Heres how to REMOVE ICH from FISH safely!

[mujtba]

Alright so a little while ago my fish all got ICH... 4 out of the 6 were sick BADLY. I lost 1 fish- before I took any action. I could have saved this one too if I did things sooner. I did buy some medicine for ICH. Yes I know, QUARANTINE, REMOVE FISH FROM TANK blah blah blah for a month blah blah... :uzi:

Well this thread is for those people who CANNOT REMOVE THEIR ALREADY STRESSED FISH and just want to safely SAVE them QUICKLY without harming any corals. :fish1:


Alright, so here are the steps I followed to SAFELY REMOVE ICH FROM FISH all in a matter of 5 days WITHOUT harming corals or inverts. You can do a Draze search to find these items online or near you.

1. I purchased CHEM-MARIN STOP PARASITES medicine.

This medicine does not KILL ICH or anything else in your tank, which is why it is SAFE. First it will enhance the slime coat on your fish, which will remove all parasites and give your fish a fighting chance. Then with another additive, the parasites attach themselves to a false host which is then naturally removed through your protein skimmer.

2. Turn off all other FILTRATION mechanisms you have EXCEPT the protein skimmer PRIOR to dosing this medicine.

3. Depending on size of tank, put 1 teaspoon per gallon TWICE A DAY. Morning and Night. It does not have to be same time, as I just did it 8 hours apart mostly in 1 day. JUST MAKE SURE TO MONITOR YOUR PH.. I added some buffer few days.

4. BUY GARLIC Powder and put some water in a table spoon, few pinches of GARLIC POWDER in there, and then soak some fish food in it for 2 mins (I have Nutrafin Max Marine Complete Food).
Feed FISH TWICE a day to help build immunity.

5. Continue this for 5 - 6 days. You will slowly start to see ICH fall off. My one fish was totally WHITE! Im glad to see him alive.

So there you have it.. this process did work for me and all my corals, fish and inverts are 110% fine.

Good Luck! :celeb1:

 

[TriniStylez]

Ich falling off a fish has nothing to do with your fish NOT having ich anymore. That just means they are free swimming and settling in your sand and LR. They will probably return to your poor fish eventually once their life cycle reaches that stage again. There will still be ich in your tank. You have to treat ich properly and over time if you want to rid your tank completely of it...

 

[mujtba]

if you read the ENTIRE post, you will see I CLEARLY stated this medicine does not KILL ICH.. ICH has a LIFESPAN ( i believe 48hours) .. in that LIFESPAN, ICH will not have a HOST to live off of long enough to survive and will be removed by your skimmer.. as I said, this thread is not for everyone...

 

[ludnix]

Very interesting thread! How long ago did you treat your fish? I was under the understanding that ich can survive in a tank without fish for weeks.

 

[backyardspecial]

I tried something similar to the product you used. It supposedly increased the slime coat so ich could not stick to the fish. Unfortunately, it did not work for me. Basically this product seems like every other medication. Works for some, doesn't for others.

All the QT articles state that a fishless period is required. You may have removed the ich from the fish but it is still in your system ready to infect again. You will probably be good until the next stress causing event. Then it happens all over again.

In any case, thank you for testing a product. Hopefully it will work for others as it has worked for you.

 

[Stanton]

Then with another additive, the parasites attach themselves to a false host which is then naturally removed through your protein skimmer.

Whats the other additive?

Stop parasites meds for the ick.
Garlic and food for immunity.

What is the false host?

 

[Just Jim]

wait at least another week before you claim a victory. It can live in a tank for up to 5 weeks without fish, so surely it isn't gone just not visable....

 

[mujtba]

CORRECTION FOR ABOVE #3: 1 teaspoon per gallon ( I MEANT 1 teaspoon per 10 gallon )

this will be a controversial thread.. I didnt have to share anything, but just when i thought it was hopeless, I tried this and want to share with reefers..

No, ICH cannot survive for weeks if theres no HOST. it has to feed. I did it over a month ago..

I forget the name of the false hosts ICH attach to. But your skimmer pulls them up!! Its SAFE!!! so relax....

You guys are free to empty your ENTIRE tank for over a month, or you can do what I did and be good in 5 days... you can take the blue pill or the red pill...

 

[MrSpiffy]

How long has it been since you stopped treatment until now? If we're talking days to weeks, don't count yourself as safe just yet. As was mentioned, it's part of ick's natural life cycle to attach to fish and gain energy, then fall off and reproduce. Falling off was very likely that portion of the life cycle. Now, your treatment may have gotten rid of some, or even most, of the ick. But without a good, solid treatment (hypo, copper, etc.), I have a difficult time believing ick is gone from the tank, unless it's been months since you've seen it on your fish.

I hate to be a pessimist, but I'm only trying to be helpful.

EDIT: Just saw your last post. Nevermind on the time since last treatment.

 

[ralphie16]

WHATS THE SECOND SOLUTION (ADDITIVE) MUJTBA?

 

[MrSpiffy]

By the way, if even one ick survives and is able to obtain a host, it will come back again. That's why people say to use out-of-tank treatment and let the tank lay empty. Ick could still be in your tank. Take a look at the image below and follow the timeline after the parasitic stage. It says that it will be free-swimming after detatching from the fish for about 18 hours. Then it reproduces, which could take up to 28 days (not likely, but still possible). Afterwards, it enters its infective free-swimming stage for up to 48 hours. All that taken into account, and you're looking at over 4 weeks' time of not being on a fish. Add in the 3-7 days while attached to the fish, and that's where people get 6 weeks from. This ensures that the ick should be entirely gone, since it has no host in the display tank. And if successfully treated in a hospital tank, you should be free of ick, nearly guaranteed.

Again, I don't mean to be a pessimist. But when it comes to ick, it's good to be a little paranoid and hesitant to celebrate at the first sign of ick being gone.

Now, if your treatment really did work, congratulations! But I would still hold off on celebration for another month or so, until you can be 100% sure it's gone. Just keep a good eye on your fish until then.

BTW, I'd like to credit the person I nabbed that pic from, if only I remembered who it was. But to whomever that is, I send my thanks! It's a great illustration.

 

[mujtba]

Guys i did ALL the research before i dosed!! As a preventative measure, dose TWICE WEEKLY in your tank for another month.. the ICH will have NO PLACE to feed off of.. Its a sure way to get rid of ICH. I was the guinea pig. It worked for me. My only regret is WHY DIDN't I DO IT SOONER!!!! I lost my hippo tang because I waited too long!!! DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was 7 inches big!

 

[rustybucket145]

Soaking Nori in Garlic gel tab juice works like a charm. Don't know what it does, wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it..... three times. (in other people's tanks of course)


Oh, and not running a skimmer while you're dosing this stuff seems like rolling the dice in a crap shoot. Usually tanks that get ich have underlying water quality issues which will most likely be compounded by removing filtration such as skimmers.

 

[Stanton]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[illal]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10544240#post10544240 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mujtba
I lost my hippo tang because I waited too long!!! DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was 7 inches big!

thats prolly where the ick came from in the first place, ill never get another hippo for this reason ..... keep in mind if thers eggs it can take 4-6 weeks for them to hatch interesting though.... u think theres a possiblity it wasnt ich in the first place??

 

[Sk8r]

Well, a number of us have been sitting here, looking at this stuff, shaking our heads and waiting for "mikey" to try it. So somebody has. Meaning---basically we've seen the medication, it looks interesting, but none of my fish have ich, and other people were in the same fortunate boat---but interested in the idea.
This is stuff sold by a reputable company, from a reputable company, so somebody's put some stuff behind it.

You know they offer a phone number for somebody to walk you through treatment, and have some very specific instructions to follow: check out the Chem-marin site, asap, to be sure, if you're contemplating trying this.

I'm glad someone on RC's finally done it with apparent success, and I hope like everything it works for you: please do keep us all posted. Getting a treatment like this would be wonderful if it proves out, and we're all waiting. So do give us an every-few-days report for the next couple of weeks so we can keep updated.

We'd like to know:
1.
how long ich-free after use?

2.
Please, can you answer specifically all the inverts and corals you may have in your tank, and what came through ok? If all, great, but do list them: they say 'safe', but let's start accumulating some specific data, so we can check them off and say, "we know this is ok with it."

3.
Give any particulars about your tank else, like size, sandbed, etc, and if you have any appearance of microlife like copepods surviving this. This is very important to people that keep dragonets.

These are the questions I immediately think of. Please let's try to gather information and provide it and see if this might be a good answer for some or many tanks.

TIA.

 

[mujtba]

The ICH came from my sailfin tang i just got, not from the hippo.. The hippo seemed to have it spread faster.. i waited too long, or I could have saved it. My other 2 tangs survived after being plagued by ICH.

I have a fuge with all my pods still alive and well. I have a cleaner and coral banded shrimp. I have many zoas, few SPS birdsnest, some LPS corals, 2 anemones, clownfish, and mixture of other corals..

I keep telling you guys this is NOT 'real' medicine. It accelerates the SLIME on the fish to have the ICH drop of at a MUCH faster rate and gives the ICH a place to host.

I wish this company paid me to spend so much time talking on their product... but Im not going to go BACK and FORTH with all the members in a debate..

I thought some of you may want to save a fish or two.. Its up to you. Good Luck with whatever road you take... if you think its easier to empty the whole tank go4it!

 

[happyface888]

Thanks for the info mujtba, I once had a hippo after adding a fish it got ich and it spreaded to fast and it died....

 

[scotmc]

Interesting, but how long has your tank been Ich free?

 

[ACBlinky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10544932#post10544932 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mujtba
The ICH came from my sailfin tang i just got, not from the hippo..

Six weeks in the QT could have prevented the tang from bringing ich into your display in the first place...

but Im not going to go BACK and FORTH with all the members in a debate..

I thought some of you may want to save a fish or two.. Its up to you. Good Luck with whatever road you take... if you think its easier to empty the whole tank go4it!

Why so defensive and why all the SHOUTING? You must have known that this topic would result in a discussion, it's a pretty hotly debated topic.

FWIW, IMO there are two ways to deal with ich - hypo, and copper. I have yet to see a 'reef safe' method that completely eradicates the parasite. Just because the cysts dropped off your fish doesn't mean they won't reappear, and because at any given time there will be parasites in every stage of the ich cycle I can't imagine any method successfully removing every parasite from the tank within a matter of days. Maybe you got 99% of the free-swimming parasites out using the skimmer, but what about those that are reproducing in the sandbed, which will become free-swimming later on?

I don't think it's 'easier' to remove all the fish from the display and treat them with hypo to get rid of ich, but I do think it's effective. I've only had to do it once, and that was because I didn't quarantine my fish. Since I began routinely treating all new fish with six weeks in hypo before they go into the display, I haven't had any issues whatsoever - I believe that there is such a thing as an ich-free tank, and if everything wet is quarantined for a minimum of 6 weeks (though I've recently been told it may take up to 14) before being added to your tank, ich will never make it into the display in the first place. That means that ripping apart the tank to treat every fish in a separate tank never becomes a factor, so this entire debate sort of becomes a moot point.

If a 'reef safe' method has worked for you (and I wouldn't say you're out of the woods yet) that's great and I'll be the first to accept a new method of treatment... once it's proven.