ich

[clemsonfrk11202]

i have had the worst luck with ich. i had it one time about a month ago, one of the fish i bought had it and i didnt see it, and now i have an out bread again, and i was wondering do i have to give them all a fresh water bath (pain in the rear to catch them) or can i raise the temp of the tank up (i heard you could do that) i cant use medicine because i have a coral and small invertibres any help would be very appreciated, i am getting frustrated with this ich what would you do?

[hail_sniper]

hope this article helps http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ichartmar.htm

[Fishfirst]

Freshwater baths are risky... if you have a protein skimmer you can use a med, I forget the name, it is something Rx... jezz... can't remember... but anyway hyposalinity works too, lower the salinity over a period of a few days to 1.017... that'll take care of the ich without killing your inverts... not sure if the corals would be affected or not... but keep it there for 2 weeks... and raise the temp to 82... also, QT is the best way for prevention! It is well worth the money!

[TheOldSalt]

Freshwater dips aren't that risky. I've lost about 20 fish to them, but that's out of about 3,000 fish dipped.
Hyposalinity of 1.017 isn't worth the bother. 1.008 is what actually works, but your inverts wouldn't survive it.
There are some products which claim to be reef-safe for curing ick, but the truth is, if it's reef-safe, it's also ick-safe, and just plain doesn't work.
Don't raise your temp in saltwater; warm water holds less oxygen, and saltwater holds less oxygen, and warm saltwater holds even less oxygen, and fish affected with parasites like ick need all the oxygen they can get.

Sorry, mate, but until you catch out all the fish, treat them for a month in a separate container ( plastic tub from walmart works just as well as a glass aquarium ) and leave the main tank devoid of fish for two months, you are going to have nothing but trouble. I hope you now see the value of quarantine.

Another option would be to hook up a powerful UV sterilizer and add some garlic to the fishfood. The garlic makes the ickies drop off of the fish, and the UV kills them.

[Fishfirst]

alright... but I've licked ich twice with hyposalinity... haven't had problems for a year... Also increasing the temp, speeds up the paracites life cycle... UV sterilizers work fairly good too... And yes, Freshwater dips can be risky, you need the same parameters in the freshwater as you do in the saltwater or the more sensitive fish will die.

[clemsonfrk11202]

ive been doing the fresh water baths... seems to be working but i want to kill the ich thats in the tank too... will hypo salinity kill my corals?

[redpaulhus]

Originally Posted by Fishfirst @ 1/31/2005, 2:10 pm

alright... but I've licked ich twice with hyposalinity... haven't had problems for a year... Also increasing the temp, speeds up the paracites life cycle... UV sterilizers work fairly good too... And yes, Freshwater dips can be risky, you need the same parameters in the freshwater as you do in the saltwater or the more sensitive fish will die.

Often not-quite-low-enough salinity treatments appear to work - there's no more ich on the fish - but thats due to the natural ich life cycle. Ditto 90% of the snake-oil on the market - it all "looks" like it works, since the visible ich on the fish vanishes - but that would happen anyway...

I've got to agree with Oldsalt - remove the fish. Medicate them in a hospital tank with proven ich remedies (not some "reef safe" junk that has never been shown in clinical double-blind studies to actually kill parasites) and let the main tank run fallow for two months.

(Nobody is denying that higher temps speed the life cycle, but in marine aquariums, the danger of low oxygen levels due to elevated temps is much greater than it is in FW.)

Otherwise you will find the ich keeps "coming back" every year or so - because you haven't actually eradiated it...

[clemsonfrk11202]

i dont have a hospital tank,nor the money for one will hyposalinity work for me (will it hurt my coral?) or is freshwater bath the only thing i can do?

[Fishfirst]

wow... crap? I seriously don't know what your talking about Hyposalinity works... I've done it with my own tank, and it has long term effects. I can say I'm a true believer in hyposalinity, and I have used only that to treat parasitic infections. Its ineffectiveness does not come by the method, but by the incompetence of the user of the method. You need to keep the specific gravity at 1.0017 or lower otherwise the paracite has time to recover. Misreadings are often the cause of it not working.
Not sure about what it will do to corals though, they are a little more sensitive, anyone tried hyposalinity with corals?

[clemsonfrk11202]

ok i am tired of the fresh water baths and i dont want to rish hypo salinity with the corals, and i got my paycheck today so i got a hospital tank... probably the best investment ive made so far. ****but... lol always a but, but the ph is at 8.8, i used perfect ph 8.2, but seems to have no effect, i have never had a problem with ph being too high... what can i do to lower it??? by the way theoldsalt thanks for the info on fresh water baths, it seemed to really work nurcing them back to health till i could afford another tank

[Fishfirst]

do a few water changes (10% at a time over a few days)... usually that will help lower it