saltfishdude, what are the parameters of your tank, what kind of water do you use, and how often do you feed your fish?

[XxDutchxX]

Thats definatley a cleaner. Those are tgood to have to help with ick but alone will not cure it. Garlic works well along side with hyposalinity. I dont use copper unless you can pinpoint your levels.(test kit) Hypo is the safest and most effective for your fish.

[Zookeepr1]

i bought two neon gobie for my 75g reef. had a naso with ick and two days after i got the gobies they were on him cleaning like crazy. i also feed him garlic. but i feed my fish garlic all the time. the gobies are really small so be careful of your other fish, but i won't have another tank without them. aside from being great cleaners they are a riot to watch !

[lowbudgetreefkeeper]

just to let you know for parasites as small as ich (protozoan) cleaners wrasses and shrimp will not help to take care of the disease. As these parasites are microscopic, cleaners to not have the means or capibility to take each off and every one. And just to make clear... if the ich leaves the fish the next day and are starting to celebrate that the fish is healed and i am wrong... keep in mind that what it does to complete its life cycle. It will be back in a day or so... and in greater numbers.

[guitarfish]

Freshwater disp will NOT kill ich. After 18 hrs in freshwater, ich can still be found on infected (dead) fish.

You must treat ALL the fish for ich. The main tank must be fishless for 3-4 weeks for the ich present to die off because it can't find a host (fish) to attach to.

Start here:
ATJ's Marine Ich Reference (http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html)

Ich is a miserable thing.

[Schism]

Aquarookie, thats your he77 of a deal! Trust me though, 99.99999999% of us don't get a deal like that. Odds are he won't see a deal like that.

From my experiences cleaners rank in this order for cleaning, 1. neon goby 2, Skunk Cleaner shrump 3. scarlet cleaner 4. peppermint shrimp 4. cleaner wrasse (dead fish don't clean to well).

THe best way to get rid of it is surely hyposalinity, but I have not found it to be that bad of a thing. My tang previous to my mechanical error had it slightly for about 1.5 years, he ate fine and was very healthy. If they are low stress and good health they live fine with it. I nature fish almost always have some parasite or another. I have never lost a fish to ich, I know many do but one white spec doesn't mean death.

[Aquarookie]

Yeah, Ive been looking around @ some online stores and I did get a deal. - I wish would have bought some more.





:cool:

[Spider_Whistle]

Schism: my cleaner wrasse lived for 2.5yrs in my tank... if I hadn't jumped, I would still have it.
However I will not argue their importance in natural reefs, I know that to be true.