Oh no ick!!!

[dmward99]

My scopas tang looks like he is coming down with ick.Is there any type of drops I can get to cure him.I have corals in the tank and I am afraid of wrecking my tank catching him.Is there a reef safe remedy?

[Tri Bui]

This is my adv. in the forms WAMAS member only. One off the WAMAS member has the same problem ICK!

 

Ok to save you the trouble of speding tons of $$$ like I used too on all types of solutions to solve the ick problem, like kick ick, garlic solution, copper solution, lower salinity, extract garlic, quariantine tank ect.... Here is about ick! Ick is like a cold for fishes, if your fish is in stress or any circumstan not in the right enviroment it will have ick or some other type of symtons and die. So the first lesson to make sure that the fish is in the right enviroment and second your water need to be good parameters according to guideline. Third take your time do research or ask on forums about different types fishes behavior and coexist before purchase, and most important make sure that your tank have enough space for your fish the most common problem people tent to put to many fishes in a small tank, this is absolute will stress out these fishes. Just my .02 worth of adv. good luck!

[davjbeas]

Ick is a parisite called oodinium i believe, the only tratment i know of is copper or maybe formulin(which is formaldehyde). neither of these are safe for a reef though. to save the fish, the parasites have to be killed.

Oh yeah, you could do a freshwater dip for the fish as the osmatic shock will break the shell of the parasite.

causing the parasite to explode or implode sort of. if you can get the parasites off the fish, it is reccomended to treat with anibiotics because these parasites can cause serious infections.

One other important thing is that you probably have eggs from this parasite in your tank. one way to kill them is with the copper treatment. the other method is to remove all possible hosts for this parasite and then wait. you have to wait for the period of time that an egg takes to be hatched, and then also wait the period of time it takes for the free swimming parasite to die, which it will with no available host.

 

I beleive that the best prevention for these problems are to have excellent water quality. As in using R/O + de-ionized water. weekly water changes, chemical filtration. I say this because the better quality of the water the healthier the fish. a very healthy fish can beat most infections and parasite attacks. In my experience this has been true although i might not be 100% coorect someone else might have had a different experience.

 

Hope this helps. You might want to research further on possible treratments for salt water ich.

 

David B.

 

 

Here is a link i found, check it out,

 

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/sp/feature/index.php

[Guest Ominojacu]

Ick is a parisite called oodinium i believe, the only tratment i know of is copper or maybe formulin(which is formaldehyde). neither of these are safe for a reef though. to save the fish, the parasites have to be killed.

Oh yeah, you could do a freshwater dip for the fish as the osmatic shock will break the shell of the parasite.

causing the parasite to explode or implode sort of. if you can get the parasites off the fish, it is reccomended to treat with anibiotics because these parasites can cause serious infections.

One other important thing is that you probably have eggs from this parasite in your tank. one way to kill them is with the copper treatment. the other method is to remove all possible hosts for this parasite and then wait. you have to wait for the period of time that an egg takes to be hatched, and then also wait the period of time it takes for the free swimming parasite to die, which it will with no available host.

 

I beleive that the best prevention for these problems are to have excellent water quality. As in using R/O + de-ionized water. weekly water changes, chemical filtration. I say this because the better quality of the water the healthier the fish. a very healthy fish can beat most infections and parasite attacks. In my experience this has been true although i might not be 100% coorect someone else might have had a different experience.

 

Hope this helps. You might want to research further on possible treratments for salt water ich.

 

David B.

Here is a link i found, check it out,

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/sp/feature/index.php

 

Fresh crushed Garlic or one of the prepared saltwater garlic treatments for ich, work great. Its considered an uproven treatment, since there is little scientific data to explain how it works, but Garlic contains many sulpheric compounds and has been proven to ward off mosquito bites and other external parasites. It's reef safe and everyone who I have asked that has used it, swears by it.

[Gatortailale]

add 2-4 skunk or fire cleaner shrimp. Big temp swings, which tend to happen this time of year, can also cause stress on fish/system.

[dzekunoi]

Fresh crushed Garlic or one of the prepared saltwater garlic treatments for ich, work great. Its considered an uproven treatment, since there is little scientific data to explain how it works, but Garlic contains many sulpheric compounds and has been proven to ward off mosquito bites and other external parasites. It's reef safe and everyone who I have asked that has used it, swears by it.

I confirm! Used it with great success.

[dmward99]

Thanks for all that replied.I will try to find some type of garlic extract to soak my fish's food in.Can I use any from the grocery store? I have 2 cleaner gobies,and a cleaner shrimp but they don't seem to work.I do notice them cleaning but not enough.I don't think it is a space issue for those that asked .I have a 125 main tank and a 55 gallon sump.I have 2 tangs(orange shoulder,scopas), clownfish, lawnmower blenny,4 chromis,and inverts..I think a chromis that I got from petco( I know should have quarantined)may have introduced the parasites.

[dzekunoi]

I use store bought minced garlic - organic - for cooking and for ich. Or you can mince yourself.

[dmward99]

I bought some whole garlic and cut a few pieces and placed them directly in my tank under some liverock and saoked my fish food in garlic juice.I hope this helps.

[Guest Ominojacu]

Thanks for all that replied.I will try to find some type of garlic extract to soak my fish's food in.Can I use any from the grocery store? I have 2 cleaner gobies,and a cleaner shrimp but they don't seem to work.I do notice them cleaning but not enough.I don't think it is a space issue for those that asked .I have a 125 main tank and a 55 gallon sump.I have 2 tangs(orange shoulder,scopas), clownfish, lawnmower blenny,4 chromis,and inverts..I think a chromis that I got from petco( I know should have quarantined)may have introduced the parasites.

 

I wouldn't use an extract but fresh crushed garlic, Allicin, which is the likely active ingredient, is formed when Garlic is crushed and breaksdown quickly. here is good article that describes the likely interactions:

http://www.geocities.com/horge1218/garlic.html

Edited May 21, 2006 by Ominojacu

[steveoutlaw]

Soak some Nori in the Kent Garlic Xtreme. The Tangs eat it up and like others have said, it really works.

 

DO NOT USE COPPER.....it will wreck your tank and you'll never get it out.

[JC Pollman]

My 2 cents

[discordja]

Susceptibility is mostly fish dependent as well.

 

My Blue Tang went through 3 cycles of ich till I kicked it from my tank. The other fish during this time showed no signs of infection. In fact, surgeons are the pretty much garaunteed to get completely infected at least once of their lives. May as well just prepare for it happening every so often.

[dmward99]

Good news I soaked my fish food with garlic juice and dropped a couple of pieces of fresh garlic into my tank under some liverock and the ick appears to be gone!!!!!(I know its still there , not on my fish but in my tank).They are eating and look very healthy.

 

Again thanks to all whom replied.

[rsaavedra]

By chance I read a thread about using ginger. Having lost 8 of 11 fish, I was ready to try just about anything. At that time, my yellow tang was so covered with ich that it was no longer yellow: I was giving it about 12 hours before it was dead. After soaking its favorite food in ginger, the tang was completely free of visible ich in under 48 hours. A truly miraculous recovery. But I have also used ginger at other times and found it had no effect.

 

A week before I buy the fish, I soak my fish's food in a concoction of: garlic and ginger juice as well as selcon.

 

In other words, do what you can to reduce your chances of getting it (quarantine and hyposalinity), keep your tank as healthy as possible, use garlic and selcon and possible ginger.

 

JC How do you do the ginger juice formula? I would like to try it, can you tell me how to get the ginger juice?

 

Thankls,

Raf