I think my fish may have the Ich :(

chris331

chris331

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Apr 26, 2007
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Orange County, California
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So it looks like my fish may have Ich... I've successfuly cured ich for freshwater, but I am completely lost on how to go about treatment for marine fish...

Here's the cituation:
- Tank: 46 gallon bow. Rena xP3 filter, 1 power head, i heater, no skimmer as my last broke.
- Live stock: 30 lbs of live rock, live sand. 1 yellow tang, 1 percula clown fish, 1 yellow watchman goby, 1 cardinal fish, 1 royal gramma, 2 peppermint shrimp, 5 or so hermit crabs, 2 or so snails.
- I do not have a QT tank or HT (i know, i know!! shame on me...)

My question would be what's the best way to treat? What chemicals/methods work best and are safest? Can I treat the DT with the live rock in there or does it affect the rock?

Thanks so much...
 
Best way in my opinion is hyposalinity with that stock list...except for the inverts and live rock. Copper is possible but you're risking the tang with it. In either case you'll need a hospital tank and you'll want to leave the display fallow for 6-8 weeks minimum.
 
Definitely need a QT to help solve the problem, no doubt. Are all of your fish infected or just a few? Undoubtably your Tang is probably one of the infected ones.

I agree with Grins on the Hyposalinity, that is a good tactic. I personally am a fan of a freshwater dip for about 3 to 4 minutes. It is not too stressfull on the fish and can have good results against the Ich.

The key is to know your fish, if they are still happy and eating well, even if they have visible signs of ich on them, they can pull through it, even the Tang but they will need some help from you.

Here is what I did when this happened to me 2 years ago:
I had an Ich problem in my display tank 3 months after startup, my Hippo and my Yellow Tang both got it, but in both cases they were eating like pigs still so I moderated my response. In that case I used a freshwater dip of 3 minutes, put them in a QT tank with freshly mixed SW of the same temp. and salinity as my display. I treated their food with Garlic to help their immune system, and I left my display with only my snails and hermits, oh and one chromis (because I couldn't catch the bugger), for three weeks. I have a UV Sterilzer on my system so that helped my situation because a UV will help kill parasites and can shorten the time needed to clear your tank.

So, if you do not have access to a UV, then you will need to leave your tank with no fish in it for at least four weeks or longer, as Grins stated. Feed your fish Garlic fortified food if you can, that helps them.

Hope this helps.
 
You dont have to do a freshwater dip, put fish in seperate bowl, qt tank and hypo the fish SLOWLY. If your tank is set up at lets say 1.022-1.025, have the qt tank set at 1.019, leave the fish in it for 2 days, then do a 10% water change and bring density down to 1.015. Leave fish in tank for a week. Why so long, the fish will recover in a matter of hours, but the life cycle of the crypto will live free floating in tank for longer, if you keep the fish out of the main tank for a week or two, it gives the tank time to naturally get rid of the crypto. Im sure if you do some research, or ask others they will be able to better tell you the lifecycle of the (3?) stages of ick.
The use of copper will also work, but why medicate when you dont have too. The hypo is 100% effective, and non-evasive
 
Thanks for the replies... (and for not scolding me for not already having a QT or HT tank!! :) )... i've learned the hard way i guess. i don't have much room for another tank which is why I didn't have a QT previously... so I was wondering what to do now... I have a few fish and I really only have space for maybe a 10 gallon tank... i imagine that would REALLY stress my fish out...

so i purchased the 10 gallon and something called Ick-attack which i had never heard of until today. It CLAIMS it is safe for inverts and live rock, but I deffinately wont chance it... I was thinking to put my hermits, snails, shrimp into the 10g tank. i will then put my live rock into a big rubermaid container, and then treat the fish in the DT with the ich-attack...

does this sound like a good/bad/aweful idea?? any other possibilities?

thanks again...

(and yes, the tang was the first i noticed the ich on)
 
oddsbotkins said:
Why so long, the fish will recover in a matter of hours, but the life cycle of the crypto will live free floating in tank for longer, if you keep the fish out of the main tank for a week or two, it gives the tank time to naturally get rid of the crypto. Im sure if you do some research, or ask others they will be able to better tell you the lifecycle of the (3?) stages of ick.
Click to expand...

I don't feel a week or two is adequate at all. I feel 6-8 weeks is more prudent when going fallow and dealing with the life cycle of the ich parasite.
 
chris331 said:
so i purchased the 10 gallon and something called Ick-attack which i had never heard of until today. It CLAIMS it is safe for inverts and live rock, but I deffinately wont chance it... I was thinking to put my hermits, snails, shrimp into the 10g tank. i will then put my live rock into a big rubermaid container, and then treat the fish in the DT with the ich-attack...

does this sound like a good/bad/aweful idea?? any other possibilities?
thanks again...(and yes, the tang was the first i noticed the ich on)
Click to expand...

Not what I'd have chosen to use but some like the product. When I dealt with it before I removed all the fish to the QT and allowed the display to go fallow for 6" weeks. I used Coppersafe to treat. I chose it over hyposalinity because I did not have a refractometer at the time and I felt I could be safer when monitering copper levels. Today I'd use hyposalinity.
 
why wouldn't you have chosen the ick-attack? i can get rid-ich or copper safe...

and i don't mind setting up the QT but i'm worried about putting a tang and others in such a small tank... would they be ok in the 10g?

oh... one more stupid question i debated asking... what is fallow??? :)
 
RxP (i think it's called) by Kent. i heard good things about it. does say it's reef safe but not really. you can use it as a dip or in tank every other day i think. easily can be removed out of your main system once you are done. read directions, because i think you have to have good protein skimmer working during treatment. hypo does work and has to be gradualy moved down to 1.008-1.009. also hypo has to be done for at least 4 weeks period. i just wanted to clear few things out for you. Ruby Reef Kick-Ich and Sano ick med is clamed to kill ich, oodium, velvet and stuff like that in no more than 3 days. they claim you can't even use it more than that even just in case. suppostably, ich clears in 2 days and med is reef safe. i never tried it, but hopefuly someone has an input on it. good luck
 
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