Full Reef Breakdown to eradicate Ick - Dont make the same mistake!

[maitai123]

Well folks,

After much contemplation, hesitation and mental debate with myself over 72 hours, I decided to tear down my 300 gallon reef tank to catch all my fish that were showing signs of Ick. I unfortunately lost 3, but managed to save 12.

Because I have 6 tangs, I did not want to risk of using copper, so have decided to go with garlic laced food and the hyposalinity method. Thankfully I have a spare 95 gallon tank, that I was not using. I know its a bit too big for a QT tank, but it is all I have at the moment + 15 fish take up a lot of room.

Anyway I've been very lucky over the years. I am 45 years young and have been keeping fish (fresh and salt) for 20 years. I have been able to avoid this wretched Ick parasite, for so many years, I think I became complacent. Alas, it finally caught up to me in 2006.

My plan is to treat the QT tank for 6 weeks in this hyposalinity state. Keep my reef "fish free" for the same period of time to eradicate the Ick in my display and then reintroduce my fish once again, after the 6 week period is up.

I learned a valuable lesson out of this experience.......assume all your new fish, and corals (anything that comes in water), is carrying the parasite and QT everything, everytime.

I NEVER want to repeat this experience again, it cost me my time, a lot of wasted money, and the loss of a few great fish.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but I am hopeful that people who read this post will learn from my mistakes, and avoid an experience that sometimes results in people getting out of this fantastic hobbie altogether. I know I am not alone in going through this experience, but that somehow does not provide any comfort whatsoever.

Please folks, NEVER listen to anyone who claims that animals your are about to purchase are healthy. Assume every single one of them are infected and will die, unless YOU take it upon yourself to nurse it back to health using techniques that are tried and proven. You may end up treating an animal that is perfectly fine, but just think of the ones that you will save and enjoy for many years to come!!

Lesson learned...BIG TIME!!

 

[cristhiam]

Good luck with your treatment, have you considered other method of taking your fish out intead of taking down the tank? I read the quick drain method works pretty good. Also do close to 8 weeks for the hypo treatment. I went throu the same problem myself but I was too late lost all my fish. I've been putting throu hypo to all new arrivals now and I have not lost one, I'm fully stocked now

 

[maitai123]

Thanks Cristhiam, I would have been impossible for me to simply drain the tank, as a solution to catching every single fish. The only way for me to be completely sure that ALL fish were removed was to inspect each rock. Believe me I thought about it, but not a 100% solution, and I wanted to be sure my Display would be completely fish free.

Wow, 8 weeks? I thought I would be ok at 6 weeks. Well I'll give it a try. Last night I changed 30% of my water, today another 30%. I am down to a SG of 1.015, trying to get to 1.009. I can still see the Ick at 1.015 on my Hippo tang. Man I hope I do not lose him. I am tempted to do a fresh water dip but am a little scared, that it might actually kill him, in his weak state....not sure what to do.

 

[cristhiam]

Don't do a fresh water dip, I did it once to my cowfish and freaked out!! at 2 minutes when down to the bottom. Too stressfull and didn't help with the ich. I read is not effective because ich at that point is embeded on the skin. I still have the cowfish

I would drop the salinity all the way down to 1.009 now fish won'nt mind, when going back up is when you have to do it slow.

 

[maitai123]

Ok, will do Cristhiam. Its pretty late where I live, so I'll get down to 1.009 in the morning. Man this is so stressful. Hard to sleep properly, as I have my fish on my mind 24x7 since this nightmare started. Hope I do not lose my Hippo Tang.

 

[cristhiam]

Good luck, if the hippo has lots of dots, they will be getting off the fish soon and hopefully they'll die when they drop, keep them well fed, and keep an eye on water quality in your QT. I did almost daily water changes when I had 4 fish in a 20G QT

 

[lemadl]

Will do cristhiam.

I was sure I was going to lose the Hippo last night. He was laying on his side, gasping for oxygen. I could not leave him like that. I pick him up in a net, and did the dip (nothing to lose at that point). I prepared the water, same PH and temp of the tank. I slowly lowered the fish in the FW solution. I kept him in there for exactly 5 mins. He started to perk up. I read somewhere that Ick can kill the fish by interferring with the oxygen transfer from the gills. Getting the Ick off the gills, by them exploding due to the freshwater dip, as the last resort measure seemed to save its live.
This morning I totally expect him to be dead. To my great surprise and delight he is doing much better. This morning I hit 1.009 in my QT tank, so this Ick "monster" should be dying.....giving it a taste of its medicine, feels really great!!

 

[Triggerfish]

good to hear the hippo has responded to the dip treatment.

you may have problems fully eradicating with the hypo treatment. I have not come across reading any info regarding tangs having any issues being treated with copper. the treatment time will be at least half what it would be with hypo. you really got to watch everything closely with hypo..any evidence of the parasite during treatement and you need to begin the treatement time frame over.

EDIT: i did read something recently that mentioned better results with hypo if the infested fish are dropped directly into the hypoed water and not lowered gradually. i certainly cannot confirm what the difference would be.. but just thought i'd toss that out there.

basically you want to continue treatment at least 6 weeks after the last spot is noticed.

keep tank fallow for 8 weeks.. give the hypo a shot if you like..
good luck.

 

[cristhiam]

If hypo done property and long enough should take care of it. Keep your salinity constant too very important, I used a marker to mark the water level at the proper salinity too and I always add a little more fresh water to it too. There is a 50/50 shot I think between copper and hypo, there are pros and cons to each. Don't do copper and hypo at the same time.

 

[D659600]

Copper is just fine for tangs. Its the deadly for the fish that dont have scales-puffers,eel, lions.. etc. You should really do the copper treatment for your hippo, stress and hypo are not a great combo.

 

[maitai123]

Guys,

Any experience with "Medic" from Polyp Labs? Scouring the internet leads me to believe that people have had good results from it, in clearing Ick. I have been corresponding with the company, and they have been great in responding to my questions. I decided to purchase "Medic" and give it a try, due to my tangs. I am really nervous about them, and copper, even though I respect your opinions on using it. I just want to use it as a last resort, thats all. I received the Medic two days ago and the fish have received 4 treatments so far (twice per day, as per the instructions). The fish are looking much better, only a few spots to go on the hippo, and then I can work on the Ick at the bottom of the tank (invisible, but they are there as we all know). I am still going to QT them for 2 months, but wanted to give the Hypo a added boost. According to Polyp Labs, Hypo and Medic work fine together.

So far so good.

 

[Freed]

No need for anything additional other than the hypo and good water quality and keeping them well fed. The ich will die in hypo and will not last much longer than the 4-6 week minimum QT protocol. Don't worry about copper or the other "reef safe" meds that everyone claims to work. There is no evidence or scientific proof that they do work. Hypo is proven to work.

 

[ronjeremy]

stress and hypo are not a great combo.

this is totally wrong...actually, the lowered salinity relieves stress!!! hypo is effective and extremely less stressful than copper!!...........also,don't start the 6-8 week countdown until you have seen the very last trophont on the fish!!

 

[Triggerfish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8770703#post8770703 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maitai123

Any experience with "Medic" from Polyp Labs?

what's in it?

 

[lemadl]

Medic comprises of:-

Metronidazole and Peroxide Acids. The bottle does not indicate the % of each one. One drop does 25 gallons, and you are supposed to dose twice per day for 7 days.

According to the folks at PolypLab it works fine with fish in Hypo.