Folks, I want your opinions about ich, not a debate please!

[mistermikev]

that is good advice redboxer and most of it I have considered or have done (fireshrimp and hoevens wrasse, garlic). I personally am afraid of kick ich - and I have xenia. I won't catch my fish anymore at least for a while cause that induces stress and I feel I should back off on that route at least for the moment. The uv - I am really debating and/or ozone - but I have heard some negatives about killing that "good stuff" your plants put in the water and even some good bacteria. i guess every solution has it's price though.
-NOTE: it is nice to see omega one getting hip to garlic w there new pellets.

 

[conchead]

The thing I don't understand about Ick is, it's caused by stress.OK, everybody says to QT new fish,STRESS! Then move from QT to display,STRESS! Bring it home in a little bag,STRESS! I feed garlic and improve the fishes ability to fight it off.

 

[newreefbishop]

I had ich, tryed a few things but the only thing that truly worked is water condintioning, and proper feeding with garlic.

 

[stevem650]

I had a ich breakout when I purchased a new tang and just added him to my reef. I tried everything to rid the tank with no luck. I lost many fish until I decided to remove all my fish from my 150 reef which meant removing rock to catch them. I put all the fish left into hypo salinity very slowly. Keeping the salinity at 1.008 or 9 for 6 weeks did the trick and then slowly increased the salinity. You must use a refractometer to do this. I left my main display with only corals and inverts for 7 weeks. This stops the ich cysts that hatch from finding a host. You can cure ich by breaking the life cycle which is 30-35 days . Once the few fish I had left were healthy again, I put them back into the reef. This was 1 1/2 years ago and I never had ich return. I will never again add a fish to my tank without quarantine for 7 weeks. Copper will work but you need a lab grade test kit to insure the proper amount used. Copper is very hard internally on fish.

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8809757#post8809757 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by conchead
The thing I don't understand about Ick is, it's caused by stress.OK, everybody says to QT new fish,STRESS! Then move from QT to display,STRESS! Bring it home in a little bag,STRESS! I feed garlic and improve the fishes ability to fight it off.

It's just like people - a person undergoing stress is more likely to get sick than someone else. Stress alone doesn't cause it, it just makes us more susceptible. Remember, if the tank is truly ich-free, no amount of stress will cause a fish to contract it.

The way I look at it, there are two strategies for ich. One is to quarantine and preventatively treat every single new addition. The other option is to put everything in and hope for the best. Overall good husbandry, pristine water conditions, proper nutrition, and a low-stress environment will significantly increase the odds of success. I don't believe garlic to be a cure-all, and I don't think true immunity is ever achieved (we're talking about a parasite, not a virus).

Jeff