Location
Great Neck
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
hi everyone, help would greatly be appreciated. I am fighting ich in my tank right now! Almost all my fish are infected. i have some stuff that works against ich. i also feed them brine shrimp soaked in garlic juice. anything else i should be doing? i have had ich for about one month, fish get better and then it comes back. Ahhhh this is the worst part of the hobby.
3 years in the hobby- 75 gallon FOWLR w/ anemones.
hippo tang
yellow tang
dwarf angels
maroon clown
cleaner shrimp
blennies and gobies

protein skimmer, power filters, UV sterilizer, VHO & T5

Help would greatly be appreciated!!!
 

Dre

JUNIOR MEMBER
Location
NY/NJ
Rating - 100%
243   0   0
Feed the fishes several times a day if possible or keep them well fed .What's the specs.on the UV and how old is the bulb?You may turn the flow down through the UV so the free floating ick have a longer exposure time in the UV note this will help not cure.
 

Dre

JUNIOR MEMBER
Location
NY/NJ
Rating - 100%
243   0   0
High pressure filters like the Ocean Clear and the Diatom work for me without the powder, hope i spelt it right.
 
Location
Great Neck
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
thanks, but its a new bulb. and i just cant seem to kill it, some of my fish also have a bit of internal bleeding. nothing bad just some red. its like my fish are living fine but with spots and scratching the rocks. makes me feel like crap.
 

jrobbins

Advanced Reefer
Location
New York
Rating - 100%
95   0   0
i have some stuff that works against ich.

other than copper, what do you have that works against ich? if you really want to get rid of it there is really only one method that will work. pull the fish from the tank into a hospital tank, run copper, and leave the main tank fallow (fishless) for at least 2 months...

as another member said, if you keep the water clean and the fish well fed, most of them will be able to live with the ich, but other than medicating you will never really get rid of it.
 

nsiegel5

Junior Member
Location
Great Neck
Rating - 100%
3   0   0
There is only one thing that works against ich and that is Copper. What you are describing as disappearing and coming back is the common cycle of ich. The affects of the UV light are debatable and from what I know it has never cured a tank. If you have corals take the fish out, quarantine and treat in hospital tank with copper. Hopefully it is not too late and they will build up an immunity enough to keep healthy once they return to the tank. The ich will not die in the tank for a long time even without a fish host (dont remember how long you can look it up).
IMHO if you dont remove the fish and treat with copper you can kiss the majority of those that look bad good bye, hopefully its not already too late.
 

stedfast82

Experienced Reefer
Location
chicago
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Im just asking here if the fish have ick and to fix the problem would it be easier to move the sps and softees to another tank and do copper in the big tank with the fish in it moveing coral is easier then getting the fish out and when the ick is gone just do water change's till copper read's zero just asking
 

Dre

JUNIOR MEMBER
Location
NY/NJ
Rating - 100%
243   0   0
Im just asking here if the fish have ick and to fix the problem would it be easier to move the sps and softees to another tank and do copper in the big tank with the fish in it moveing coral is easier then getting the fish out and when the ick is gone just do water change's till copper read's zero just asking
Copper will get obsorbed in the live rock and you would have to use a whole lot more to treat the DT.
 
Location
Great Neck
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
i cannot move to fish. i dont have room for a QT. i use Ecological Laboratories Microbe-Lift Reef Herbtana work very good against ich. 100% reef safe. not my first time. at first all fish were really bad but after a little herbtana my tank was a good 60% healthier and all fish we spot free. but they still had ich. i order more, because i ran out.
 

pecan2phat

Professional Commuter
Location
Wallingford, CT
Rating - 100%
85   0   0
I have tried all the so called "reef safe" products out there in the last 20 years and I can say with conviction that none of them work. Some who see results and claimed that it cured ich are most likely just seeing mildly infected fish fight off the parasite due to a good immune system & good water parameters.
I just went through a 16 day treatment of Microbe Lift's Herbtana, 6 days more then the recommended dosage and all it did was make my water parameters worse and kick start the infection more so.
For those who are thinking of these products, save your money:
Ruby Reef Kick Ick
Chem Marin Stop Parasites
Kent RXP
No Sick Fish
Polyp Lab Medic
Aquarium Munster Proto Marin
Microbe Lift Herbtana
 

nycdominicanreef

one frag at a time
Location
New york
Rating - 100%
22   0   0
suseptibility to ich increases when fish are stressed, if I'm not mistaken, u have multiple tangs and multiple dwarf angels? spontaneous fighting im guessing? hence more suseptible to ich,
just my 2cents
 

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
It is said ICH can survivor upto 8 weeks going with the different cycles of life. It is best to remove fish to a qt, and leave your dt fallow for atleast 8 weeks. I left my fowlr fallow for 10 weeks. A year later without any new additions, I got hit with ich again.:(
 

h2o

Wanna be clown fish pimp
Location
Bay Ridge
Rating - 100%
98   0   0
Check your water quality, most of the time when fish get ich something is not right within your tank. A cleaner wrasse and a cleaner shrimp will pick SOME ich of your fish. Do some water changes and dont put any medications in your main tank.
 

KathyC

Moderator
Location
Barnum Island
Rating - 100%
200   0   0
and i just cant seem to kill it, some of my fish also have a bit of internal bleeding. nothing bad just some red. its like my fish are living fine but with spots and scratching the rock.

What you mention here is not a good sign. Secondary bacterial infections can occur in fish with Ich due to the flashing they do on the rocks.

Any chance of posting any pictures of the fish/tank?

You mention that you don't have room for a QT and that this is a FOWLR and you have anenomes in it. Is there a chance you can move any inverts & the anenomes out of the tank and use Hyposalanity to cure the ich?

Or do you have a sump attached to this tank that you can isolateand run independently of your DT (where you could put your anenomes & inverts while you run the DT using the Hyposalinity method to treat the fish?)
If you do this you will have to provide a source of air to the tank.

The ich parasite will not go away on it's own, no matter what you feed the fish and unfortunately a UV light will only kill Ich in its free swimming stage IF it runs through your UV filter (unlikely since Ich tends to drop to the substrate while multiplying)

Please take a look at the link provided for Hyposalinity and read it entirely if you decide to use this method.
Hyposalinity OR treating with copper are to date the only methods proven to eliminate Ich.
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/hyposalinity.html
 

coralnut99

Experienced Reefer
Location
Bushkill, Pa
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
suseptibility to ich increases when fish are stressed, if I'm not mistaken, u have multiple tangs and multiple dwarf angels? spontaneous fighting im guessing? hence more suseptible to ich,
just my 2cents

+1

I know you don't want to hear this, but you have too much bioload. The fish are stressed because of interaction issues caused by overcrowding. Feeding in abundance can ease some of the stress issues, but you need to be extra diligent with water changes and maintenance. In my opinion you'd be best served by either upgrading the tank size or eliminate some fish. As mentioned several times here, you'll never get rich of the ich completely. Healthy fish in a roomy non-competitive environment have no problem fighting it.
 

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top