So, how am I supposed to treat for ich when I have fish affected in my DT and I have no QT or any means to get one? I have crabs and shrimp in my tank. Is there any way for me to treat my tank for ich with crabs and shrimp in the tank? If not, could I remove the crabs and shrimp and treat the tank then? I have no coral, but am looking to add some if I can get this ich situation figured out.
in a word or three, you can't. at least not proactively w/ any medication. any med that will kill ich will at the least severely mess up other inverts and corals. ich is also an invert, more or less, for our purposes in this discussion-just a very tiny one.
there have been many bogus 'meds' claiming to kill ich and be reef safe (anyone remember 'marine-oomed' ?
)-it simply never really worked against ich, and i personally witnessed many customers either lose valuable clams or their entire setups.
the best you can prob'ly do in that above situation is to keep the environment as healthy and stable as possible, and do like wise to the fish, and cross your fingers.
this is why many who've been in that situation (including me) so passionately insist to others that they get a q tank and follow the correct treatment protocols. i'd certainly advise getting one and proactively treating future additions to your setup, if you'll be getting any, and to follow as slow a stocking procedure as you possibly can, leaving at least 2-3 months between each new addition. this will help lower the risk.
all animal husbandry, like so many other things, is all about risk management.
it's unfortunate that the wisdom of quarrantining is usually learned only after a disaster-i guess that ties in w/human nature, mebbe ?
my ONLY goal in this thread, or any other thread, is never to attack or berate for the sake of doing so, but rather to save others the pita and heartache that cause so many to leave this hobby in disgust, after (inadvertently) killing these wonderful creatures we can enjoy un-necessarily. (or following advice and method recommendations that are only half explained to them by folks who themselves misunderstand the practices they recommend-like certain ats 'preachers', heh
)
it gets EXTREMELY frustrating when, w/ a simple entry of a few words, or a read of a sticky, or a click of a search button on this site and dozens of others, or the simple use of google, could avoid so many of these scenarios, followed by those same folks who don't do that little bit of self motivated research then start arguing or 'dissing' the very folks who actually know their stuff (doesn't have to be me, heh-there are others who've contributed to this thread that indeed know their stuff that got nothing but flak in return for offering their VERIFIABLE information on how to deal w/ all of this).
**and i'm NOT saying you're one of these 'lazy' (yes, it IS laziness) folks**
people have offered scientifically based answers and got their info analogized to 'religion', in so many words. next week, and every week after that, someone else will post a thread 'help! i have ich!' and the merry go round will start again, heh.
and to ingtar_shinowa:
my use of an emoticon was solely and strictly to indicate that my request for the link was genuine, nothing more. alot of what i've been 'coerced' into posting has often been due to being 'attacked' by people with predispositioned conceptions/assumptions of their OWN as to why i post what i post. your criticism is truly unfounded, and your subjective opinion/bias alone. i was genuinely trying to find the source of what jb63 was posting, w/no rancor or malice. the smiling icon was used specifically to indicate that.
(now that i know the source, it's not that surprising to me what the info was, heh. i don't have much respect for what comes out of most lfs's, having been in the lfs biz as an employee since the late '70's-and their commercial success, which or whomever they may be is NOT a measure of the correctness of what they tell customers-nothing personal intended against the sources jb63 mentioned, but they aren't scientists-they're businessmen-even if they have degrees in science.).
people like me, and others who try to offer the truth, or what's presently understood to be the best currently available truth, have NOTHING to gain by offering whatever experienced based advice we give, other than the warm fuzzy that occurs when we see someone else get as much enjoyment as we do from the same hobby. often the reception of that info, which often borders on arrogance, leads to the approach of not using honey
(re: that old cliche-when i was first told 'you catch more flies using honey than vinegar' my first response, and the one i've used ever since, has been i'm not trying to CATCH the flies. i'm trying to keep them from buzzing around. the best thing for that isn't honey-it's a fly swatter).
take all of that for what y'all think it's worth. i've said my piece, and there's nothing i can do to prevent y'all having your opinions, however misguided or not they may be.
