Ich POLL!

[Philosophos]

Sk8r, I would be surprised if there weren't studies on marine ich; any disease that can impact fish farming pops up as a subject of study. What I question is how many hobbyists actually read that study? The sticky from Snorvich may be very useful in treating the disease, but it definitely isn't sourced to any academic research. If it were, I would not suspect the average hobbyist would read the sourced material.

My comments regarding alternative answers were more about the option to be honest about what we don't know. At very least, regardless of personal belief, we should all be on the same page that faith isn't part of science. Offering only 'yes' or 'no' caters strictly to the absolute knowledge claim of faith; it is not scientific. Most of the time I wouldn't care, but in this case the OP brought the issue up almost immediately; it's a major topic within the thread.

 

[RBU1]

Here is the perfect QT setup for anyone in NJ....Plus the seller is an awesome person.,....:beer:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1994218

 

[Phishguy]

When I got a yellow tang a few tees back, it had been in the lfs for a few weeks and was seeming to do well so I figured it was a safe bet. I didn't qt because I thought I was safe having seen it several times Orr a few weeks. After 24 hours it was covered in ich. I panicked and pretty much destroyed my tank trying to remove it. My foxface went berserk and I lost my flame angel. I got the tang and put it in qt, but it was too late. Lfs gave me credit since my params were fine.
Last week, I bought a powder blue tang. On day 3 it was showing ich. I didn't panic this time.. I bought herbtana and have been using it for 4 days. There are no more "visual" ich spots. I know it isn't eradicated but the tang is back to eating. Having a bit of an algea bloom from not skimming though. I'll have to run some carbon in a day or two to remove the herbtana so I can run my skimmer again. Foams like a rabid dog while the herbtana is in the tank... So we will see what happens long term but I'm glad I didn't panic like before.

 

[THEDLO]

After 24 hours it was covered in ich. I panicked and pretty much destroyed my tank trying to remove it. My foxface went berserk and I lost my flame angel. I got the tang and put it in qt, but it was too late. Lfs gave me credit since my params were fine.

I feel that this is all too common; the hobbyists panics and ends up causing more damage to the system as a whole even tho his intentions were good. The issue is that the fish refuse to cooperate with us and avoid being caught at all costs I couldn't imagine how rough that must be on the body. and new fish are already distressed due to the change in environment and "room mates"

Sent from my HTC Aria using Tapatalk

 

[MrTuskfish]

When I got a yellow tang a few tees back, it had been in the lfs for a few weeks and was seeming to do well so I figured it was a safe bet. I didn't qt because I thought I was safe having seen it several times Orr a few weeks. After 24 hours it was covered in ich. I panicked and pretty much destroyed my tank trying to remove it. My foxface went berserk and I lost my flame angel. I got the tang and put it in qt, but it was too late. Lfs gave me credit since my params were fine.
Last week, I bought a powder blue tang. On day 3 it was showing ich. I didn't panic this time.. I bought herbtana and have been using it for 4 days. There are no more "visual" ich spots. I know it isn't eradicated but the tang is back to eating. Having a bit of an algea bloom from not skimming though. I'll have to run some carbon in a day or two to remove the herbtana so I can run my skimmer again. Foams like a rabid dog while the herbtana is in the tank... So we will see what happens long term but I'm glad I didn't panic like before.

After the experience with the YT, you still didn't QT the PBT? I think ''day 3" may just be the brief time when the cysts aren't present on the fish. I've never heard anything, from any published authority, or any other "expert" that I trust, that any of the herbal remedies do anything.

 

[THEDLO]

After the experience with the YT, you still didn't QT the PBT? I think ''day 3" may just be the brief time when the cysts aren't present on the fish. I've never heard anything, from any published authority, or any other "expert" that I trust, that any of the herbal remedies do anything.

placebo effect? lol

on a serious note it must help because its good for them and by relationship it probably boosts the immune system which helps fight diseases...just a thought, makes sense. not sure about garlic tho..

 

[syrinx]

It kills me when the length of time a fish has been in a petshop seems like a good sign to people. Longer it is in the shop- longer it has to contend with the parasite load of new arrivals.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

It kills me when the length of time a fish has been in a petshop seems like a good sign to people. Longer it is in the shop- longer it has to contend with the parasite load of new arrivals.

+1
The only thing I look for when buying a fish at the LFS is if it eats or not (besides diseases)

 

[MrTuskfish]

placebo effect? lol

on a serious note it must help because its good for them and by relationship it probably boosts the immune system which helps fight diseases...just a thought, makes sense. not sure about garlic tho..

A good immune system does help fight disease. But ich is a parasite, not a disease and I really don't know how much their immune system comes into play, if at all. Again, I'll stick with the published experts and they all say Herbal remedies do nothing. I'm afraid the Phishyguy is in for a real disaster.

 

[THEDLO]

A good immune system does help fight disease. But ich is a parasite, not a disease and I really don't know how much their immune system comes into play, if at all. Again, I'll stick with the published experts and they all say Herbal remedies do nothing. I'm afraid the Phishyguy is in for a real disaster.

actually a fishes immune systems does help control parasites. its has been studied for the sake of fish farming etc, and studies showed that the immune system had several defenses once foreign pathogens were encountered. how ever these studies where not done on "reef" fish but on groupers and salmon etc. so im not going to say for sure that these same studies apply but while reading the article references were made that the response would, and should be the same across Teleosts (fish with tails that the upper and lower halves are about equal).

My theory: though tangs have a low mucus there immune system in theory should be more adaptive/aggressive then a grouper do to its susceptibility to anything that can pierce or latch onto the skin.

if i had the time and space i would experiment with 2 fish of the same type, id QT them separately and then place them into 2 different tanks, One with rocks (simulating a more natural environment e.g. our tanks) and normal qt with the standard pvc shelters. And then reintroduce crypt to see which last longer/lives. i feel that besides diet (sans the herbal remedies) surroundings have a big impact on how well the fish fights off the "intruder"

 

[THEDLO]

heres that article btw it explains pretty well how the immune system reacts to parasites. its a bit of a read but hey it is published and though, like i said above, none of these tests have been done on reef fish most of the results are valid.

http://www.idpublications.com/journals/PDFs/VII/VII_MostDown_1.pdf

 

[vamaro]

I currently have a H-Tusk that has ick. I purchased him about 2 months ago. I put him in the QT for 5 weeks with Cuppmine and he ws spotless prior to moving him to my disply a few weeks ago. He has some ick again, not too bad but seems to be doing fine eating, etc. The ick does not seem to be getting worse. The other fish (Cross-Hatch triggers, Threadfin Snapper) seem fine.

I have also had ick on 3 other occasions:

Twice when "trying" to keep an achilles. On both occasions, the other fish also got a lot of ick. I removed the fish from my display, treated them in a QT.

Another time was when I purchased a cross-hatch. Once again, it spread to the other fish and I removed them to the QT.

On my prior occasions of ick, I was too scared to let the fish stay in my display and try to beat the ick. I always moved them to the QT.

However, this time I am letting the tusk stay in the display. If my other fish are fine, I am willing to give this a try. The tusk does not look nearly as bad as when I got him and had to QT him. When he was in the QT he was covered and breathing very hard. Now, he just has some ick on his fins, and a light area here and there on his body.

 

[THEDLO]

I currently have a H-Tusk that has ick. I purchased him about 2 months ago. I put him in the QT for 5 weeks with Cuppmine and he ws spotless prior to moving him to my disply a few weeks ago. He has some ick again, not too bad but seems to be doing fine eating, etc. The ick does not seem to be getting worse. The other fish (Cross-Hatch triggers, Threadfin Snapper) seem fine.

I have also had ick on 3 other occasions:

Twice when "trying" to keep an achilles. On both occasions, the other fish also got a lot of ick. I removed the fish from my display, treated them in a QT.

Another time was when I purchased a cross-hatch. Once again, it spread to the other fish and I removed them to the QT.

On my prior occasions of ick, I was too scared to let the fish stay in my display and take my chances that the fish would beat the ick.

However, this time I am letting the tusk stay in the display. If my other fish are fine, I am willing to give this a try. The tusk does not look nearly as bad as when I got him and had to QT him.

cool keep us posted!
also how was the aggression from the achilles towards the other fish? was he making everyone as miserable as he was?

 

[dianezoo]

I have never had ICk in my 90 g display tank I got dinos!! HOWEVER I moved some coral into my QT tank to save them from dinos. Three fish were added to that tank to quarenteen waiting for DT tank to be ready. and boom two of the fish got ick although very tiny to see very small green clown gobys but I'm faily sure it was ick just not positive. I think I saw some white spots. So since my Qt tank has coral I guess I need to move the damsil into another QT to leave this one fishless? Will the corals or hermits, snails be carriers of the ick cycle in any way or only fishes? Or can I treat this QT tank and be save to move things into my DT?. Since Iv never had ick in my QT I dont want to introduce it if I can avoid it. I have enough wrong with it right now.

 

[RBU1]

Well just an update on my end for those that are curious. I added the Scribbled angel last Friday and "knock on wood" not a single spot on him. The Achilles hybrid still has a few spots here and there but nothing major. No signs of rapid breathing and everyone is acting and eating normal. I will not be adding any more fish to the tank for a while to let things settle down.

 

[THEDLO]

Well just an update on my end for those that are curious. I added the Scribbled angel last Friday and "knock on wood" not a single spot on him. The Achilles hybrid still has a few spots here and there but nothing major. No signs of rapid breathing and everyone is acting and eating normal. I will not be adding any more fish to the tank for a while to let things settle down.

PICS! so i can appreciated your specimens

 

[RBU1]

PICS! so i can appreciated your specimens

 

[Sk8r]

Watch the water quality and keep nitrate as low as possible: with all those nems and corals, that will help a lot with nitrate. Particularly watch alkalinity, which can hurt skin resistence, ime, if too low. Looking beautiful. If you subscribe to Burgess' theory, if you don't add any more fish for a year, you'll see a decline in its infective ability. Greenbean says not proven, but it would be nice to see it proven at least in your tank.

 

[MAVX]

I haven't had a fish with ick for over a year, does this mean they won't get it unless something else is introduced?

 

[Gogandantess]

RBU that's a nice lookin' female Scribbled. I once had one.