Ich gone on all fish except one - green clown goby

[myfast]

Hello,

I have a 125 gallon tank with live rock, many invertebrates, and a few coral frags. I have 15 fish (most of them are small). I noticed some ich spots on my yellow tang, coral beauty, and green clown goby a little over two weeks ago. All three of these fish have been in my tank for over a year and a half and I have not added any fish recently.

I realize the best option is to move all fish to a quarantine tank and treat that tank, but that is not an option for me due to the quantity and size of the fish that I have.

I went to my LFS and they recommended using Ich-Attack. For the last two and a half weeks, I've been adding one dose of Ich-Attack in the morning, and another dose in the evening. I've also been adding a capful of Garlic Guard to the tank once a day and soaking their frozen food in another capful of Garlic Guard. The store also told me to add 1/4 cap of metronidazole to their frozen food. I did this for a little less than two weeks, but a couple fish weren't eating well, so the store told me to discontinue the metronidazole and just use the garlic on the food. I have also been feeding Spectrum Thera-A several times a day and I've been making sure my yellow tang and naso tang get plenty of seaweed.

Now, all the fish are eating well and the ich is gone on all of the fish except for my green clown goby. It seemed like it was getting better for a couple days, but it's now back to how it was at the beginning. He is eating well (especially the Thera-A) and is as active as normal.

I am still using the Ich-Attack and I am planning on using it until the Ich is completely gone for several days. I know this product has not worked for some people, but it's worked for me so far, except on the clown goby.

Does anyone have any recommendations on treating the clown goby? Please keep in mind that it is not possible for me to move all of my fish out of my DT.

Thank you,

Erica

 

[RBU1]

Treatment is not differernt for that fish then any other. I am glad to hear you had success with that herbal based product. I have found no reef safe product to work so I am glad it worked for you.

As you stated in your thread the only way to get the ich out of your system is to leave the tank fallow for 12 weeks and treat the infected fish in Hypo or Copper for 4 weeks.

The fact copper and hypo in a treatment tank is not an option to you means you are playing russian roulette. The ich could come back and be worse than it was killing all your fish. I have been thru it so I have a decent understanding. Good Luck

 

[wooden_reefer]

If you see one fish still has ich possibly all/most still have ich in places you don't see.

 

[jason2459]

My guess is that the ich attack has not gotten rid of your ich but that the majority of your fish are eating better because of the garlic enticing them to eat. Because of that they are able to resist the ich better. You probably visually see them with out ich because what you used to see has gone through their cycle and have fallen off and are now reproducing on your rocks and substrate. Once free swimming they are still finding your fish but you probably wont notice them anymore as they are much healthier except for the one fish that you still see ich on.

You are living with ich but not "curing" it. This is just all my opinion as my experience with ich attack was that the "100% all natural" ingredients broke down and fed a nice cyano outbreak. The protocol was to keep dosing for three days after you visually see the ich go away. To me that is saying lets wait for the natural life cycle of ich to fall off the fish and say it works. Then hopefully by the time there is free swimming forms around the fish will be healthier. The ich is still there. As soon as a fish gets stressed again the ich that is there will take a stronger hold and will be visible. This is my experience with it and using garlic.

Good luck.

 

[blacktop pete]

have to agree with jason 100%. you are only managing your problem not killing it. i tried the fresh garlic,selcon trick for 6months it helped, but it wasnt a cure. perform hypo in qt/tank keep fish out of dt for 6-8 weeks. quarantine everything.

 

[Mentat]

...I've also been adding a capful of Garlic Guard to the tank once a day and soaking their frozen food in another capful of Garlic Guard. ...a

Hi Erica! To get the full immunological benefits of garlic, you need to use fresh garlic, not the commercial preparations. Best of luck getting your fish healthy.

 

[myfast]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. If I do decide to put the fish in QT tank(s), what sizes would you recommend? That is the difficult thing because I have a large DT full of fish. Clearly I can't put all the fish in one 29 gallon QT. Here is my fish list:

Naso Tang (6 inches)
Yellow Tang (5 inches)
Green Clown Goby
6 Blue Green Chromis
2 Pink Skunk Clowns
Pajama Cardinal
Royal Gramma
Yellow Watchman Goby
Coral Beauty

Also, what is the process for using fresh garlic in the fishes' food? Do I just use a garlic press and mix it with the food?

Thanks for your help,

Erica

 

[wooden_reefer]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. If I do decide to put the fish in QT tank(s), what sizes would you recommend? That is the difficult thing because I have a large DT full of fish. Clearly I can't put all the fish in one 29 gallon QT. Here is my fish list:

Naso Tang (6 inches)
Yellow Tang (5 inches)
Green Clown Goby
6 Blue Green Chromis
2 Pink Skunk Clowns
Pajama Cardinal
Royal Gramma
Yellow Watchman Goby
Coral Beauty

Also, what is the process for using fresh garlic in the fishes' food? Do I just use a garlic press and mix it with the food?

Thanks for your help,

Erica

You have two options but both are predicated on what you do now.

What you should do at once is to cycle a medium very well in a separate container without any livestock. use the seed and waste method, and if you drip water over the medium while you cycle (instead of having the medium submerged) (so-called wet-dry method), a robust cycle can be completed in 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, you can transfer the cycled medium to a QT of sufficient size, using the same drip setup or placing the cycled medium in a power filter.

What are you going to do meanwhile for the three weeks that the medium cycles?

Option 1, start treating ALL fish in QT using massive water change daily to much reduce ammonia in the QT. You do this as the first three weeks of a rigorous eradication procedure. A lot of work with many fish but for only three weeks, not eight.

Option 2. You fight fire for as long as possible. You limited spread by as much as possible by all means. In QT, you treat only fish that are obviously infested and at imminent risk of death. A soon as you can see no more infestation on a fish, put it back to the ich infested DT. You may have to repeat if the same fish is obviously infested again. This may lighten the load in the QT before you have nitrification after three weeks. You do water change, may be less than in option 1, to much reduce ammonia in QT. After the cycle is done , you start the eradication procedure, full eight weeks, over again for ALL fish.

Ammonia is very toxic to fish; and the long term effect of brief exposure is a concern.