Any successful Ich treatment for fish in a reef?
- Thread starter gkarshens
- Start date
nemofish2217
New member
what type of fish? if he is eating, i wouldnt try catching him....just soak all of his foods in garlic and selecon.... worked for me on three tangs... also adding a UV sterilizer probably wouldnt hurt....
In my opinion, if they are eating and active, the best thing you can do is feed them and make sure your water is pristene, and the worst thing you can do is stress them out more by taking them out of their home... just my .02
In my opinion, if they are eating and active, the best thing you can do is feed them and make sure your water is pristene, and the worst thing you can do is stress them out more by taking them out of their home... just my .02
gkarshens
New member
It is a PBT. I actually just caught him pretty easily. I did a 5 min freshwater dip and then put him in the fuge and turned off all lights. I am hoping he makes it through the night. Thank you for the advice. I wish I didn't have to go that extreme but he was looking pretty bad. I hope this might do the trick.
nemofish2217
New member
if you are going to go to the trouble of freshwater dipping him, you might as well set up a QT and run copper in it...this will no doubt kill the ick...just set up something big enough for him for a month or two...
jbittner
New member
Copper and tangs do not mix well (causes damage to their digestive tracts). If your going to QT a tang of ich treat with hyposalinity. Ich dies at around 1.010 and your PBT will be fine as long as the salinity is dropped very slowly. The tank would also need to go fishless for at least 40 days. Try ich attack---even though he has been dipped the spores are still in the tank and he will get infected again and next time it will probably be worse.
nemofish2217
New member
if i understand the proccess of hyposalinity correctly, then i understan that the lower salinity causes the "cyst" part of the parasite to fall off, but the actual parasite is burrowed so deeply within the tissue that it is unaffected, am i correct?
jeffbrig
Premium Member
nemo, you have to hold the fish in hyposalinity for at least 4 weeks to ensure that you interrupt the life cycle of the parasite.
Also, the salinity can be dropped very quickly, it's increases in salinity that must be done slowly. After doing some research, I found that you can drop fish from 1.026 to 1.009 in just 48 hours if you do a 25% WC with RO/DI every 12 hours. I followed that advice with an achilles tang and 2 clownfish and there were no complications or any signs of distress. On the way up, I do no more than .002 increase in a 24 hour period.
Also, the salinity can be dropped very quickly, it's increases in salinity that must be done slowly. After doing some research, I found that you can drop fish from 1.026 to 1.009 in just 48 hours if you do a 25% WC with RO/DI every 12 hours. I followed that advice with an achilles tang and 2 clownfish and there were no complications or any signs of distress. On the way up, I do no more than .002 increase in a 24 hour period.
Freed
It's what it's
I agree with the hyposalinity. Works very well. Just make sure when you do water changes that the salinity of the fresh make up change water is the same salinity so the salinity doesn't go up which could allow some of the ich to live and then you would have to start all over again for 4-6 weeks from that point. Dipping in fresh water and then placing back in a tank that still has the ich does absolutely no good whatsoever.
thereefmaster
New member
Garlic and Selcon. Soak his Nori in it. Works great 
.
HTH
-Nate
.HTH
-Nate
thereefmaster
New member
Is your PBT a Powder Brown or a Powder Blue?
My Powder Brown (acanthurus japonicus, not acanthurus nigricans):
-Nate
My Powder Brown (acanthurus japonicus, not acanthurus nigricans):
-Nate
Good water quality and a happy enviroment free of strees has worked for me for the last 7 years.
Matter of fact, I just put in a ocalris clown that had ich on him. He was eating and swimming just fine. With in a few days of being in my tank, he cleared up and is doing great. None of the other fish in the tank ever got a single sign of getting the ich. I've done this more than once.
I also recently had a conversation with the curator of the UCSB R.E.E.F. project, who also has a marine biology degree, about ich. He stated that in the 5 + years that he's been running the facility at UCSb, he has never had a single case of ich in any of their holding tanks. All they use is filtered NSW that is filtered down to 20 microns, nothing else. He too beleives that a stress free enviroment will allow a fishes immune system to keep them from getting ich.
Just my opnions here so take them for what it's worth.
Matter of fact, I just put in a ocalris clown that had ich on him. He was eating and swimming just fine. With in a few days of being in my tank, he cleared up and is doing great. None of the other fish in the tank ever got a single sign of getting the ich. I've done this more than once.
I also recently had a conversation with the curator of the UCSB R.E.E.F. project, who also has a marine biology degree, about ich. He stated that in the 5 + years that he's been running the facility at UCSb, he has never had a single case of ich in any of their holding tanks. All they use is filtered NSW that is filtered down to 20 microns, nothing else. He too beleives that a stress free enviroment will allow a fishes immune system to keep them from getting ich.
Just my opnions here so take them for what it's worth.
E-A-G-L-E-S
New member
i did whatjeffbrig is telling you(good advice) but some of the ich survived it......i would say stay in hypo for 6-8 weeks to be safe
-JMO
-JMO
