Ich… Ready to throw in the towel.

[aufan1]

On two separate occasions, I have lost fish to ich and itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s starting to get me down. The first time around I tried the hypo method and dropped the salinity to 1.009. I did this slowly and took 4 days to do this. I lost the fish within a few days. Was this too slow? This time around I tried to medicate my q-tank with Organi Cure from Aquarium Products. This fish lasted about 2 days before it died. Yes, I followed the directions, one drop per gallon. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t think I could have overmedicated because the directions say to ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œrepeatââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ the dosage in 48 hours. Am I just getting sick fish to begin with or am I doing something wrong? I keep reading that everyone who gets ich seems to be able to cure their fish and Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m starting to wonder whatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s wrong with me! Is Ich really this difficult to kill? Is everyone else just lucky? I feel like a fish in my hands with ich has a guaranteed death sentence.

Incase anyone isnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t familiar with Organi Cure, the bottle says it a marine parasite treatment and the active ingredients are Copper 1.25% and Formaldehyde 17% in a tri-chelated form. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m just trying to give as much detail of the product so I can get some help.

 

[buldog]

Bioreef

Bioreef

Your best place to buy fish is at bioreef, across from FCCJ south campus. It is next to a budwiser building. You will see some warehouse looking building (green roofs). I believe it is in building 100. They don't advertise because they have restrictions in this area. I don't have an ick problem because I quit adding fish 4 years ago and just maintain 10 fish in a 200 and have a 40 watt uv going. Bioreef maintains about 400 aquariums in jax, including jaguar players.
Don't give up though. I have been through a lot of trials and tribulations over the last 9 years. My tank has been extremely stable for the past 4 years. I do 20% water changes weekly. I just started feeding New Life Spectrum pellets, available at aqua zoo. I used Seacure for ick. The copper should get rid of yours. Where have you been getting your fish?

 

[fancyfish]

The only way to get ich out of the tank for good is to take all the fish out for 6-8 weeks. I knows this is not reasonable for most pople. I too have an ich problem. mine stems from rock that I placed in my tank with out qt proceedures. I am currently using rid ich with no adverse effect at the moment. I also feed metronidazol to the fish in their food. This seems to help.

 

[leebca]

To answer your questions:
Lowering salinity is not very harmful to fish. So, you can lower it in two days if you wanted to. You didn't lower it too slowly, but it could have been lowered faster.

You're doing something wrong. Quarantine all fish. Don't use medications that only work some of the time. Stick with tried and true methods. You now need to do two things: Get it out of your display and don't let it in again. I have not had marine ich in my display aquariums since 1971. After 600+ fishes I've kept, I think it is a prime example that it can be done.

It is very easy to contaminate a tank, even when you are close to getting rid of it. Attention to details and patience will get you to a level of expert in no time.

This is some reading for you. Read it; do it!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.htm
Steven Proââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s article on Marine Ich (Part 1):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.htm
(Part 2):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.htm

If you have questions, we'll either point you in the right direction or answer them. :rollface:

 

[TerryB]

What Lee said and keep a close eye on the pH when trreating with hyposalinity.

Terry B

 

[JR719]

Again, what Lee said.
I don't know what kind of fish you are trying to keep but.... I keep tangs, known for ick. After I started feeding Spectrum and tossed in a cleaner shrimp, I have not had any problem at all with the nasty stuff. Oh yea, I did soak the Spectrum in garlic juice for a couple of weeks, don't know if it helped or not, alot of speculation in the community about garlic. I did not change anything else, just diet and the addition of the shrimp. It seemed to "pick" the stuff off.
Worked for me anyway.

 

[aufan1]

The first time with the hypo was a Flame Angel. I checked all the water parameters except the PH level. I never even thought about it. Maybe that was reason for my loss. This time around it was a Raccoon Butterfly. This time I used the medication and I can honestly say that I checked the PH levels. As for everyone saying ich is in the main tank... it is not. After the first time, the tank was dormant for at least three months before I added the next fish which survived my quarantine period of 6 weeks.

 

[fishykid9212]

IMO Copper works the best for me, I always save fish when using it

 

[buldog]

aufan1

aufan1

Where do you buy your fish?

 

[aufan1]

Before I tell you where I got the fish in question, I don't need to be bashed. I've learned my lesson and it won't happen again. The Raccoon in question came from AZ over here off San Pablo.