I only treat Ich with Hypo. It works most of the time. However, I just put 5 fish through Hypo. They went throught 8 weeks at 1.009. Then I raised the salinity / specific gravity and observed them for 1 month and all looked well. There were zero signs of Ich, all the fish were very active and feeding well. No flashing, labored breathing, or lethargic fish. Therefore, I added these fish back to a display that sat fallow for 12 weeks (nothing new had been added during this time to the display) and 2 weeks later..... BAM!!! Ich is back!! It makes me so mad, I do not want to rip out 150lbs. of live rock to catch these 5 fish. My refractometer was calibrated and I was extremely diligent. Usually, I would say Hypo works every time, but now I stand corrected.
ICH: how to cure it, id it, understand it.
- Thread starter Sk8r
- Start date
Im no expert but from the sound of this thread there seems to be no anwser to what acually cures ich! I had a ich problem with my hippo tang when i first got him he was shipped to me so all the stress i figuered he was bound to get ich and sure enough he did.
What i did to cure it was left him alone! He got spots all over his sides so i fed him good with selcon and this 5starreefbar its called its basically a mixture of food like nori clams oyster mysis shrimp etc. good stuff.. anyway within a week it went away. i did raise my temps in the tank to 83 for that week but its now been months and months and no signs of ich
also my other fish never came down with it. So i guess like others stated there is no difinitive anwser to what cures ich every reef tank is different. I wish there was a reef safe cure in a bottle but seems there never will be!
What i did to cure it was left him alone! He got spots all over his sides so i fed him good with selcon and this 5starreefbar its called its basically a mixture of food like nori clams oyster mysis shrimp etc. good stuff.. anyway within a week it went away. i did raise my temps in the tank to 83 for that week but its now been months and months and no signs of ich
also my other fish never came down with it. So i guess like others stated there is no difinitive anwser to what cures ich every reef tank is different. I wish there was a reef safe cure in a bottle but seems there never will be!
Rosscopeco
New member
Your tank most likely still has Ich. It's just that you can't see it.
Your probably right but since the fish are healthy and there immune system is up they wont come down with it. my hippo is a beast it eats like a rottweiler dog and is growing nicely and a bit more agressive then what most people say about them it runs my tank fo sure it keeps the yellow tang clowns and flame angel in check.
Rosscopeco
New member
It's highly likely your hippo tang still has ich on the gills. If I could get all my fish out I'd do hypo with a hydrogen peroxide dip during transfer.
The pretending its resolved itself method will always come back to haunt you.
The pretending its resolved itself method will always come back to haunt you.
Wow even after 8 months? It hasnt shown a sign of ich in def 8 months now i would of thought if he was still carrying it it would of came back by now i always keep a close eye on him but never once seen any signs of ich.
Hes a beast though i mean all my other fish got to fight for food when i feed cause he goes in a frenzy the minute i walk near the tank and scoops up food like a dyson vaccum cleaner.
Hes a beast though i mean all my other fish got to fight for food when i feed cause he goes in a frenzy the minute i walk near the tank and scoops up food like a dyson vaccum cleaner.
Rosscopeco
New member
8 months or 18 months, it's probably still in the tank. Total natural immunity is possible but I'd put my money on the Ich.
It's nearly impossible to tell if the gills are infected unless you fancy a little surgery and have a microscope handy. Visible signs of infection can be non existent until something goes wrong in your tank and sets off a massive outbreak. Only then can you see the so called white spots.
It's nearly impossible to tell if the gills are infected unless you fancy a little surgery and have a microscope handy. Visible signs of infection can be non existent until something goes wrong in your tank and sets off a massive outbreak. Only then can you see the so called white spots.
jimmyj7090
aka John K
No clue what you meant by that post lol!
Well if he has it in his gills still after 8 months i guess he will always have it but he never shown a sign of it at all never thrashes against rocks doesnt seem the least bit stressed and looks fantastic hopefully he will never come down with it
Def my favorite fish by far he eats out of my hand wich im a bit carefull about because them top spines from what i hear are not only sharp but venoumous lol.
Stockpickinguru
New member
Ive use the hyposalinity method to treat ich with good success. I put the fish into 1.017-8 water in QT and then lower through water changes and it has worked well
Brittle
New member
I find all this information very interesting. I was always under the impression ick was ick. It was found in almost all aquarium water freash and marine, it's a protozoan (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis). Kind of like we have the bacteria streptococci is found on the skin of people (which is mostly known for strep throat). Even though it's on us we don't need medication. We just need to remain healthy and our own "good bacteria" keeps it in check. And infections only occure when the immunity is down. Which could be caused from many reasons. Improper diet, stress, enviormental changes, sleep disterbances ect. Like I said I always thought Ick was the same way- always present. That is why it important to stress fish as little as possible, give them a healthy inviorment, make sure there not tank bullied, good variety of diet ect.. Because if the fish immune gets to week it can not reproduce enought "good bacteria" and the protozoan has nothing to keep it under control and it multiplies. Like any infection the more stress the harder it is to fight off the infection, and it becomes opportunistic which other diseases can enter the lessons ick causes on the skin. Which can lead to death. If a whole aquarium is infected I would think something else is going on to cause all the fish to become ill. If it's only one or two fish then the fish itself is becoming stressed somehow. Now I'm not sure? Is Marine Ick different?
tekjunkie28
New member
I don't care if I think u kill ICH or not. Ich is like MRSA its on EVERYTHING and it's only going to affect you when you are sick or in a hospital. I know a lot of political with Ich and they don't lose for nor take them out when the supposedly have ICH. Sometimes I think ich is blown way out of proportion. Our tanks are too sterile and fish need to keep up an immune system. Remember if you don't use it.. Lose it.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Rookieofsalt
Member
Clean shrimp seem to work on curing ICH. However, I just have when lowering the 1.020salinity. Is this effects the corals in the tank?
igotshotbymike
In Memoriam
Proof read people :headwally::headwally::headwally::headwalls::headwalls::headwallblue:
I bought a few fish two weeks ago and didn't quarantine (dumb me)and all seemed well until a few days ago when the new Kole Tang started to act funny & died the same day. Now my Sailfin has a bad case of Oodinium, or Ich, I can't really tell which. He's still eating & swimming but I fear for his life. My idea has been to catch him, put him in a small tank & gradually lower the salinity as prescribed in this forum, and then put him in a 20 gallon reef in which he started out after purchase several months ago and see if he gets well in this thriving environment; it's full of various small corals. Meanwhile I plan to do large water changes in the display tank as I have used this method of large daily water changes before with good effect. The "reef safe" meds. I have used before helped but I believe that the water changes did the trick. The Sailfin is about 3" in size. What dom you think? Anything valid about my plan?
