Ick, Ich! If I don't treat it, what will happen?

malexikeander

malexikeander

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Aug 31, 2005
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My two tanks raised false percs have ick. I got them from the LFS three days ago. They're in a reef tank all alone with no other fish, and while I can put them in a 10g hospital tank, I think this will stress them out even more. Currently, they're acting normally, and eating food with great gusto. What are their chances of surviving if I maintain excellent water quality, feed them a good mix of food, and keep the temp at 78F?

Thanks for any help you can give!
 
First, I would move them to the hospital tank. Are you positive it's ich?

What happens if you don't treat them? Well, it could go away on it's own (unlikely) or it could get worse and your fish could die.

This is a really good link I keep seeing people post:

http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/Ich

I would treat them in the QT tank and let the main tank go fallow for a while.

Just curious- did you quarantine them before adding them to your reef?
 
I didn't quarantine them, but I'll probabily move my freshwater fish to a bucket for a few weeks while the clowns are in the old 10g freshwater.

I'm not positive that it's ich, because there are two types (?), but all I know is that it looks exactly like ich in freshwater. A dusting of white specks that move around, infect the fins and especially dorsal fin first, then move downward.

Does this sound about right?

Thanks!
 
Also, thanks for the link, but the link is NOT about saltwater ich! It's about freshwater ich (Ichthyophthirius). This is an entirely different organism than saltwater ich.

Saltwater ich is Cryptocaryon or Oodinium, and has a different lifecycle.
 
Ok, figured out that the clowns have Cryptocaryon, because they aren't having breathing problems right now, which Ood. would do.
 
I should have paid more attention when you wrote "false percs", I apologize (used to reading the freshwater section). I'm actually more familiar with saltwater ich (previously firsthand).

I'd move them to the hospital tank, bring the temp up to 82-86F (slowly) and drop the salinity down to ~1.008.

Might want to provide some garlic, selcon, and/or zoecon to "boost" their appetite and stimulate their immune system.

If you want to go the medication route, I have a few suggestions with that too that actually worked. :)
 
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