Re: Emperor angel w/ick help please
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6805313#post6805313 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by savyboy
1) I was thinking I could just tack the chance and let it run its coarse.
This is doable, but you accept that you will now have Ich in your main tank. The longer you keep the fish in there the more established the parasite can/will become. Having said that, new fish often show a few ich cysts, but if they are eating well and otherwise healthy can beat the infection and it will die out. You should ensure that you are giving high quality food with a vitamin supplement and (if available) some beta-glucan (which helps boost the immune response). Also make sure your water quality is as good as it can be. Lastly, you might consider adding a cleaner shrimp (if you don't already have one). See also my comments below.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6805313#post6805313 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by savyboy
2) I was thinking I could just add Melafix to the main tank and let it run its coarse.
I wouldn't bother, Melafix will not affect the parasite - but will affect your skimmer (mainly to gum it up).
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6805313#post6805313 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by savyboy
3) I have a 10 gal tank I can swich to salt and a 120gph powerfilter for this tank and use rid-ick (main ingredients formalin and malachite green) and melafix along with 50% water changes everyday.
This is your best course of action if you want to rid your system of the parasite (although you may be too late for that). However, the treatments of choice are either copper or hyposalinity. The corollary, however, is that both are hard on fish so you take your chances either way (chemical treatement vs leaving the fish to it own devices as per your #1). However, and it's a big however, to truly get the parasite out of your system, you would have to remove all your fish and treat them leaving your tank fallow for 6-8 weeks - not a nice proposition - and I'm not sure they wouldn't all make it crammed up in a 10 gal.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6805313#post6805313 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by savyboy
4) Risk the fresh water dip 25% tank water 75% fresh water for 5-10 min I could also use the rid ick for this treatment.
This won't do much. Hyposalinity only works if you get the salinity down to around 14 ppt and are precise about measuring it. This requires a refractometer and maintaining correct water parameters in the low salinity can be challenge.
If it was me: I would go with leaving the fish in, keeping stress to a minimum and using a cleaner shrimp since you now have the bug in your system anyway. To hedge my bets I would also treat the fish with metronidazole added to the feed. There are some commercial preparations, but I've used my own feed in the past (squid, mussel & clam with metro at 250 mg/100 g of feed with a vitamin supplement). Success can't be guaranteed (but what is?) - I've had success with this approach. Much better to wait and see if disease develops before tearing down your system. Fish can develop immunity to
Cryptocaryon, so my view is to live with the parasite and avoid disease (the presence of parasites and disease being very different situations). Some of my fish have had ich - but none have died from it.
Food for thought....
