boxfish with ich

[9furryfish]

so the little guy hasn't nuked my tank, and bless him, he's hung on for 3 days now with what looks like the worst case of small pox I've ever seen I have him in a tank with soft corals. I do not have a quarantine tank that I can bathe him in coppered water. I have beat ich many times before... currently have the temp up to 80, I have a UV running, and dropped some garlic in there. It's all I've ever done. While all the other fish seem to be recovering, he is not. Is there anything else I can do? I thought about a freshwater dip but he looks so rough I don't want to stress him further and kill him now that he's hung on so long. Thoughts anyone?

 

[SammyL]

From what I understand of Ich you are wasting your time.

Move him and treat appropriately, just because he gets better does not mean the Ich is gone and there is a strong possibality of it coming back.

You can use a rubbermaid tote or something like that if you do not have another tank.

Good Luck

 

[9furryfish]

The temperature increase, from what I've read, speeds up the life cycle. I have bare bottom tanks, and the tank he's in is sparsely populated with coral, it is somewhat of a quarantine. Once the ich falls off, theyre on the bottom in cystic form, at which point when the fish look 'cured', I do a water change by siphoning up the bottom as thoroughly as possible (actually have done a water change like this every 48 hours)... this is the first time I've dealt with it in this system.... I just want to know if there's something I can do to relieve the little guy quick... or else I'm going to put him in a tote as suggested and copper him, but then can't put him back til everyone's 'clean'.

 

[SammyL]

You might want to take a few minutes and review this thread, a lot of good information in it.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2390640

 

[Cymonous]

Raising the temp does not do anything to Ich. If anything, it decreases oxygen in the water for your fish. You need to either use copper or do the tank transfer method. You can use multiple buckets for the tank transfer method.

 

[mikeoif08]

New Life Spectrum thera-A pellets is good to use for feeding. It always helped my tangs out keep an appetite and increase their immune system.

 

[stiffljp]

I have always preferred hypo to treat. IMO Significantly easier on the fish. With that said I also raise the temp and feed with garlic and selco.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991470
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ichart2mar.htm

I would disagree that temp doesn't help with ich as it relatively well documented that raising the temp can help shorten the cycle. It won't "kill" the ich but will help hurry up the lifecycle.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ichartmar.htm

 

[joe22883]

It does speed things up but can be too much for the sicker fish. 80 degrees is nothing.

I swear low micron socks(200 or less) help a lot. I keep a few and only run them when there's ich.

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

Keep him in a small container....when the ich falls off....transfer him to another container...do this multiple times and while feeding him garlic soaked pellets...he should beat it.

 

[bills tank]

U can always get a healthy cleaner wrasse and let him help out . I have one that eats flake frozen anything that goes in the tank but he also spends half the day goin around checking out all the fish to make sure they r clean . I have had success every time with just garlic soaking the food and temp increase a few degrees before I got the wrasse but since I've got him I've never had anything show ich so its farely cheap like twelve bucks at most leds for a cleaner wrasse and I bet soon as its in your tank it'll go straight to the box fish and go to work . Hope this helps