How do u fight ick
- Thread starter kynsee
- Start date
From my experience just have decent water parameters, strong skimmer, and feed your fish a lot of Nori, that is, if they are eating. It worked for my Desjardinii Sailfin and 2 Regal blue tangs. Believe me, they looked like they were in for their doom, but when I fed them, they revived themselves. It takes at least a week or two.
A lot of people try garlic extract and other methods, but the seaweed have been most beneficial for me.
A lot of people try garlic extract and other methods, but the seaweed have been most beneficial for me.
iamwrasseman
New member
are you in a reef tank ? if so its pretty much just keeping every inhabitant happy . i have a few fish that get ick from time to time and it just goes away and doesnt spread . i have battled it with copper in fish only tanks and also temperature at 90 degrees . hypo salinity really puts a hurting on it also ,but that is only doable in a fish tank only . i have used a product that is called STOP PARASITE that worked awesome . over a weeks time everything was gone for good . this product is eaten by the ick but its has no nutritional value and the ick starves from what i have been told . its contains natural stuff no chem's and is reef safe . i actually have had great results from using it ! you have to understand that ick is every where and it usually wins or becomes apparant when fish are in distress or weak so you should look at the quality and healt of your fish unless they are very prone to ick as my purple and blue tangs are . they do have outbreaks but they have always gone away within a few days . as a mattre of fact my purple had it on wednesday and there are no signs of it today .i dont do anything anymore because my tanks are stable and healthy fish will survive ick and become healthy if they are not stressed so its the happy fish that will win . try to get every peramiter correct and choose proper tank mates too thats
[/B] the key stuff . GOOD LUCK
[/B] the key stuff . GOOD LUCK
thats easy, hyposalinity or copper. hyposalinity is the easiest on the fish, and easier to control water quality in a new QT. ALWAYS remove the fish and place them into QT then treat. leaving them in and feeding will never cure the problem, and that is just bad advice all around. If you really want to fight it, you now know.
iamwrasseman
New member
well thats where the stop parasite works so well , its reef safe and hurts absolutly nothing except the ick thus reducing stress from it and keeps him aquainted with the surroundings also reducing stress . a qt tank to me is useless except for a last ditch effort to keep them alive as most of the triggers are stress and you haven killed the ick in the display tank that you are going to return the fish to . thats why the stop parasite is so usefull . i do agree with Krowleey to a certain point and he has very good points but i have my ways and he has his . i have had salt water tanks since the early 80s and have also learned alot about the reduction of stress and what i am telling you IMO is the best stress free way to exterminate the ick . either way the ick will be off the fish but when you return the fish to your display tank it will be waiting for him and if he has any weakness he will be reinfected with the ick . 90% of the time he will end up with it again soon .sorry to ruffle feathers here but im just trying to help you not make friends .thats why i am telling you what i am .again i wish you the best
Dave
Dave
sedor
New member
I disagree. The best cure for ich is the fish's immune system and that is made stronger with both proper eating and the correct environment. This topic always comes up and the fact is that ich is somewhat like the common cold. Its pretty much always around, we just don't notice it on healthy fish until something goes wrong, stresses the fish out, and all of a sudden BAM the fish is covered in white spots. Hyposalinity and copper do work to eradicate the parasite, but as a few of the others mentioned it will be waiting for them as soon as they get back to the DT. Who has the equipment to take a tank full of fish and let their DT sit fallow for 6 weeks to allow the parasite to die off? Not to mention the next time you add a new fish, it could be carrying the parasite and start the whole process over again. I think that we worry to much about ich because its usually the last thing we see before our animal dies. Though the cause of death is usually unrelated.
iamwrasseman
New member
the ick will still live in small numbers in the tank on the other fish for a very very long time . simply stated as i did it cures the ick without any further stress and leaves the fish to get more aquainted with its surroundings thus reducing a future possibility of a reoccurance.
I agree, everytime I removed the fish from the DT to be treated for ICK, the fish always died due to stress. Couple of month ago my new PB got ich in the DT (This was even after QT) since hewas eating well, I left him in there. NOw he is fine. I am sure the ich is still in the system but my fish has the immunity to fight the ich off.
If he has a good amount of live rock - good luck with that method of removing and placing it into a QT.
IME overfeeding has worked well, and it also doesn't stress the fish.
iamwrasseman
New member
i agree with the both of you and i also have lost so mant fish in QT , my solution has been the stop parasite in my displat tank ,it works quite well and is chem free as i already stated .try it youll like it , mikie does
sorry but anything from a water change to a temp change will cause an outbreak and possible loss of all fish. ich is not always around unless you add it to your tank, why would you spend so much money to stock a reef tank and skimp out on a QT tank or two?????? a couple 20 gallon tanks can save your hundreds if not thousands of dollars in live stock, and heartbreak. Not to mention is the most responsible thing you can do for your pets.
well yes, sometimes it takes work to correct mistakes made, and you may even need to remove the rock to get all your fish. but after you do and eliminate ich from your aquarium, you will finally understand how it's worth it. instead of living with a ticking time bomb which could blow up at any time.
iamwrasseman
New member
if you had the experience or delicate livestock that i do you would truely know what really cures ick the best . yes a QT tank is a great place to medicate but if the stress of that kills the fish then yes you killed the ick and also succeeded in killing the fish . my personel experience has been many folds better by using a reef safe medication in my display tank ,the fish lives the ick dies and every one is happy . the money that i have lost in livestock that was properly QT ed vastly outweighs the $30 bottle of harmless stop parasite that i have used in the past with outstanding results . it is ick that we are talking about not other ailments etc etc so if there is something that is natural and can be added and works why kill such delicate fish in a QT ? maybe i am the exception , but i have been doing this for a very long time and have tried alot of avenues ,this one simply works for this one disease . i am not saying that there is not a place for a Q T i do have one but when it comes to wrasses as i have it simply becomes their death bed 95 % of the time . thanks for your input
you are incorrect, that does not cure ich, there is only two proven methods, that work 100% of the time. Hyposalinity reduces stress on fish, keep them hydrated and allows them to fight off infections and the parasite much better. And the parasite blows up when it hatches to reinfect the tank.
there are countless articles, threads and blogs about this. type in hyposalinity in google and read up on it. unless of course they are all wrong, and all the data is incorrect.
i'm not sure how you are killing your fish in QT??? I have not heard of any delicate fish besides sharks and rays that can not handle hyposalinity with flying colors. copper will stress a fish, hyposalinity reduces stress, it's proven and documented. Even delicate tangs handle it very well.
iamwrasseman
New member
i have alot of extreemly delicate wrasses that probably are best left in the ocean where they have a good chance of surviving .when you take them out of the reef they simply dont have a good chance and i have found with them this works best as i am pretty sure i have already stated in this tread ,if not for that i am sorry . they are much more delicate than most tangs and yes they can handle hyposalinity but not copper and some other treatments as well . so in my case with some of the most delicate of fishes what works for me may have been able to help . i have had upwards of twenty of the same wrasses perish until i started treating in the display for parasites worms and other critters that they are subseptable to and it has turned my sucess rate around at least 500% or more .i now have more than 45 wrasses doing well. yes they should be left on the reef but they keep taking them and offering them for sale and i am addicted to them . the choati leopard wrasse in my pictured on my avitar has cost me thousands and he is the only wrasse that i have failed at i have purchased at least a bakers dozen of them at $250.00 and up and they simply will not survive the stress of what the collectors put them through along with the stress of being housed in an aquarium . i have had none live past a couple of days in Qt but have had them for months in a display tank . i may be missing something with their needs but please believe me i have spent hundreds of hours and countless questions to so many people and we have yet to figure it out .wrasses are constant grazers that have to eat thousands of pods per day to live and i have also paid hundreds in special live foods including cultures of pods for them to feast on but that simply isnt enough . they are riddled with parasites externally as well as internally and it is possiable but rare to house one for years . this is why i have alot of experience with treating with reef safe remedies and cant use a QT .we are getting of the subject and i am sorry for that but i still believe most fish have a better chance in the display tank rather then a graveyard QT from my experiences. i have never had my other fishes infected with anything from my "newbies" that resulted in their demise .we are all a bit of an addict but we cant help for being human ,i am only trying to help others in the best way that i know . yes a QT tank with hypo or copper may work for some but certainly its not for me in my present state of fish keeping .just my 2 pennies.
Dave
Dave
