LFS said cleaner shrimps take care of ick?

[pufferpoison]

OK well my infamous LFS said that cleaner shrimp will take care of saltwater ick. Is this true or just another rambling from an idiot?

[Chromed1]

I am in no way an expert but, I would highly doubt that advice.

[Travis L. Stevens]

They occassionally to help pick at the cysts, but not always. Same thing with Cleaner Wrasses and Neon Gobies. But they can't take care of Marine Ich in the transitional phase or when it is in the sandbed and rockwork.

[AquaReeferMan]

They really have nothing to do with killing off the parasite. I will agree with Travis in that they usually pick at the cycts but rarely eat/destroy them. Every now and again I see a spot pop up and I always see the shrimp climbing around the fish. They help remove it from the fish but not the system.

[t-dizzle]

Also, some fish are more amenable to being cleaned than others. Your mileage will definitely vary.

T./

[Blown 346]

I wouldnt use shrimp as a ich treatment, sounds like rambling to me to get you to spend your money.

[budhorse775]

I do think they help reduce the amount

[boxfishpooalot]

I think its more of a phsycological thing to fish getting "cleaned". Makes the fish feel better, so they get better.

[tibbs2]

I've had much better luck with my neon goby than my cleaner shrimp. My fish don't let the shrimp touch them but the fish will swim over to the goby to let him do his thing.

[MiddletonMark]

It will never cure/remove Ich from the tank - meaning you will always have slightly sick fish.

QT, use treatment if necessary ... run an Ich-free tank, not one where you constantly battle it.

[All Delight]

My flame got ich and my cleaner shrimp cleaned him what seemed like every 10 mins. After a few days my flame didn't have ich and has never gotten ich since.

[sarduci]

Well, not to sound negative, but is there any scientific proof that they help? I'm not saying that they don't/can't help, just that, like MiddletonMark said, take care of the issue, not the symptoms. Run a ich free tank is better than adding creatures to keep it under a full scale break out.

[Scuba_Dave]

I've had 2 cleaner shrimp in my tank at all times
My Hippo gets ick every now & then - I never see any on my Sailfin
I see the sailfin by the cleaners on a fairly reg basis
I've never seen the Hippo being cleaned

Never lasts long, it's been months since I noticed any

[Amphiprion]

I agree with MiddletonMark. While cleaner shrimps may help alleviate some of the symptoms, they cannot/will not effect a cure. They, coupled with good quarantine procedures, good water quality, diet, etc. make up a good prophylactic regime as well.

[IPowderBlueTang]

My cleaner shrimp clean up my Keyhole Angel and Powderbrown Tang, when they had an outbreak of ick. But couldn't help the Powderbrown Tang when it got black ick. Certain fish won't let the claener shrimp clean them for ex: Royal Gramma, Clowns,Yellow clown goby and 6 line wrasse. These are the ones I notice that swim away from the cleaner shrimp when it tries to clean them

[Mikehcky43]

If you have ick try using some garlic added to your food helps build immune system and helps those no eaters to eat

[akbuuur]

actaully ive seena savea clown being cleaned by a shrimp

[Sk8r]

I've used both cleaner shrimp and garlic and gotten rid of mild cases. No further breakouts after a month and a half.

[boxfishpooalot]

most of the time ich appears when somthing new from the lfs is added, and it only gets worse depending on how much food I feed and how much the salinity fluctuates.

[mikersx02]

I dont think the LFS was pulling your chain- they DO do what they say it does. Its not a cure-all for ich. But it definately helps reduce the severity and increases the health of the fish. My fish line up to get cleaned every morning and night when my blue lights come on- I dont think I would have a tank without one of the cleaner shrimps. They are fun to watch themselves, and also when they clean all the fish.

Nothing like seeing your yellow tang swimming around with a cleaner shrimp hanging from the fish.