ICH HELP!!!!

[newfish]

I woke up this morning and noticed my clowns were acting kind of funny.

I have only had them for a couple of days and they were doing great.

I dont really know what ich looks like on salt water but in fresh water it looks like grains of salt attached to the fish.

I see a few TINY white specs on both clowns but not as big as I remember from the freshwater.

 

How can I get rid of this without killing everything. I dont have any corals just LR, Hermits Snails, and a Yellow Clown Goby, along with the 2 Clowns.

 

Please let me know.

Thanks

Josh

[gastone]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay...&forumid=87

[Brian Ward]

I woke up this morning and noticed my clowns were acting kind of funny.

I have only had them for a couple of days and they were doing great.

I dont really know what ich looks like on salt water but in fresh water it looks like grains of salt attached to the fish.

I see a few TINY white specs on both clowns but not as big as I remember from the freshwater.

 

How can I get rid of this without killing everything. I dont have any corals just LR, Hermits Snails, and a Yellow Clown Goby, along with the 2 Clowns.

 

Please let me know.

Thanks

Josh

 

 

 

The spots should be white and about the size of a printed period. I'll post a couple links at the end of this response so you can educate yourself on marine ich and try to be sure of your diagnosis. If you have a QT, use that. If not, you'll probably lose the hermits and snails during treatment. There are many different ways to treat ich. Best recommendation is to treat the tank with hypo. Lower the salinity to 16ppt (about 1.010 sg). Do this over 3-4 days. Leave the tank in hypo with the salinity no higher than 18ppt for no less than 6 weeks. It's important to do the full 6 weeks in order to be sure you've killed the ich in all its life stages. At this point you should not see any more signs of ich. After 6 weeks begin raising the salinity. You can raise it 0.002 per day.

 

 

 

For massive amounts of info look at these links. Read slowly, try to process everything. They are biologically technical articles and should be read like textbooks.

 

on ID: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/10/aa...rm=marine%20ich

 

on hypo: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/fis...rm=marine%20ich

[yauger]

I woke up this morning and noticed my clowns were acting kind of funny.

I have only had them for a couple of days and they were doing great.

I dont really know what ich looks like on salt water but in fresh water it looks like grains of salt attached to the fish.

I see a few TINY white specs on both clowns but not as big as I remember from the freshwater.

 

How can I get rid of this without killing everything. I dont have any corals just LR, Hermits Snails, and a Yellow Clown Goby, along with the 2 Clowns.

 

Please let me know.

Thanks

Josh

 

seriously make sure it is ICH, I took my fish to BRK (Blue Ribbon KOI) thinking it was ICH and turns out it was a virus that looked similar to ICH... Wich also means I watsed a lot of cash on meds my fish didn't need...

[jnguyen4007]

Would a UV sterilizer help at this point or is that too late?

[newfish]

It doesnt seem like a bad case of ich but it does look very similar.

I do not currently have a QT setup. I can probably get my hands on a 10 gallon and get some water and a filter on it.

Would you guys recommend spending the time and $ on a QT or just doing they Hyposalinity in my tank.

I am not too concerned about the hermits and snails. Would much rather lose them than my fish.

Please let me know what you think

I will try to get some pics up if I can get one close enough.

Thanks for the help.

[Tee]

Josh

I haven't got any luck with my fish got itch. One of the guy at Petland told me to do a quick dip the fish in fresh water. Make sure the fresh water the same temp as the aquarium. Anybody every try this?

I bought my fish at Petco, and most of them got itch after a week or so in my tank. I am not sure if it's Petco fish or what. Petco does have cheaper fish than a LFS though.

 

Tee

[yauger]

Josh

I haven't got any luck with my fish got itch. One of the guy at Petland told me to do a quick dip the fish in fresh water. Make sure the fresh water the same temp as the aquarium. Anybody every try this?

I bought my fish at Petco, and most of them got itch after a week or so in my tank. I am not sure if it's Petco fish or what. Petco does have cheaper fish than a LFS though.

 

Tee

 

it would probalby be best if you could set up a QTank and run hypo salinity around 1.010 to kill the parasites, runing a Q-Tank in hypo will kill most hitch hiking parasites on fish, however if its viral then you need to boost the fishes immune system and keep on feeding it until the virus has run its course..

 

 

WAMAS Officers is there any chance the club could organize a class on fish diseases?

[newfish]

it would probalby be best if you could set up a QTank and run hypo salinity around 1.010 to kill the parasites, runing a Q-Tank in hypo will kill most hitch hiking parasites on fish, however if its viral then you need to boost the fishes immune system and keep on feeding it until the virus has run its course..

WAMAS Officers is there any chance the club could organize a class on fish diseases?

 

 

With a QTank will I be ok taking an aquarium and putting RO/DI salt water in with fresh water. Setup a filter and heater.

Is it ok to put the fish in directly after. or should I wait a couple of days.

Also I have an extra Fluval Canister filter on my main tank with no media in it(Just using it for water movement). Could I wash that out really good with some fresh water and use that on the QTank.

 

The class would be kind of cool and useful especially if treatment was included. I would attend.

 

Thanks for the help.

Josh

[jnguyen4007]

Josh

I haven't got any luck with my fish got itch. One of the guy at Petland told me to do a quick dip the fish in fresh water. Make sure the fresh water the same temp as the aquarium. Anybody every try this?

I bought my fish at Petco, and most of them got itch after a week or so in my tank. I am not sure if it's Petco fish or what. Petco does have cheaper fish than a LFS though.

 

Tee

 

 

Tee,

 

It is highly advisable to QT all your fish purchases especially those from places like petco, petsmart and even many LFS. The main reason is you don't know how their water quality is. In your case, you noticed that most of them got ich within a week after you got them. That most likely shows that your fish was already sick when you got them and/or that your tank has already been contaminated and that any new fish you introduced into your tank would also get contaminated. I heard that fresh water dip help but I'm not sure how effective it is. Basically, by the time you see ich on the fish body, they're already very sick. From personal experience, it's best if you set up a hospital tank for your existing fish that have ich, then follow medicated treatment and observe them closely for signs of stress. Continue to do this for at least a week after all signs of ich disappears from your fish. While that is going on, you should also do several frequent water changes to your tank to get rid of the free floating ich that's in the water. If you can, you should get a UV sterilizer as that will help kill the ich in your tank.

[newfish]

Tee,

 

It is highly advisable to QT all your fish purchases especially those from places like petco, petsmart and even many LFS. The main reason is you don't know how their water quality is. In your case, you noticed that most of them got ich within a week after you got them. That most likely shows that your fish was already sick when you got them and/or that your tank has already been contaminated and that any new fish you introduced into your tank would also get contaminated. I heard that fresh water dip help but I'm not sure how effective it is. Basically, by the time you see ich on the fish body, they're already very sick. From personal experience, it's best if you set up a hospital tank for your existing fish that have ich, then follow medicated treatment and observe them closely for signs of stress. Continue to do this for at least a week after all signs of ich disappears from your fish. While that is going on, you should also do several frequent water changes to your tank to get rid of the free floating ich that's in the water. If you can, you should get a UV sterilizer as that will help kill the ich in your tank.

 

 

This may sound like a strange question, but if it will help does anyone have a small UV sterilizer that I could possibly borrow for a week or two.

I really want to kill this stuff off before it gets any worse.

Thanks

[jnguyen4007]

This may sound like a strange question, but if it will help does anyone have a small UV sterilizer that I could possibly borrow for a week or two.

I really want to kill this stuff off before it gets any worse.

Thanks

 

 

Newfish,

 

You might have a hard time borrowing a UV sterilizer as it is plumbed into most tank's return line. I heard that drfostersmith is having a sale on them so it might be worth looking into buying one.

[gastone]

Short term UV isn't the solution. It must be run continuously in order to have any chance to effect ich. At best it will kill the parasites in the water column, not those on the fish itself and not those on the LR/sand/tank surfaces.

 

G.

[newfish]

Short term UV isn't the solution. It must be run continuously in order to have any chance to effect ich. At best it will kill the parasites in the water column, not those on the fish itself and not those on the LR/sand/tank surfaces.

 

G.

 

 

Thats what I needed to know, Whether it would be worth borrowing or not.

I will look into buying one but the QTank is the way to go for now.

Thanks for the help

[gmubeach]

Wow that sucks man I'm sorry to hear that! Least you caught it early!

[Guest webshout]

Thats what I needed to know, Whether it would be worth borrowing or not.

I will look into buying one but the QTank is the way to go for now.

Thanks for the help

 

Where are you located? I have a spare 10g, that you can borrow or buy for cheap.

 

William

[newfish]

Where are you located? I have a spare 10g, that you can borrow or buy for cheap.

 

William

 

I have a friend that has a 10 G for me. Thank you very much for the offer though.

 

As far as the fish it may have been a false alarm. I think maybe I was just worried cause they were my first $fish. I got home and they seem to be doing ok and they dont seem to have all the spots I saw this morning.

I am going to do a good water change and see how that works.

Thanks for the help everybody.

Josh

[newfish]

ITS BACK.

I thought that it was gone or that I didnt really have ICH and now it has hit both of my clowns and I want to catch it before it gets to my tiny hippo tang.

 

I am planning on doing a Hypo Salinity, a fresh water dip, and also gonna try the "Garlic Treatment"

 

I know that I should set up a Quartine Tank but I kind of dont have that ability anymore.

I was reading somewhere that if I do the Hyposalinity Treatment that it will kill off my LR and pretty much anything else in the tank. Is this true.

I guess I kind of dont have a choice but I just got all of my rock that I needed and I hate to kill it.

Any suggestions.

Should I just lower the salinity a little bit and raise the temp. a little.

 

 

I think this stuff is related to the DEVIL

[Brian Ward]

ITS BACK.

I thought that it was gone or that I didnt really have ICH and now it has hit both of my clowns and I want to catch it before it gets to my tiny hippo tang.

 

I am planning on doing a Hypo Salinity, a fresh water dip, and also gonna try the "Garlic Treatment"

 

I know that I should set up a Quartine Tank but I kind of dont have that ability anymore.

I was reading somewhere that if I do the Hyposalinity Treatment that it will kill off my LR and pretty much anything else in the tank. Is this true.

I guess I kind of dont have a choice but I just got all of my rock that I needed and I hate to kill it.

Any suggestions.

Should I just lower the salinity a little bit and raise the temp. a little.

 

 

I think this stuff is related to the DEVIL

 

 

 

If you have corals or inverts, they won't survive the hypo. I think the LR will - it seemed to in my tank, but I've seen people say both ways - davelin says the bacteria are very resilient and it won't kill them. QT is the way to go. Take someone up on borrowing the 10g and use your extra canister filter.

 

The spots disappearing and reappearing are part of the cycle. Lowering the salinity a little bit won't help. You have to lower it aggressively, keep the fish in 15ppt-17ppt for 6 weeks. If the salinity goes above 17ppt you have to start over.

 

Raising the temp is debatable - depends on what life stage you're trying to treat. I wouldn't worry about the temp as you probably already have all 3 stages resident in the tank. Lower the salinity, treat with garlic (boosts the immune system), borrow or purchase a UV if you can to kill the free-floating ich - make sure the exposure time is long enough to kill such a large parasite.

[phisigs79]

I am not a big fan of a QT myself (for fish). It seems to be hard on the fish or maybe just hard for me to keep up with the water quality. I personally think most tanks have ick and when the fish gets stressed is when it attaches to the fish. If you feed them well with garlic the ick seems to go away. A uv long term will keep the ick from getting really bad but IMO will not kill all the ICK in your tank. This is my own personal opinion, other people have theirs. Good luck with the outbreak but it not the end of the word. I personally know i have ick in my tank and all my fish are spot free. If i introduce a new tang to my tank there is a 99% chance it will get ick at first and as long as its feed well, it will go away.

[flowerseller]

I must admit that I have similar feelings as psychiatrist79 except I believe in QT.

However he must be nuts because he's playing roulette.

[NRehman]

2c

 

All my fish go through QT - IMO alternative is insane (dead fish, rip out tank, catch fish, more dead fish, etc.)

 

Stress in tank environment =>

=>Ich comes. Ich goes.

=>Ich come back more...ich goes...

=>Ich comes back even more... ich goes...fish go also...

 

A QT tank is not a big deal at all.

Hypo is also not a big deal at all (never once have I had a fish complain)!

 

 

Your patience, though, is the deal.

 

5 weeks to freedom...You can do it!!!

 

Hypo for 5 weeks at .010 -.012 (get a refractometer and calibrate it) => NO ICH (except for one strain - check with Johnny at BRK).

 

NOTE: For ich free tank... stick ALL YOUR FISH into QT. Main/Reef tank must remain fallow to break parasite cycle.

[newfish]

How do corals and inverts react to ich?

[wolfman]

i have tried everything when it comes to ich and i would have to say cooper is the best way to go for fish if you have a qt tank. but no filters or anything can go back in the main tank once they been hit with cooper. just read about it and find out what system is the best for you. hope that helps

[NRehman]

Corals and inverts don't get get ich....only fish...(the ich parasite drops off the fish and multiplies in substrate before swimming back out to attach to fish)

Edited February 6, 2008 by NRehman