Help Damn Ick

[ivandrago]

Hey guys i am tired of this ick, unless its not ick, just got a Copperband Butterflyfish from Max Reef and out in my tank after having it with no fish for 8 weeks waited long, and it was such a pain that i couldn't put anything in my tank. All i had was 2 shrimp a bleni and 2 fire fish. Now the Copperband Butterflyfish is starting to show signs of ick or i don't know what it is, getting those white spots on the fins. Helpppp!

 

[scott021467]

I had a problem with it recently. I cannot take all my fish out to treat with copper because I have no qt. Therefore I did some research on you tube. Found a guy treating with Ick attack, garlic extreme and Marine C. Well Ick Attack was not doing anything and really did not like leaving my protein skimmer and carbon off that long.
I stopped the Ick Attack but kept treating with the other 2 items and purchased 2 skunk cleaner shrimp. Cleaners went right after the 2 fish with spots and garlic and C kept them eating and slime coat up to help fight it.
A week later all fish are clear and happy. Now I know that Ich is still in my system but at least my guys have a fighting chance. I am still using garlic and Marine C in there food and there is no ill affect to my corals or seabae anemone.
Just food for thought but do research and read the threads. An educated decision is the best one. Good luck.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Reefs

 

[b-ridge]

there is a excellent thread going on at reefcentral on using ginger powder to cure icy. seems to work pretty well and quick. by no means am I a expert or trying to tell you what to do. just trying to share something I came upon to a fellow reefer hoping to have/get positive results. good luck

 

[duke62]

Ick comes and goes. Keep the fish healthy and feed the tank and if your fish are strong it will go away. My Achilles i bought a month ago was covered in ick and today is the first day i didnt notice spots on him. My other 2 tangs fought it off after 3 days and are fine and the achilles is fine. Healthy fish that are eating and active will eventually fight it. Dont stress the fish out by chasing them around and just over feed them. Provide alot of black worms for the copperband and lots of algae sheets for tangs covered in garlic

 

[ivandrago]

Great thanks.

Do you happen to have the thread for reefcentral

 

[b-ridge]

sorry I dont have the thread but if you log on go to forums, then go to reef discussion. it was started by a guy named tang named junkyard. it starts off ginger works with ich

 

[marrone]

Healthy fish that are eating and active will eventually fight it.

This is so far from the truth it's not funny. Health fish, that are eating and active, can and do die from Ich.

 

[marrone]

there is a excellent thread going on at reefcentral on using ginger powder to cure icy. seems to work pretty well and quick. by no means am I a expert or trying to tell you what to do. just trying to share something I came upon to a fellow reefer hoping to have/get positive results. good luck

Whether it's Ginger, Garlic or whatever none of these thing kill Ich, and if the Ich does go away it's most likely from something else and not from one of these things that was used. The whole premiss of using them is that when the fish eat the Ginger it comes out on the skin of the fish, and because of this the Ich doesn't want to attached to the fish. The problem with that is the Ich usually attacks the gills, mouth and eyes. In the end none of these things actually kill the Ich.

 

[mbg75]

It's part of the life cycle for ich to drop off the fish in 3-7 days, has nothing to do with garlic or chemicals being added.

Like Marrone said, its still in the gills, mouth, etc.

 

[duke62]

This is so far from the truth it's not funny. Health fish, that are eating and active, can and do die from Ich.

Well in my time with dealing with some ich the fish that were skiddish and not eating all died from ich. All my fish that were ravished by it but were still eating and fat and healthy all pulled through. Just like what Im going through now. All my established fish (except the tangs) never had a spot on them. All the tangs are healthy fought it off in days and the newly aquired Achilles hasnt fought it off but was eating and seemingly healthy. A month later still has some signs of ich but has got nice and fat and is doing 100 times better. And still no signs of ich on any of my other fish. I have no worries and know in due time he will be just fine. Ich is not as scarey as many make it out to be

 

[marrone]

Well, if fish don't eat they usually die, even ones without Ich, so that goes without saying that a fish that is eating has a better chance of making it against Ich, but even health fish, that are eating, can and do die from Ich. Now a healthy fish, which is eating, may have a better chance against Ich but plenty of healthy fish do die from Ich all the time.

If it was that easy to beat Ich, by making sure your fish is eating well, good water condition, using Garlic, Ginger and whatever other spices you can find, then Ich wouldn't be a problem, but that's not the case.

 

[mbg75]

Well in my time with dealing with some ich the fish that were skiddish and not eating all died from ich. All my fish that were ravished by it but were still eating and fat and healthy all pulled through. Just like what Im going through now. All my established fish (except the tangs) never had a spot on them. All the tangs are healthy fought it off in days and the newly aquired Achilles hasnt fought it off but was eating and seemingly healthy. A month later still has some signs of ich but has got nice and fat and is doing 100 times better. And still no signs of ich on any of my other fish. I have no worries and know in due time he will be just fine. Ich is not as scarey as many make it out to be

Tangs in the Acanthuridae family seem to be the most susceptible to ich.

 

[piranhapat]

I think a lot of people believe that their fish has ick when they see white spot. A lot of times its stress that causes outbreaks. Problem is when you don't see ick which already spread to fish gills is when most deadly. If a fish has ick it will not go away unless treated with some kind of medications. If copper used properly it will kill ick. Fish fight off parasites everyday and like us a stronger immune less likely to get sick. But fish with ick means treatment or death. You can believe in whatever.

 

[duke62]

There is a picture on here of one of my real old tank builds where i used a QT tank. It was a 20 gallon with a HOB filter,heater,pvc pipe and all the glass was darkened. More fish died treating ich in that QT then all my fish deaths combined and thats counting jumpers. I used copper based meds to treat them and I dont think any fish ever survived and i used a copper test kit and did daily water changes to it. Since not using a QT I have never lost a fish to ick. This is my experience so you can take it as you want. I deal with the fish as mentioned. Less stress on the fish,i have fish that clean the ick which they may not eat them but I believe it soothes the fish and makes it more relaxed like its natural enviroment. I will never use a QT tank for fish again. It all starts at the pet store. Look for a healthy fish that is swimming and eating,shows no sign of a parasite or any type of infection. Ask the store to hold the fish for a few days then if it still looks fine grab it. Been doing it this way since 2009 and havent lost any to a parasite. Now corals on the other hand I believe needs a QT.

 

[mbg75]

The daily water changes probably didn't help with qt. I found that once the qt was up and running, leave it alone for the time the fish are in it. The key is to start it with a seeded sponge so there is no cycle.


I'm curious how the Achilles will do over time. Keep us posted.

 

[duke62]

Right now the Achilles is looking 100 times better then the first 3 weeks. This past week his color has returned and very little ick shown on his body. Very active and eats EVERYTHING now. The first 3 weeks he only ate algae sheets. Loves swimming into the mp40 and water surfing

 

[marrone]

Why did the fish die in you QT? Was it because the tank wasn't setup probably or you let the levels go over to the point that the conditions were bad and the fish died from poor water quality. If you setup the tank correctly, and treat using copper, at the correct level and for the correct time period, there isn't any reason that you couldn't get rid of the Ich and have the fish live. No reason at all. As for using things that clean the fish, well most, if not all, of these things don't eat Ich or if they do, they cant' get into areas where the Ich is. Also, a lot of fish don't like being cleaned, especially since most of these cleaners don't use remove parasites but scales and body slime. This actually makes it worst for some fish.

As for not QT all fish, well that's very bad advise. Also, just because a fish is eating or behaving good at a LFS doesn't mean it's doesn't have some sort of disease, which just may not be showing at the moment or even after a few days, and lets not forget that in those few days more fish are added to the tank or their system, which can very easily lead a fish to be infected. So, basically you may have brought a fish that was fine a couple of days ago but now is infected, and you're going to put it right into your system.

 

[piranhapat]

Most LFS have copper in their system. Fish only tanks. If your going to use copper I advise getting copper test kit. I never had trouble using copper. Most people over dose and that's why people didn't have success. Copper not used right will kill fish.

 

[duke62]

If I knew why the fish died I would have said. My guess was stress. I used a copper test kit as said in that post and I was very carful as to what I did to the QT on a daily basis. It was setup properly as I also stated. I do it the way I do it and it works for me. When a fish gets infected I leave it alone to not stress the fish even more. We can keep going back and forth on this but this is the method I use and this is the method that has kept my new fish alive. As stated haven't lost a fish to ich in Many years and can guarantee my Achilles will be fine in a few weeks like all my other fish that developed ich in my tank.

 

[marrone]

My guess why the fish died was poor water conditions in the tank, not to mention doing daily water changes, which only made the conditions worst. Face it, if you setup the QT correctly, and the levels were good, then there should be no reason that the fish die, unless the fish wasn't in good shape to begin with.

The part about stressing a fish out is really funny, I hear that a lot. The fish is in your tank being attacked by Ich (parasites) you take the fish out and treat it and rid it of Ich (parasites), not to mention it consistently being attacked by the Ich (parasite) again and again in your MT. The fish is actually probably less stressed out by being treated then by being left in the tank where the Ich (parasite) is consistently attacking it and has no where to run or hide.

By the way, no answer from you on buying fish from the LFS, and not QT, even though they could have been infected in the 2 or 3 extra days you left the fish there before you brought it, especially at a place that is consistently adding new fish.