I have ick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

M

Mark_10

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Apr 20, 2006
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I need some advice on curing ick. Ive heard and read about putting copper based products and putting garlic extract. Which one is better?


But I read that I cant put copper based products if I have invertebrates, and i have a starfish and a hermit crab. Will the copper harm my inverts.


PS I bought Quick cure and it say it will cure ick in two day is this safe to put in my tank.( have not used it yet)
 
Defintely do NOT use anything copper based.

There are several methods that can be used safely. Since you have some inverts, I would slowly increase salinity to about 1.029, and raise the temp to 86F. This will prove lethal to the parasite, and while stressful to the animals, not lethal. You'll want to increase surface agitation to increase oxygen, and monitor the fish for serious stress. The other option would be to remove all the fish to a quarantine tank, and treat them there. You'd need to leave them in the quarantine tank for at least 6 weeks--without a fish host, the ick in the main tank would die off, and the fish could then be safely returned.

What all fish are in the setup? How big is your tank? You might want to think about setting up a quarantine tank before purchasing any more fish, if you don't have one now to use for treatment, particularly if you have plans that include tangs.
 
Ick

I have a 55 gallon aquarium and, the fish i have are black percula clownfish, false percula clownfish, two annoying spotback damselfish, choclate chip starfish, one hermit crab, two neon bule goby, and... ( I know your going to get mad about this one) one powder blue tang(small). i know 100 gallons or more but I only took him for one reason to save his life. I do have a quarantine tank a 10 gallon with a 30 gallon fillter( in the process of cycling.). What about garlic?? does that work?
 
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The quarantine tank will be way too small to hold the fish for the term of treatment, so you will have to treat in the main tank. Garlic can work, but it's not reliable to completely remove the parasite, IME. It's better used as a supplement, since it will help an infected fish fight off the parasite and prevent a full blown infection.

The powder blue is mostly likely the source of the infection--and being in the small tank is probably the stress factor that induced the full-blown infection. Sorry, you clearly know that it's not an appropirate fish for your setup. Do you have plans to upgrade?
 
I do plan on a upgrade in the future what i want is a 150 to 180 gallon aquarium, but slow down just a newbie. Most likely will find a new home for the PB and the only reason i took him, because I work for a LFS and everytime we get PBs nobody buys them becuase of how expensive he is, so he just sit there in a 30 gallon aquarium
and in the next week he gets ick we try to stop it next week he's dead. So far this is what I have done in my 55, in the morning i feed my fish with a little bit of smashed garlic. and in the after noon i did a 20% water change. and i dont have a full blown infection the only one that has ick is the PB, and its just a little bit like 3 or 4 white spot. and as of right now he doesnt have anything on him.

Thanks for the response OrionGirl. i really appreciate the help
 
I'd still treat--the problem with ich is that it preferentially attaches to the gills, where it can't be detected, and since the fish HAD external, visible cysts, but no longer does, this means they've dropped off and probably already gone into their free-swimming stage as tomites, and infected the other fish. This is why ich has a reputation for always being in a tank. Of course, it is not, but it can seem that way since it can be introduced unknowingly.

You might want to talk to your manager, and see you can convince the store to no longer order these tangs, and have them as a special order item instead.
 
What about if i take out my inverts and put them in my 10 gallon and treat my 55 with quICK cure for 14 days I read that this would work. I'll talk to my manager about no longer ordering PBs.
 
Quick cure had copper, right? Copper will leach into objects in the tank, and then leach back out--you'll still be risking the invertebrates, even if you wait 6 MONTHS to put them back in. This is why copper shouldn't be used in a reef setup--it's difficult to fully remove it from the tank.
 
i'm going to try the method of increasing the salt and the temp and l'll keep you posted to see what happens. How long do i leave my aquarium like this?

Thank you so much
OrionGirl.
 
I'd run it that way for 2 weeks past the last visible sign of infection on any of the fish. So, if you start treatment today, and a week from now one of the damsels shows signs of infection, you start the 2 weeks from the last sign on that damsel--and keep re-setting each time a fish shows sypmtoms. It can take a long time, but it's better to eradicate it.
 
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